Work And Study Abroad

The National Picture as at 1997/98

This page contains an analysis of a selection of the results of the national survey of residence abroad carried out in 1998, updated through contact with individual institutions. For example:

• the number of UK students at foreign universities exceeds those in work placements, even including language assistants

• 92.5% of students who go abroad do so in year 3 of their course- two-thirds of work placements are arranged by the students themselves

• most accommodation for students abroad is not arranged by their university.

The data is ordered according to the original national survey questionnaire. Hence, this page has been divided into sections, each containing statistics on a discrete area of current practice. You may go directly to the sections that interest you most by selecting the link below

Course and placement details

• Course structure

Type and duration of residence abroad

• Who organises the period of Residence Abroad?
• Who decides the location and type of placement?
• What types of placement are available to students?
• Restrictions on placement options
• Who arranges the work placement?

Preparation for residence abroad

• Linguistic preparation
• Intercultural preparation
• Employment/ transferable skills
• Academic preparation
• Study skills
• Involvement of students' parents

N.B. The statistics below are taken from a corpus of data obtained from examining a total of 485 UK HE courses involving a period of residence abroad of at least 3 weeks, and collectively offering the following language options:

Course and placement details

Course structure

Type and duration of residence abroad

Who organises the period of Residence Abroad?

Who decides the location and type of placement?

What types of placement are available to students?

In general terms there are three types of placement available to students embarking on a period of Residence Abroad:

• university study
• assistantship in a university or school
• work placement

Of these options, university study is compulsory on 136 courses and not available on 4; assistantships were found to be compulsory on 8 courses and not available for 90 courses; work placements were reported to be a compulsory part of 25 courses and not available on 52 (see fig. 1)

Fig. 1 Restrictions on placement options

Where work placements are available, in at least 75% of cases they are paid

Who organises the work placements? Most commonly (65% of cases) the student arranges his/ her own work placement; 23% are arranged by the home institution, 11% by the host institution, and in 1% of cases the work placement is arranged by a local agency in the host country (see fig. 2)

Fig. 2 Who arranges the work placement?

Preparation for residence abroad

Linguistic preparation

Is linguistic preparation provided specifically for the period of residence abroad?

Intercutural preparation

Is intercultural preparation provided specifically for the period of residence abroad (this may include addressing attitudinal and emotional aspects, understanding assumptions embedded in national culture and reflections on cultural differences)?

Employment/transferable skills

Are employment or transferable skills covered as part of the preparation for residence abroad (examples might be careers advice or courses on how to enhance C.V. through activities abroad)?

Academic preparation

Is academic preparation provided specifically linked to residence abroad (for example, courses on Society or Culture such as 'Russia Today' or 'Contemporary Spain')?

Study skills

Are study skills covered in the preparation for residence abroad (examples might be research methods, using Spanish academic libraries or guidelines for dissertation layout)?

Involvement of students' parents

Are there briefings for parents as part of the overall preparation process?

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