The International Component
What's the point of a stay abroad?"The most important thing is to live in another culture. In another country nothing is familiar in the beginning. One must make oneself aware of everything. A lot has to be learned. One has to be open and ready to emotionally accept new, unfamiliar, even strange things and to try them out practically. Often this also entails questioning the familiar and thereby a little bit of oneself. Studying abroad therefore ought to be more than merely collecting certificates--this too, but above all it should expand one's experiences, it should help one to examine (pre-)judgments and on the whole to acquire new options for shaping one's own life."
Prof. Gerd Syben, Professor of the Sociology of Work and Industrial Sociology at the Bremen University of Applied Sciences
A semester abroad during one's studies, even more so a practicum or a working stay, makes a positive impression at every subsequent job application. It indicates that you are curious, take initiative, manage your studies and your work independently. A stay abroad is also an ideal instrument for making a quick professional take-off. The most important thing, however, is the chance to get to know another country, a foreign language, a new culture and its people, an invaluable human experience.