A life-changing journey: the effects of a study period abroad and the personal experience at Warwick University

Abstract

This thesis aims to estimate the effects of a term abroad through a survey conducted with the international students of Warwick University in England. The 30 participants of the survey left their home for a foreign land in order to join an international education program. The researcher spent a term abroad in the same university with Erasmus program. The anachronism means “European community action schema for the mobility of university students”. It deals with a temporary study abroad in Europe, which aims to promote cooperation among different universities. The researcher compared his personal results with the 30 participants’ interviews. The group is heterogeneous and involves students who spent their period abroad in the academic year 2014- 2015. What emerges from the survey is that the effects on personal, intercultural and academic areas are positive. The thesis comprises 5 chapters. As far as the first chapter is concerned, it focuses on the integration in mobility. It outlines the concepts of culture, interculturality and intercultural competence, which is to say the capability to communicate with different cultures. Byram is the main reference of research about interculturality. In order to make practical examples, the researcher deals with a movie on interculturalism and Erasmus program, the Auberge Español. Furthermore, we the researcher will dwell on barriers to intercultural communication, those obstacles that prevent the students from interacting with the others. The last part of the chapter examines what is known as Culture shock; it takes place when individuals leave their origins for a new land with different cultural backgrounds. Its stages that include honeymoon, disintegration, reintegration and independence will be analyzed in detail. The second chapter explores international mobility and the concepts that around it. It is defined as the human phenomenon of movements across territories. However, we will see that mobility can be of two different types. It is assumed that the idea of spending a period abroad dates back to the past with the development of Grand Tour. The last part of the chapter will show some data on study abroad. After a description of Warwick University, chapter 3 examines the research questions in order to estimate the effects on students. In fact, studying in a different environment makes participants stronger. The researcher employed two different formats: a close-ended questionnaire and an open-ended one. In this way, results are quantitative and qualitative in the meantime and allow the researcher to create a profile for each participant for describing students before and after their study period abroad. Chapter 4 is split into two parts; the first section summarizes the results of the open-ended questions. The second part, instead, outlines the researcher’s experience and the personal, academic and intercultural effects she had after the term abroad. Moreover, the researcher kept a diary in order to write parts of her experience useful for the thesis. Finally, chapter 5 is aimed at the illustration of the quantitative data and outlines through graphics the students’ answers. We will see how obtaining an identity development and a global citizenship are important components in today’s globalized world. Further data analysis showed that the students who studied in the English speaking country developed their language abilities. The project may stimulate further research on the impact of cross border mobility programs and the consequent more effects on students.