A record-high 289,000 U.S. college students studied abroad during the 2012-13 school year, a little more than half of them in Europe. They went to places like the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain—countries that accounted, collectively, for about a third of the students. Another 20,000 or so students jetted off to China or Japan. Australia was another relatively popular destination, as was Costa Rica. And it’s hardly surprising; these places have been the top academic destinations among college students in the country for at least the last decade.

But one country that would’ve never ranked even remotely high on the list? Cuba.

That might seem obvious. Few Americans have had the opportunity to travel to Cuba legally since the U.S. imposed a travel embargo in the early 1960s. But now that the countries are poised to restore diplomatic relations, it’s worth thinking about how the college experiences of students in both places—and the knowledge bases to which they contribute—might change. Increased academic exchange and people-to-people interactions, scholars say, would even help the two countries repair their relationship going forward.

In December, President Obama announced that he and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, had decided to improve ties following a half-century of strained relations that date back to Cuba’s communist revolution in the 1950s and were shaped by the Cold War. One of the most obvious examples of that hostility is America’s 54-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, an economic ban that has obstructed the island’s development and helped prolong the estrangement of two countries just 90 miles apart. This "blockade" has effectively barred U.S. citizens from traveling to the island, save some exceptions and loopholes, and created similar obstacles for their Cuban counterparts. Cuba is the only country to which U.S. law prohibits citizens from traveling as tourists, though Americans students have for years been allowed to study abroad on the island under strict circumstances.