Why study abroad?
Study abroad is the most exciting thing you will do during your college years! • It will enhance your education and enable you to earn credits that bring you closer to graduation. There are courses offered at our partner universities overseas that are not offered here. • It will expand your understanding of other cultures, which will help you to be more accepting of others. • It will increase your independence and self-awareness. Having to survive in a completely new environment will teach you things about yourself you never expected. Finally, it will help build your resum. Prospective employers realize how valuable international experience is in today’s global marketplace.
• To enhance your education. Study abroad adds a new perspective to your studies. You will see things from another point of view, which will help you to develop your analytical and critical thinking skills. • To build your resume. In an age of global economies and information super-highways, experience abroad distinguishes your background from the rest. • To develop your self-awareness. We sometimes impose limitations on ourselves that limit our progress toward our goals. By leaving the familiar behind to encounter different people and places we gain a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us. • To understand another culture. Living and learning in another culture in the midst of the unfamiliar adds to our understanding of the variety of cultures in our world and gives us a maturity and perspective which can be gained in no other way.
Studying abroad is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not only will you improve cross-cultural-communication skills and gain other marketable skills, but you’ll learn how others live, what values they hold and why. You’ll see your own country from a new perspective and begin to appreciate things at home that you may have taken for granted. Study abroad is a time of growth and challenge that takes place in a new and exciting environment. Most students returning from study abroad programs possess a greater sensitivity and interest in international matters, as well as broadened horizons. Returning students also find immediate practical advantages to overseas study when it comes to participating in on-campus recruiting. More and more employers are looking for well-rounded, bilingual college graduates who have international experience. Those who wait until after college to travel abroad often find they can travel only for a week or two, due to financial and time constraints.
A. When you study abroad, you open yourself up to a world of new perspectives and opportunities. You are much more than a tourist- you take classes, shop in local markets, speak a new language, taste new foods, and visit culturally significant sites you learned about in class. In short, by immersing yourself in a different culture, you experience daily life in a way you could have never imagined before. Your perspective on the world and your own culture is transformed. Studying abroad may well be the most memorable and rewarding experience of your college career. Studying abroad also helps to prepare you for today’s competitive job market and graduate school. Characteristics that employers look for are often gained through studying abroad: international experience, initiative, cultural sensitivity, flexibility, responsibility, and the ability to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
