All college and university students would benefit from spending at least one semester studying in a foreign country.

In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.


It is argued that all college and university students would benefit from immersing in a foreign country for at least one semester. Some advocates that such opportunity would provide students with more chances to interact with local people, to enhance their understanding of culture and language as well as history. However, there are also cases that the time spent in labs or preparing for certificates is of utmost importance. Hence, I personally partly agree with the statement with the following reasons.

I would say for students majored in humanities and social sciences, studying abroad is key to fully fulfill the graduation requirement and advance their understanding of the theories. For example, an Asian Psychology student would be surprised to find out that not all folks in the world are collective, family-centered and hierarchical when compared to folks living in western world such as United States, United Kingdom and Germany where a individualism and egalitarianism culture persists. Thus, such experience is valuable to supplement with what the textbook and lecture cannot offer. Also, for students major in sociology, they can take the time to observe how the society, social structure, social capital differs from their home country. These learning materials may not even be provided by their school teachers who have not been abroad. Taken together, going abroad for exchange is fundamental for humanities and social science students.

For science students, it is also vita to be exposed to different labs with different dynamics and culture. Normally, if a student stays in one lab for continuous three years, he/she is likely to make noticeable progress, such as conference poster, manuscript etc. However, to achieve even more, one has to step outside of his/her comfort zone, and learn from different supervisors. If he/she is lucky to be supervised by a foreign professor, he/she might acquire new perspective, new standpoint, and new methodology. With these intangible asset accumulating, this learner will eventually benefit his/her long-tern development as a researcher.

However, the are cases that this statement may not hold true. I would like to take accounting students for example. For accounting students, most of the time they spent is on learning the accounting principles of local country, and preparing for numerous exams such as CPA, CFA, ACCA to obtain certificates. If they spend one semester abroad, this would impede their career life and cause one-year delay for successful graduation and job hunting. Therefore, not all students are suitable for exchange abroad.

To conclude, I think not all college and university students are necessarily study in a foreign country for at least one semester. Students in humanities, social sciences and science would benefit from such design, but students in finance and other sectors may not. To make full use of the four years, one should be proactive to seek help from academic adviser and make preparation ahead of everything such as exchange, intern and summer course. In consideration of future development and successful career, every valuable chance in school such as peer network, and interview preparation, exchange funding should not be missed.