The Unexpected Ways Studying Abroad Benefits Your Education & Career

The idea of studying abroad is increasingly gaining popularity in Sri Lanka. This is not just a trend in Sri Lanka but a global trend with numbers of students not studying in their home country tripling over the last 25 years, and as forecasts show, would not slow down in the coming years.

Studying abroad is a life changing experience for students that helps to grow your network globally, experience new cultures and benefit your chances of career growth. 

Improve language skills

Whether it be learning and polishing your English skills, or learning an entirely new language like Chinese, is rewarding. You will learn the language not just in a classroom setting, but have the advantage of applying it in the real world.

Experience and benefit from the different styles of teaching

Each country has its own distinctive teaching styles. The most common are highlighted below:

Authority Style: Teacher centered. The lecturer delivers a one-way presentation.

Facilitator Style: A teacher-student relationship is built on self-learning, where students develop critical thinking skills.

Delegation Style: The teacher assigns in-class projects that keep the students engaged and actively participate in learning. 

By experiencing these different methods of teaching a student can adapt to any type of management style when starting off a career. 

Build your network Globally

Studying abroad helps you to build relationships with people from all over the world. These connections could open up to life-long friendships, and lead to career opportunities and even business partnerships.

A great way to impress employers

Launch your career with a bang that makes you more competitive in the workforce. 

A recent study done shows 64% employers consider study abroad experience as important and a whopping 92% look for skills such as flexibility and new challenges, an open mind, resourcefulness and drive, to adapt to a different environment, as important skills in an employee, all of which can be found in applicants that have been exposed to different cultures. 

Enhance your self confidence

Immersing yourself in another culture develops life skills, required for personal growth, independence, and adaptability.

Studying abroad can be an overwhelming experience, however, the challenges you overcome help you become a mature person. Students learn leadership and team management skills that are important in any situation and Studying Abroad helps develop these skills. 

Apart from this, students learn to be responsible, become more independent, and adapt better to situations. The experiences a student gains by being exposed to cross cultural backgrounds makes students understand to respect and be open to another’s perspective. 

Grab the golden opportunity to travel the world

A window of opportunity is opened to students that study abroad through ‘travel’. During study breaks most students visit the nearby areas and immerse themselves in the culture of where they study. Apart from visiting the region around which you study, opportunities open up to visit other territories as your global friends would invite you to visit their countries and regions. All in all, studying abroad helps you to visit destinations you would not have the opportunity of visiting otherwise.

Experience new cultures

Your views of the world are broadened by experiencing the life styles of different cultures.

Usually, our cultural background impacts the way we react to certain situations. Experiencing different cultural perspectives will change the way we handle situations. 

Discover new career opportunities

Studying In another country exposes you to better career opportunities globally. Most International Student’s Officers at Universities offer Career Guidance Fairs and Workshops as well as Internship Opportunities, which give international students better career prospects. 

All in all studying abroad opens up opportunities not only for each individual student but for Sri Lanka as a whole, as many who study abroad would eventually want to serve their motherland in some way. This opens Sri Lanka to new and vibrant ideologies and thought processes which would benefit the country and future generations.