DRIVERS AND BARRIERS FOR HAVING AN EXPERIENCE OF STUDYING ABROAD. EVIDENCE FROM YOUNG EUROPEANS

Erasmus + fosters people to study, train, teach, or volunteer in a foreign country. However, we suggest that there are barriers that prevents students to study abroad as well as drivers that bring students to take this opportunity. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze whats barriers face student at higher education to have an experience abroad. Specifically, lack of financial means, insuffucient language skills, lack of information on how to proceed or apply, fear that it would be too difficult, fear that their experience will not be recognised, family,personal or work reasons and the stay would be long. Additionally, we explore what are the drivers that bring students to have an experience abroad. We particularly explore the following drivers: opportunity to meet new people, discovering other cultures and habits, becoming more independent, developing new skills, improving your chances for a good job or career, having a fresh outlook on work or studies, improving language skills, and becoming more open-minded.

We used data gathered from the “Eurobarometer Nº 455” which compiles the responses of 8153 young people from 28 Member States of the European Union.

We will discover what are the main barriers that prevent students to take part in a mobility program and the specific drivers that young Europeans take into account when decide to have an experience abroad. Additionally, we will study the differentiated effect of those barriers and drivers on people living in rural areas, small or medium town and large cities. We will discuss theoretical and practical implications.