issue 82 求拍砖！

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Nowadays, international exchanges between universities and colleges are increasing rapidly. Every semester, millions of college students are sent abroad by their home universities for collegiate exchange programs. And it has become a public contention that whether there is the need for universities to do so. Some people argues that sending students abroad will seriously affect their study and curriculum in their home universities; while others claim that it is necessary for students to have the chance to go abroad on exchange programs in order to expand their horizons and to promote international academic exchange. In my opinion, though there will be certain disadvantages if a student spends one of his/her semester abroad, it is completely necessary for the colleges and universities to promote students to study abroad.

What we have to admit is that the disadvantages are obvious for both the universities and the students if the universities require their students to spend at least one semester studying in a foreign country. The students cannot receive very systematic college education from one university since the curriculum varies a lot among different universities. The students may also have to postpone their graduation due to the possibility that they cannot transfer the credit of the courses freely between the foreign universities and their home universities. On behalf of the universities, it is really hard for them to arrange classes and teaching since the students keep coming and going. For example, in Fudan University in China, all the Korean language studies students but one in the class of 2013
went on exchange in the autumn semester of 2011, so the remaining one could not have any courses relating to Korean language studies in that semester, which was an inconvenience both to him and to the faculty of language studies.

However, why
international exchanges between universities are becoming more and more prosperous and popular? Because in spite of all the disadvantages, there are much more advantages in doing so. Under the background of globalization, the younger generation need to know the world and other cultures. They need to get in touch with the rest of world as much as possible in order to become an individual fit for the accelerating internationalization and globalization. Students go abroad not only to study the courses there but also to expand their horizons and enrich their life experience. The experience of an exchanging semester would be precious treasure to every student's
life. They learn how to tackle problems themselves in a strange country with a different language and culture in addition to the knowledge in class.

Moreover, sending students to study abroad enables the students to receive a different way of learning and teaching comparing to their home universities, thus to incorporate it into his/her own way of learning. To take myself as an example, currently I am doing an exchange program in Sweden, where the ways of teaching and learning are far different from my home universities in China. This difference helps me to develop a deeper understanding of collegiate teaching and learning, which will benefit my research and studies in the future.

In conclusion, from what has been discussed above, I hold the opinion that despite all the disadvantages that may emerge when students go abroad to study, it is truly necessary for colleges and universities to require their students to study abroad at least one semester.