Advantages Of Exchange Programs

Running head: BENEFITS OF STUDYING ABROAD








University Exchange Program in Other Country Benefits
Evelin Yoset Gonzalez Ocampo
Universidad Del Valle de Mexico







Ma. DelCarmen Albarràn Iraola
May 6, 2012
ABSTRACT
STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMS HAVE EXISTED FOR MANY CENTURIES AND WITH IT MANY BENEFITS HAVE SURFACED. STUDENTS WHO CHOOSE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAMSHAVE BETTER JOB OPPORTUNITIES. THEY HAVE BETTER UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTANCE OF DIFFERENT CULTURES AND COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES. THEY HAVE BETTER LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND MORE INTEREST IN GLOBAL ISSUES.THEY BECOME MORE INDEPENDENT AND DEVELOP LIFE-LONG FRIENDSHIPS AND WORK RELATIONS. THEY ALSO FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE IN FOREIGN ENVIRONMENTS AND HAVE BETTER ANALYTICAL AND PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS.University Exchange Program in Other Country Benefits

PARTICIPATING IN A UNIVERSITY EXCHANGE PROGRAM IN ANOTHER COUNTRY HAS MANY BENEFITS. FOR EXAMPLE ONCE YOU FINISH YOURDEGREE AND GO LOOKING FOR JOBS YOU WILL HAVE BETTER JOB OPPORTUNITIES. COMPANIES FAVOR OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE. ACCORDING TO THE INSTITUTE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION OF STUDENTS’S SURVEY, WHERE THEYSURVEYED ALUMNI FROM STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS FROM 1950 TO 1999, STUDENTS WHO STUDIED ABOARD FOR A YEAR ACQUIRED SKILL SETS THAT INFLUENCED CAREER PATH BY 82%. “AN ENTIRE RANGE OF PROFESSIONALOPPORTUNITIES HAVE OPENED UP TO ME IN RECENT YEARS, PARTLY DUE TO THE SKILLS AND INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES I GAINED” SAID JOYDEEP SENGUPTA WHO WAS SURVEYED BY THE IES MADRID IN 1998.

Another advantage is betterlanguage acquisition. “Continued language usage was greatest among respondents who lived in a homestay, with 42 percent saying they now use a language other than English on a regular basis” wroteMary M. Dwyer and Courtney K. Peters on their article The Benefits of Study Abroad. Language exchanges tend to benefit oral proficiency, fluency, colloquial vocabulary acquisition, and vernacular...