It is, of course, possible to achieve a certain degree of proficiency in a foreign language in many cases a quite remarkable degree-without setting foot in a country where that language is spoken as the native tongue. And who knows, the advent of computer-assisted language-learning (CALL) and other advanced technologies, supplementing more traditional media such as the human teacher and foreign language assistant, may serve both to broaden and deepen the opportunities available for acquiring such proficiency. Similarly, countless generations of students, taught and self-taught, testify to the fact that it is quite feasible to learn German economics or Greek history without having actually inhaled the exhaust fumes in Frankfurt or Athens. Nonetheless, there is a wide body of opinion which holds that nothing can replace actual first-hand acquaintance with a foreign country when it comes to appreciating what makes that country tick, and the present article is therefore concerned with the 'foreign academic experience' aspect of the complex set of questions and issues subsumed under the general heading of 'foreign languages and international communication'. It will concentrate mainly on identifying some reasons for and lines of research enquiry into academic mobility, previous issues of the European Xournal of Education having dealt on other occasions with more concrete case-studies [1] and, within that framework, on matters relating to student study abroad, though it should be emphasized at the outset that, as Otto Klinberg recently pointed out [2S, research into faculty exchange, whether for researeh or teaching purposes, is a matter which ought to command greater attention too in coming years. It might be argued that the maintenance and further promotion of study abroad and the learning of foreign languages has never been more important than at present. Is it not so that any country which believes in offering its young people the opportunity of broadening their horizons by coming into contact with other cultures, must seek to enable them to experience such cultures at first hand? Is it not equally manifest that any country relying to a significant extent on exports must acknowledge the key role to be played by persons having not only the competence to express themselves in another language, but also to communicate with trading partners in other countries in a way which enables them to grasp the socio-economic systems, the political and social structures and to appreciate the historical and cultural traditions which have shaped the ways of thought of those with whom they are dealing? And finally, is there not a crucial political need for the influential sectors of the younger generations from different countries to have the opportunity of meeting and working together in educational programmes which will equip them