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any problems? “Yes they do, definite- abroad?” other, deep and transforming effects
ly,” says Åsa. “The students find most of a visit abroad, and this is a shame.
things hard, which is the very reason “Ideally speaking, yes! My study This is a matter that ought to be
why they learn. Getting out of their showed me how such visits trans- discussed at a political level.”
comfort zone is what a study visit form young people. They learn to
is all about. Even minor details of know themselves better, they get in- Funding is needed
everyday life, such as catching a bus terested in other cultures, they care External funding is essential in order
to school can seem like enormous about other people’s lives and they to reach a wider group of students
challenges to somebody who is not develop a feeling of solidarity”. and thus enable many students to go
familiar with the language, the codes Åsa Karlsson Perez feels that schools, abroad, stresses Åsa Karlsson Perez.
and the customs. This example may on the other hand, generally speak- “Ideally, all schools should receive
seem banal. But we are dealing with ing, undervalue the student’s inter- budget allocations, funds which are
young people who have little experi- national experience. earmarked for student exchange
ence, other than of their own norms programmes” she says.
and routines. A deeper process takes “The schools look at formal qualifica-
place under the apparent banalities.” tions. And it is true that the students Runo Isaksen: Communication
have also grown in terms of language adviser at SIU/Euroguidance Norway
“What then are the implications of and cultural competence. But no real
your study? Should all students go educational value is put on all those

Åsa Karlsson Perez is a lecturer at The Department of Educational Science at Umeå University in Sweden. She is also
a language teacher in upper secondary school.

‘Meeting the other and oneself. Experience and learning in international, upper secondary study visits abroad’
(2014) is the title of Åsa Karlsson Perez’s doctoral thesis. She conducted in-depth interviews with 17 former upper
secondary school students from Sweden and Chile three to four years after they had been on a study visit abroad as
part of an exchange programme (two to four weeks).

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