The professional value of study and internships abroad

This policy brief summes up research on career impacts of credit mobility and interships abroad. Overall, existing research shows only moderate career impacts, and highlights variability in outcomes depending on graduates’ country of mobility (host country), country of origin, field of study, and type of mobility (internship vs. study). The impacts generally tend to be greater for horizontal career outcomes (e.g. job location and content) than for vertical career outcomes (e.g. wages and job prestige). In addition, employers seem to value international internships more than study abroad periods.