Study Abroad and Subsequent Employment

Abstract

This article examines in detail the advantages to students of study abroad and its importance in their subsequent suitability for employment. While accepted wisdom holds that study abroad is by definition a good thing, various research findings suggest that the greater wisdom lies in a more cautious view. Here, Ulrich Teichler details results from extensive surveys of former students who participated in the European Union's ERASMUS programme. He summarizes students' experiences of the study abroad period and its general costs and administration and then assesses the implications of the responses to the surveys in terms of the relationship between study abroad and subsequent career. He concludes, among other things, that while study abroad is obviously significant in the transition from education to a career requiring international competencies, there is no evidence to suggest that ERASMUS students have a better chance than others of a ‘high-flying’ career path. Furthermore, the apparent partial lack of consistency in the specific applicability of study abroad to subsequent career raises the question of whether study abroad should be structured in a more targeted way so that it has more predictable and systematic impacts on employment.