Higher achievers? Mobility programmes, generic skills, and academic learning: a UK case study

ABSTRACT

The received wisdom is that mobility programmes considerably contribute to students in terms of the development of generic skills, language and multicultural competence and competitive advantage in the global labour market. Surprisingly, the impacts of mobility programmes on academic learning have received very limited research interest in the literature. This study uses students enrolled on international management and modern language degrees in a British university to investigate the benefits of a yearlong study abroad programme, on the development of linguistic and multicultural skills measured by their academic results pre- and post-international mobility. Using a control group of students who stay on campus, quantitative data drawn from a longitudinal study over 8 years conclusively suggest that study abroad students academically outperform control group students after controlling for gender, domicile, ethnicity, socio-economic status, prior academic performance and age. The implications of these results on higher education and policy-making are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Yearlong study abroad
• academic learning
• language skills
• quantitative methods
• control group

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zhiqi Wang

Zhiqi Wang is a Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University with a PhD from Reading University. Her research looks at Chinese students in UK higher education and the impact of work placements on the learning outcomes of business students. She has co-authored a number of academic papers in these areas.

Ian Crawford

Ian Crawford is a Senior Teaching Fellow at Bath University. He is interested in business school education settings and his research interests include work placement, academic performance and individual differences. He has published a number of academic articles and publications on leading educational journals.

Lu Liu

Lu Liu is a Senior Lecturer at Bath Spa University with a PhD from the University of Bolton. Her research interest includes integrating knowledge management activities into the management information systems for the SMEs and non-profit organisations; international new ventures and their post-entry performance; regional economic development in the ethnic minority and less-developed areas; and business ethics.