Studying abroad can be a life-changing experience — indeed, talk to anyone who has done a semester or two overseas, and they’re almost sure to tell you that it altered the trajectory of their life and formed the person they are today. Regardless of what or when you’re studying, whether you’re just starting out at university or pursuing a Master of Education, there are many benefits to broadening your horizons through studying abroad.
Personal development
There are many benefits to studying abroad that affect you not only in a formal educational sense but also as an individual.
See the world and travel
Studying abroad is a fantastic way to travel the world and see the sights. It’s well documented that travel improves your mental, emotional and physical well-being, and going abroad can give you the opportunity to travel an entire area (or even continent), without having to ask for small pockets of time off work. Especially if you end up going to a centrally located area like a landlocked European country, it can be very cheap and accessible to either take the long-haul train or fly to different countries near your home base — similarly, if you study abroad in Japan, for example, you can easily take a flight to Korea, China, or south-east Asia for a week or two, which may be more accessible and cheaper than going from Australia.
A chance to test independence
Many students who decide to study abroad are also studying for their Bachelor’s degree or have just graduated high school recently. In today’s rental market, where housing is getting more expensive and difficult to source, many students live at home for the first few years of their degree and often into the start of their professional careers too. In this way, studying abroad can be a good kick-booster for your life as an independent adult, making your way through the world without the immediate support of your family or friend network. How do you pay rent? How do you navigate a foreign public transport system? What chores does everyone need to do on a daily basis? How do you hard-boil an egg? These are all questions that you might learn on an exchange, allowing you something of a limited-time trial at independence before the real thing when you get a bit older.
Make lifelong friends
Many of the people you meet on exchange will become life-long friends, especially if you connect with other exchange students. Think about it — there are few other situations in life where you will be with a group of people, most of you with ample free time to spend during the day (because people are unlikely to be working full time while on exchange), and quite possibly living in the same accommodation or dorm. You’re bound to make incredibly close connections, bond over funny or traumatic — or funny-traumatic — experiences, and maybe even find a romantic partner. Making close friends with new people from all over the world can open your mind to new ideas and opinions and expand your worldview.
Career opportunities
Beyond just the personal benefits, there are also career and educational benefits.
Networking
If you want to take your career overseas after graduation, studying abroad is the best way to make connections on the ground before making the big move. For example, if you want to work for an American company or in an American business hub, doing an exchange in a place like New York will guarantee priceless networking opportunities with the people studying right next to you in class — people who might then go on to found the next big thing in tech.
It might also be that the industry in which you are interested simply isn’t very well-established in Australia. For example, one of my friends wants to work in the film industry as a screenwriter; while the Australian film industry has certainly experienced fantastic growth in recent years, Hollywood is still the oldest and largest film industry in the world, and therefore, his decision to go on exchange at the University of California created amazing networking opportunities for his future ambitions.
Education
Similarly, getting an education at an elite university around the world can often be one of the biggest benefits of going on exchange. While Australia has some of the best unis in the world, it might be that the university at which you decide to do exchange can offer something that no Australian uni can — this is not only relevant if you are lucky enough to do an exchange at somewhere like an Ivy League university (which can open doors for a future career even just in terms of name recognition), but is particularly pertinent if you are studying a language and do your exchange in a country that speaks and conducts education in that language.
At the end of the day, going on exchange overseas is a fantastic opportunity for personal, professional, and social growth. Provided that you are financially stable and have enough to fund your stay (whether that be from savings or things like financial aid and scholarships), going abroad is likely going to be one of the best periods of your life that you look back on with joyful nostalgia for years to come.