As has been argued by LARA, the period abroad should be as fully integrated as possible into the degree programme undertaken by students of modern languages. Certain principles follow from that initial premise. Students and staff should have a shared awareness of the objectives of the period abroad and how they relate to the objectives of the course as a whole. Tasks should be set which meet those objectives and those tasks should be assessed. As far as possible, the tasks should also be accredited and be seen as an integral part of the student's course of study.

There is a need for clarity regarding all aspects of the structure and requirements of the period abroad but especially in matters of assessment and accreditation:

• the academic activities should have clearly-stated learning objectives so that they can be assessed and, where possible, accredited;
• details of the assessment criteria for each of the assessed activities should be given to the students before the start of the period abroad together with an indication of the relative weighting accorded to each of the elements involved, e.g. for a project/dissertation, content and language; for an oral presentation, accuracy, fluency, interest generated, use of visual aids, content.
• a copy of the marking grid used by staff to assess written work should be given to each student;
• the rules concerning plagiarism, i.e. what constitutes plagiarism and the procedures to be followed in cases of suspected plagiarism, should be set down in clear language.

As far as possible, the learning process should be seen as an equal object of assessment alongside the outcomes. The production of a self-evaluation report arising out of a learning journal can be a useful way of concentrating the student's mind on the learning process. A learning agreement will ensure that the student takes responsibility for setting her/himself clear personal objectives. With such a structure in place, the assessment of personal development can become a reality and can take its place alongside the longer established forms of assessed outcome.

If, before going abroad, the students have been trained in the methods that will enable them to take responsibility for their own linguistic and intercultural learning, they can be assessed by the home department on the outcomes of academic/educational activities (language assignments, an intercultural project) which are linked to their degree-course at home but are within their own control and which have the advantage of enabling the students to call on all aspects of their life abroad in order to further their own learning.

Since the great majority of HEIs have adopted the CATS system of accreditation and since the period abroad usually represents 25% of the degree-course, there is a good case for allocating 120 CATS points for a full academic year's activity. That ensures that the experience, with all its academic and educational ramifications, is taken as seriously by students and staff as the rest of the course. Although a simple pass/fail assessment is all that is needed for the award of the 120 credits, it is preferable to move to a properly graded assessment of the learning achieved during the period abroad.

The question of what is required of the student in return for the credits awarded will depend on the type of course, the objectives of the course as a whole and specifically of the period abroad and the set of activities on which the individual student is engaged. (This is where the individual learning agreement can be particularly valuable.) The majority of the credits will no doubt continue to be awarded for the well established kinds of activity - a project/dissertation, marks gained at a host institution, a report on a work-placement - but, with the increasing interest across the sector in personal development, transferable skills, employability, etc., it is arguable that a proportion of the credits should be reserved for personal development, an aspect of the experience of living abroad which the great majority of language departments consider to be important but which is seldom assessed.