People are starting to understand more and more each day how important it is to send youth abroad, in order to have experiences outside of their comfort zones and gain knowledge from all over the world. These young people are able to get to know different cultures, face challenges on their own and see how the rest of the world lives and works. This is very useful because when they come back, they are able to join their country’s job market and put into practice all this knowledge they gained worldwide and improve the way things are done traditionally.

Here are some of the countries who are really encouraging their youth to gain international experience:

• • India– The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education of the Indian government has an external scholarship program where they facilitate the process or scholarships or fellowships for Indian students abroad. These are offered by other countries under cultural/educational exchange programs and are mostly for the areas of research, master and doctoral studies. Anyone interested can access the government’s site and apply.
  • Canada– At the end of the last year, Canada launched a program to send university students all over the world for their undergraduate studies. The government is investing $75-million a year for the first five years of the program to send thousands of students to work and study abroad. Rather than focusing on typical destinations to send the students, they are sending them to countries with a developing economy that can represent more of a challenge for these students. According to The Globe and Mail, they are investing on this “in an effort to prepare tomorrow’s workforce to drive trade and economic relations with emerging markets”
  • Spain– Many have heard about the European programme called Erasmus which sends people from European countries to other European countries to study and work. The country who has received and sent the most people through the Erasmus programme is Spain, having sent about 37,235 students abroad. So far, the students who have travelled more have been from the courses of social sciences, business and law, however, there are several other courses supported by the Erasmus program, including arts and humanities. This had already brought several developments for Spain and other European countries, such as a smaller long-term unemployment rate.

There are several other countries that have programs like these, including Japan, Mexico and Brazil. Being Brazilian, I had no idea my country had a program for internationalizing young people, however I will definitely research more and tell everyone about it. Despite these programs being extremely beneficial for all parts involves, I think many people are still not aware they exist. Therefore, I recommend for anyone reading this, research more, learn about these programs and put yourself out there!

Learn more about internationalization by going to aiesec.org.