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 an international environment at a university abroad will prepare you. You can perfect your language knowledge, become aware of certain cultural or communicational differences. which not only will broaden your horizon but help you in dealing with various situations. You can try working in an environment different from what you are used to, and what it is like working with people from other cultural backgrounds. You can make friends and acquaintances form all over the world and learn from internationally renowned experts. In the new environments, facing new challenges, you may learn a lot about yourself too, which may make all the difference in your professional and personal growth.
The first steps
In order to make the most of your adventure abroad your first step should be to define what your goal is when going abroad and based on what criteria you would pick your destination.
Consider the following questions:
Picking the country/region:
Is spending some time in the given country on your bucket list? Or, rather, you would like to see a culture you don’t know much about? Are you motivated by the opportunity to learn a language? You would prefer being closer to home and be able to visit every now and then, or would rather try being far away for a couple of months?
Whichever criterion is your focus, there are many options to choose from. However, it is useful to note that there may be significant differences among countries when it comes to living and travel expenses.
Focus: When you are done deciding which country or region attracts you the most, pinpoint the main motivation and goals of your travel. If the main goal is to deepen your knowledge of a subject matter, you may want to filter the options according to course range. If you rather wish to experience a communal and cultural adventure, for example to learn about another country’s educational system, then it may be a good idea to do some research about what programs are held at the given destination. A time spent abroad may supply you with a myriad of different assets, so in order to make the best possible decision you may want to plan carefully and think about your most important criteria.
Picking the institution: In the case of a study period abroad, it is important to pick a university which has a course that is the counterpart of your major at home and the credits gained there will be accounted for at your home institution. (You may pick a university that is not on the list of partners. In this case you can apply for the foreign courses and trainings as a freemover. This may mean a bit more arrangement if you wish to have 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 final decision about where to go. We encourage you to talk to other students who have been 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 International Directorate.
If you would like to study abroad not just for a short study period, there are further programs, for example the Fudan-Corvinus with a dual degree programme, or the CEMS. Find more information by clicking on the links.
Staying in Europe
When it comes to a study period abroad, most Corvinus students pick a European destination, as there are no visa or other administrative requirements before the trip. Also, as a result of the synchronization of the European higher educational systems it is easy to have the courses accepted in Hungary.
One of the most popular programmes is Erasmus+, , as well as the Campus Mundi grant of the Tempus Foundation, responsible for the internationalisation of the Hungarian higher education. You might as well apply for this as complementary to your completed Erasmus+, which will provide you with extra help in the future.
The goal of the CEEPUS mobility programme is to strengthen the exchange relations between Central and Eastern European universities. If you want to go to a country in the region you may want to look into an opportunity provided by CEEPUS .
In the past years the following European countries were the most popular among the students of Corvinus:
Going a bit
further
Corvinus’s international relations offer great opportunities for those wishing to go beyond Europe as well. More and more of our students test their skills at the most remote ends of the world, from Singapore to the United States, from Chile to Australia. If you really want to leave your comfort zone and get to know a country and culture a lot different from that of yours, you may want to pick one of the above opportunities.
Of course, this also means that going farther usually takes up more organisational work and financial resources. In some of these countries you will need a visa, and it is necessary to be better insured than when you travel within the European Union. But do not worry: the staff working at the International Directorate and our partner universities will help you as best as they can to make your travel and stay trouble-free.
The first step of leaving for a non-EU country is to pick an institution you like. You may choose one that has a bilateral agreement with Corvinus. In this case it will be much easier to have the studies done abroad and the credits accepted here. You may also decide on an institution that has no such agreement with Corvinus. In this case you can go as a freemover, and it will be your task to coordinate the correspondences of the studies taken between the two institutions.
Whichever option you take, the biggest 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 arising issues.