Those who have heard of the Student Exchange know how exciting the whole prospect of it is. Those who haven’t, listen up:
There are two types of student exchange: Erasmus Student Exchange and Intercontinental Xchange. The former is a program provided by the EU where students of various courses spend usually a semester of their second year at a different university within EU. The latter is Intercontinental Xchange. Below are a few points that could help you learn more about international and European exchanges and why it is an amazing opportunity.
Falmouth University has an impressive amount of partner schools to choose from with most of them in Europe and ranges from Italy to Lithuania (that are part of Erasmus). That means the EU will support you financially throughout the duration of your exchange (around €300 per month) and will also pay for your language courses if you decide to take them.
Language courses seem scary, don’t they? Well, if you’re in a non-English speaking country, there will be people speaking another language. Don’t worry about that – most of the universities provide modules taught in English and/or different types of help to get around the foreign language (like getting paired up with a student that is capable of translating).
Also, with Erasmus you don’t have to actually choose a course that is identical to your own (quite frankly, there rarely is an exact duplicate of your curriculum), which means that you get to pick from whatever is related to what you’re studying. For example, I study Journalism and Creative Writing here at Falmouth Uni; abroad, I could do journalism, text, media, communication, intercultural studies, English and even the country’s home language as a part of my study (I just have to convince the head of my department to agree).
But if you feel like Europe is not far enough from home, you can aways fly over the ocean – USA, Australia and New Zealand, and even Japan! They sound really cool, right? And in the first three, you wouldn’t even have to be worried about the language! But there’s a catch to studying outside Europe — since those places are outside the EU, you will not receive any funds. Everything from the plane to the meals on your new campus is your responsibility to find money for.
An interesting point that applies to both programs: if you do an exchange, your second year will not count toward your degree, you just have to pass. Instead, your third year will count for 100%.
Lastly, don’t be scared, don’t say you can’t do it, and don’t underestimate yourself. Having been on several workshops about the exchange and hearing many students describe their experience, I think all you need to have is enough courage to take the first step out of your comfort zone and see what’s out there. I’ll take part next year. Will you?