Leaving Your Comfort Zone, or Why Students Don't Go Abroad

In our time, international relations are becoming more obvious, and this is not only about politics. The governments of many countries have been given the specific task of sending more students to exchange programs to expand intercultural boundaries.

There is abundant evidence that after a semester or even a full year abroad, students become more empathetic and tolerant. In addition, the students themselves in the overwhelming majority of cases speak positively about their "experience abroad", note personal growth and claim that thanks to this they were able to develop many qualities in themselves. On top of that, those who have studied abroad will be able to discover vast career horizons.

Ministers of higher education in Europe, as mentioned earlier, have set a very ambitious goal for universities: upon graduation, 20% of graduates from each country should have international experience. Despite the fact that participation in the Erasmus program is growing steadily, this figure still seems out of the ordinary in most countries.

"Why do students participate in international programs or, conversely, refuse it?" is perhaps one of the most studied issues in the field of education. Typically "obstacles" for students are: financial problems, disagreement with the practice of any family member, discrepancies between academic calendars, poor language skills.

Obstacles to studying abroad

Maarja Beerkens, Director of the Research Center at the Faculty of Management at Leiden University (Netherlands), conducted a study “Similar students and different countries? The barriers to international student mobility in seven countries ”. In it, she talks about why students do not want to go to international internships.

In her research, Maarja wanted to identify the “barriers” that prevent students from participating in the Erasmus program. The survey involved young students (undergraduate) from seven different countries (Sweden, Finland, Great Britain,Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic), and the results were quite interesting.

Maarja noted that those who have never participated in exchange programs more often cite lack of interest, personal circumstances (family and work), and insufficientlanguage. Other “obstacles” are financial circumstances, administrative obstacles, etc.- are more typical of those who have already studied abroad at least once.

Personal circumstances related to work and family were the reason for not participating in study abroad programs for more than 50% of students in all countries - with the exception of the UK, where the figure was slightly lower -42%. “This problem can be solved by creating shorter courses for students: not for a semester, but, say, a month,” says Maarja.

This result could be associated with the fact that in adult life a person has more responsibilities and it is not possible to break out of the “family-work” circle for a long time. But the paradox lies in the fact that in the sample of students, the majority of those who passed the survey are first- and second-year undergraduate students, which, in turn, suggests that they could hardly have had time to get a family and a job.

Studying abroad is a new norm

In the course of the research, another question arose before Maarja Beerkens, whether the “obstacles” indicated by the students really reflecttheir real decision making process? Do students really rationally assess the benefits and costs of overseas internship? Perhaps the students are just doing what they think is the norm and then coming up with an excuse?

Some sociologists have already voiced this idea earlier. In Study Abroad in a New Global Age, author Mark Salisbury compares making a decision to study abroad to making a decision to go to university.

It is necessary to create a new norm - the norm of studying abroad. AND first of all, you need to make a "revolution" in the minds, because the student's decision is greatly influenced by his environment, ie.family, friends, classmates. The main responsibility for this now rests with universities at the level of curriculum development, scholarships and advocacy and education. We need to let students and their parents understand that studying abroad is promising and useful, and they have nothing to fear.If there is a desire to go to study abroad and, in addition, there is support from loved ones, then there will also be opportunities.

Linnik Julia