What are your opportunities during a semester abroad?
You may want to try yourself abroad right after graduating,or, work in a foreign country during your career.
A semester, or even just a couple months spent in aninternational environment at a university abroad will prepare you. You can perfectyour language knowledge, become aware of certain cultural or communicationaldifferences. which not only will broaden your horizon but help you in dealingwith various situations. You can try working in an environment different fromwhat you are used to, and what it is like working with people from othercultural backgrounds. You can make friends and acquaintances form all over theworld and learn from internationally renowned experts. In the new environments,facing new challenges, you may learn a lot about yourself too, which may makeall the difference in your professional and personal growth.
The first steps
In order to make the most of your adventure abroad yourfirst step should be to define what your goal is when going abroad and based onwhat criteria you would pick your destination.
Consider the following questions:
Picking the country/region:
Is spending some time in the given country on yourbucket list? Or, rather, you would like to see a culture you don’t know muchabout? Are you motivated by the opportunity to learn a language? You wouldprefer being closer to home and be able to visit every now and then, or wouldrather try being far away for a couple of months?
Whichever criterion is your focus, there are manyoptions to choose from. However, it is useful to note that there may be significantdifferences among countries when it comes to living and travel expenses.
Focus: When you are done deciding which country or regionattracts you the most, pinpoint the main motivation and goals of your travel. Ifthe main goal is to deepen your knowledge of a subject matter, you may want tofilter the options according to course range. If you rather wish to experience acommunal and cultural adventure, for example to learn about another country’seducational system, then it may be a good idea to do some research about what programsare held at the given destination. A time spent abroad may supply you with amyriad of different assets, so in order to make the best possible decision youmay want to plan carefully and think about your most important criteria.
Picking the institution: In the case of a studyperiod abroad, it is important to pick a university which has a course that isthe counterpart of your major at home and the credits gained there will beaccounted for at your home institution. (You may pick a university that is not onthe list of partners. In this case you can apply for the foreign courses andtrainings as a freemover. This may mean a bit more arrangement if you wish tohave your credits accepted.)
Because of the large number of partner institutions,even after thinking through all these options, it may be hard to make the finaldecision about where to go. We encourage you to talk to other students who havebeen to a foreign university and ask them about their experiences.
The list of the partner institutions is here but you can get further information from the faculty staff or the InternationalDirectorate.
If you would like to study abroad not just for a shortstudy period, there are further programs, for example the Fudan-Corvinuswith a dual degree programme, or the CEMS. Find moreinformation by clicking on the links.
Staying inEurope
When it comes to a studyperiod abroad, most Corvinus students pick a European destination, as there areno visa or other administrative requirements before the trip. Also, as a resultof the synchronization of the European higher educational systems it is easy tohave the courses accepted in Hungary.
One of the most popularprogrammes is Erasmus+, , as well as the Campus Mundi grant of the TempusFoundation, responsible for the internationalisation of the Hungarian highereducation. You might as well apply for this as complementary to your completedErasmus+, which will provide you with extra help in the future.
The goal of the CEEPUS mobility programme is to strengthen the exchange relations between Centraland Eastern European universities. If you want to go to a country in the regionyou may want to look into an opportunity provided by CEEPUS .
In the past years thefollowing European countries were the most popular among the students ofCorvinus:
Going a bitfurther
Corvinus’s internationalrelations offer great opportunities for those wishing to go beyond Europe aswell. More and more of our students test their skills at the most remote endsof the world, from Singapore to the United States, from Chileto Australia. If you really want to leave your comfort zone and get toknow a country and culture a lot different from that of yours, you may want topick one of the above opportunities.
Of course, this also meansthat going farther usually takes up more organisational work and financialresources. In some of these countries you will need a visa, and it isnecessary to be better insured than when you travel within the EuropeanUnion. But do not worry: the staff working at the International Directorate andour partner universities will help you as best as they can to make your traveland stay trouble-free.
The first step of leaving fora non-EU country is to pick an institution you like. You may choose one thathas a bilateral agreement with Corvinus. In this case it will be much easier tohave the studies done abroad and the credits accepted here. You may also decideon an institution that has no such agreement with Corvinus. In this case youcan go as a freemover, and it will be your task to coordinate the correspondencesof the studies taken between the two institutions.
Whichever option you take, thebiggest support may be provided by the Campus Mundi grant of the Tempus Foundation. The grant decision will be coordinated by Tempus,but the staff of the International Directorate will also help with any arisingissues.