7 Reasons to Love International Education

With Valentine’s Day* on the horizon and love in the air, it seems the perfect time to highlight some of the many reasons to love education, and international education in particular. This has been a big topic of discussion here in the QS Digital office over the past six months, while we’ve been focusing on articulating the personal values, beliefs and goals that keep us motivated in our professional lives. At the heart of our newly identified team vision of “Inspiring Futures” is a deeply rooted belief in the power of education, accompanied by a commitment to helping expand access to international education and all the opportunities this can support.

Here are 7 of our top reasons to love education and international study – add your own in the comments below.

1. International education broadens perspectives

While any form of access to education has the potential to broaden perspectives, this power is especially obvious and potent in the context of international education. One of the key themes identified by our team members (many of whom have studied abroad and/or are currently working outside of their own country), this benefit is consistently cited by international students, academics and anyone else with an interest in the field. Even if you don’t study abroad in person, being part of an internationally diverse community provides invaluable access to multiple contexts, cultures, languages and viewpoints. It’s an opportunity to gain new perspectives on different norms and beliefs, get into the habit of questioning conventions, and practice truly respecting difference.

2. International education fosters diverse connections

A closely related reason to love education, especially when it has an international element, is the chance to establish connections with people from many different backgrounds and walks of life – while at the same time meeting those who share your own interests, passions and aspirations. Universities, particularly those with an international intake, provide a unique kind of melting pot, often the foundation for long-lasting friendships and professional collaborations. Again, this is one of the common themes and experiences of our own team members, and also of the international students and graduates we speak to. Universities too are well aware that their internationally diverse students and alumni constitute some of their most valuable assets – many programs now highlight their international intake and lasting professional networks as key attractions.

3. Education helps people develop and achieve their aspirations

The next cluster of reasons to love education relate to opportunities for personal development and achieving aspirations. This can range from gaining the training required to achieve quite specific career goals, to a much less easily pinned-down sense of all-round personal growth. While the first of these goals may be achieved through access to education in any setting, the experience of studying abroad or within an international community can provide a catalyst for accelerated personal development – not least by heightening many of the challenges involved in living independently and meeting academic expectations.

4. International education supports a broad professional skillset

Recent years have seen plenty of debate around the extent to which universities are adequately supporting employability and how students could be better prepared for the workplace. However, it’s still generally accepted that higher education is effective in developing many of the skills, both “hard” and “soft”, that employers look for. International education is often held in particularly high esteem, providing opportunities for the experience of multiple cultures and languages which so many enterprises and economies now need and value.

5. Access to education supports equal opportunities

Among our own team’s motivations for working in the education space, one of the most commonly cited reasons to love education is that it has the power to support equal opportunities. Regardless of race, age, gender, financial background or other factor, access to education enables every person to grow and develop, opening up all kinds of new opportunities and experience.

6. International education stimulates innovation

If education was ever viewed as the passive absorption of knowledge, those days are long gone. Today, it’s widely accepted that education is an interactive process, in which teaching and learning feed into and off one another, and the idea of student-centered learning is in various stages of adoption across the world. Bringing together minds from diverse backgrounds, international education carries even more potential for stimulating an interactive and innovative approach, whether at the level of large-scale research ventures, or within an undergraduate-level classroom.

7. Access to education enriches entire societies

Given all the above, the final reason to love education has to be that it benefits not just the individuals who participate, but entire societies and economies. This was another of the key themes identified by our team – access to education not only transforms individual lives, but also has much wider-reaching collective benefits. Again, this has multiple facets, ranging from the research which underlies improvements in healthcare or innovations in information-sharing technology, to providing sufficient numbers of specialists to meet labor market demands. At the less tangible end of the spectrum, international education has the potential to strengthen relationships between economies and cultures, promoting better understanding and partnerships. In effect, international education has the capacity to embody all the most positive aspects of globalization, promoting equal opportunities, mutual respect, exchange of ideas, and effective collaboration to bring about positive changes for both individuals and communities.

So – based on the ideas shared within my own little international community here at the QS Digital team – those are my top 7 reasons to love international education. Why do you love international education? Let us know in the comments below, and follow us on Twitter to find out if our “Inspiring Futures” entry in this year’s British Media Awards is successful (fingers crossed…)!

*Incidentally Valentine’s Day is also my own personal “work anniversary” here at TopUniversities, so a double celebration for me!