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“Skill Sets Students Develop While Study Abroad”

A new country, unknown people, different culture, foreign language and much more make your study abroad experience a first of its kind. You are not visiting another exotic place on a vacation with your family, but staying there on your own, meeting peers from all over the world, interacting with locals and travelling alone. Just as it sounds exciting, it is as much learning. Study abroad is a wonderful way of discovering yourself through various situations and being equipped with great life skills that you acquire from a dynamic educational ambience. Here are the essentials skills that you achieve during your study abroad stint:
Leadership skills: what makes someone stand out as a leader? Is it a trait one is born with or can it be acquired? Study abroad data shows that a considerable number of alumni of eminent foreign universities have donned the mantle of a leader, Head of the State or entrepreneur. Institutions abroad emphasize on building those attributes in their students that would empower them to be path finders and lead others. The campus offers a rich environment to cultivate your intellect, and shape your personality. The pedagogy induces in students the spirit of self-learning, research and hands on practice. The air pulsates with great motivation, to-do attitude and a high current of creativity. Such a platform harnesses one’s strengths and energy to be a focused self-starter, team player and a visionary. Following are the specific skills that you are certain to gather:

• Creativity: The education system will allow you to go beyond books and indulge in as much research as you want. It’ll expedite your learning with excursions, travels and field trips. However, it’ll also expect you to come up with your own take of all the experiences in the form of projects, presentations, assignments. How about helming a science project or a directing a Shakespearean play? The learn, unlearn and relearn formula of experiential learning will prepare you to initiate and take responsibility of your educational journey. Such an approach is an attempt to make students more enterprising, and participative. In addition, you will get numerous opportunities to partake of departmental research ventures and contribute your share of knowledge in it.
• Team Work: The assignment or projects are deliberately designed to be conducted in groups. You’ll get the taste of working in a team that comprises of members of, say, six different nationalities. It’ll no doubt be a unique and amazing experience to collaborate with a group of multi-cultural peers sharing a common goal. Not only will you know how to sync your working style with the rest but to delegate work appropriately and elicit apt response from others while maintaining a conducive and friendly environment.
• Time Management: As you’ll be managing everything on your own from household chores to project work, shopping to planning your travels, you’ll by default develop the skill of time management and better organisation. As they say ‘necessity is the cause of all inventions’, you too will devise strategies to work smart and be outcome-driven. Being able to create efficient plans as per the requirement of situations to facilitate and accelerate functions is the hallmark of a great leader.

Social skills: Do you make acquaintances easily? When you are able to connect to people, even those unknown to you, without much ado, you are gifted with great social skills. Don’t worry, most of us develop these skills with time or acquire them as we grow older and more experienced. Interestingly, we are moulded by our environment and study abroad plays a tremendous part to offer you one where you naturally grow to be social and more forthcoming. Imagine the advantage of learning those skills earlier in life than much later. You can derive great success in personal and professional interactions that will enable you to live your dream life. Here are the vital attributes that will influence your personality:

• Inter-Personal: While studying abroad you’ll be away from your family, your support system. You’ll be surprised to find how instantly you bond with other foreign students who are also undergoing the same feeling. Gradually, over time you’ll form good rapport with more students on campus across departments, through collaborative projects, extra-curricular activities, exchange programs and the like.
• Communication: In a new environment, you’ll have to make a constant effort to reach out to people. In your daily attempt, your verbal as well as non-verbal communication skills will be polished and refined. You’ll have enhanced capacity to listen to what others are saying and respond appropriately. Whether working with peers on an assignment or exchanging formalities with a local, you will learn to communicate with ease, spontaneity and sophistication. Your language proficiency too will get a boost.
• Cross-Cultural: An international academic platform will expose you to know, learn and understand people from different cultures. Your peers, club members and room-mates will be from across the world, with unfamiliar practices and beliefs. This experience will not only widen your perspective, but make you a more culturally sensitive, empathetic and liberal minded individual. Appreciation of diversity is a crucial mindset in the global workspace.

Social skills are a much sought-after attribute that employers look for in prospective candidates. These are the essential skills that you need for team building, collaborating on an international platform and leading business growth.

Life skills: Back home, your lifestyle is more relaxed as you know your parents will take care of all your needs and decide the best for you. Study abroad will compel you to take charge of your life and daily activities. On one hand, you’ll have an exciting adventure of exploring untrodden areas, on the other you’ll learn to be independent, confident and a multi-tasker. It’ll be a transformative journey that will make you future ready and provide you with invaluable life skills like:

• Self-Reliance: Living on your own in a foreign land, figuring out each and every aspect from scratch and making it like your second home is a challenging process. However, the reward lies in your transition into a self-sufficient and self-reliant individual. You’ll have unwavering faith and confidence in yourself to pull through any situation.
• Decision-Making: You’ll find yourself amid peers who are focused and have a clear idea about their every move. Circumstances as well as your company will teach you to be analytical, decisive and firm in your choices. With time the skill of scanning a situation and taking quick decision accordingly will become a part of your nature.
•  Studying abroad is like embarking on a voyage leaving the comforts of home. You’ll travel a great deal, stay in diverse environments and living conditions, interact with strangers and a lot more. You’ll be able to adjust in any situation, readily adapt to any climate. Later in life, as you’ll travel across the world you’ll never feel lost or clueless but find your comfort corner anywhere.

The experience that you’ll gain during your time in a foreign country will be your resource for your future. These skills that you can only acquire will shape your personality to shine above all.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

ReachIvy is a premium education and career advisory that helps aspiring students get accepted into top tier educational institutions globally. We have successful admits at MIT, Columbia, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, London School of Economics, University of Michigan, Oxford, University of Chicago amongst others.

Vibha Kagzi, Founder and CEO, ReachIvy, holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a Bachelor of Science from Carnegie Mellon University. She has also pursued courses at the University of California, Berkeley, the London School of Economics and the Indian School of Business.

Our global team of counsellors have also acquired their degrees from premier institutes and are passionate about sharing their experiences with students worldwide.