5 benefits of studying abroad

One of the most exciting opportunities you’ll be offered as a student is the chance to study abroad. For many people, finding time to travel becomes more difficult once they enter full-time work, so studying abroad may present the perfect opportunity for you to travel somewhere new and create some amazing experiences while you’re still a student.

Of course, deciding to live and study in a different country can be pretty scary—especially if you’ve never travelled abroad on your own before—but there are so many benefits to venturing outside of your comfort zone and studying elsewhere. Here are 5 of the main benefits of studying abroad:

1. Travelling somewhere completely new

Naturally, one of the main benefits of studying abroad is that you get the opportunity to perhaps travel somewhere you’ve never been before. This could be the perfect chance for you to travel to that country you’ve always been fascinated by—whether that’s Italy, Australia, the USA, or so many others.

Even if you’ve already been to the country you decide to study in, actually living in another country will mean that you’re fully immersed in that culture. This is a fantastic learning experience, and embracing other cultures will ultimately make you a much more tolerant and knowledgeable person. Your sense of independence will also grow as you travel and learn how to assimilate into a completely new culture.

2. Learning things you didn’t learn about back at home

There will be many obvious differences between home and the country you’re studying in, such as food, popular activities, attitudes, and even language, but another key difference is within the education system.

The place you’ve travelled to may have a very different education or assessment system, and the curriculum may feature things you never really had the opportunity to study back at home. This could involve learning about the literature or history of another country as a humanities student, and this can make your knowledge of the subject far broader and more multifaceted.

3. Developing your language skills

As well as learning a new curriculum, studying abroad may give you the opportunity to either hone your foreign language skills or learn a completely new language. Learning a second language is a fantastic skill to have, and it will enable you to immerse yourself more completely in your chosen country. It will also give you the opportunity to communicate with people you never could have communicated with before.

4. Making new friends

While studying abroad, you’ll have the chance to meet so many new people—some may even become your lifelong friends. Meeting new people in another country will expose you to new ideas and attitudes, which will enrich your understanding of different world-views. You may even pick up some new interests and hobbies from your friends that you’d never really tried before.

5. It provides great experience for your CV!

This benefit might not be so fun, but it’s definitely important. Studying abroad will provide you with so many new skills and enhance your sense of independence and self-reliance, as described above, and this is definitely transferable to your future career.

When employers read your CV and see that you’ve studied abroad, they’ll know that you’re an independent, knowledgeable and culturally-aware candidate, and this will surely give you a boost when you’re trying to secure your dream job—whether that’s back in your home country or in the country you studied in.

Knowing multiple languages is also extremely desirable as a potential employee, and studying abroad gives you the perfect opportunity to reach fluency in another language. 

Have any of these benefits of studying abroad convinced you to continue your education overseas?

Don’t forget, when you sign up to Youth Discount you can get a free copy of The Graduate Guide which has loads of advice on studying abroad.

Want to read more? Check out our other travel articles.