A Year Out: Student Exchange

At Cass you will have the opportunity to tailor your degree by applying to study abroad. You will have the option of doing a replacement second year at a partner institution or doing a sandwich degree with a year spent studying overseas. Apart from being a lot of fun, the student exchange programme is an opportunity to improve your language skills and is an impressive asset on your CV.

Students opting to do a replacement second year spend their first and third year at Cass and the middle year being taught from an international cultural perspective but still learning comparable module content to those students taking their second year at Cass. All of the teaching is in English. Please note this option is not available for Actuarial Science and Accounting & Finance students due to the professional requirements of those courses.

The sandwich year study abroad option is available for all courses. Students spend the first two years at Cass followed by a year abroad and then a final year at Cass. If you are proficient in German, French, Spanish or Italian you can take a sandwich year studying in that language. Students are taught in English in Singapore, South Korea, Norway, Sweden and the USA.

It is also possible to take a sandwich year and split it with one semester spent at a partner institution and one semester spent gaining work experience in a placement.

You don’t need to decide if you wish to apply for Study Abroad at this stage. Students apply for the replacement second year option in the autumn term of year one and the sandwich degree option in the autumn term of year two.

Darja Danilina recently completed the replacement 2^nd year at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada:

Study abroad is one of the unique features that helps Cass Business School to nurture its multi-cultural dimension.

The benefits of spending a year away from home are not limited to experiencing another culture. I found that adapting to a new teaching method is very valuable in the work place, where only those will be successful who can change fast. At the same time, being in a different cultural environment, I was forced to question things I took for granted and became aware of my biases, which crucially broadened my perspective.

Settling in as an exchange student is much easier than you might expect. The long tradition of international co-operation with partner institutions and experience of the study abroad team make it possible to prepare everything – such as visas, accommodation and course schedules – well in advance of departure. Three months before leaving on exchange, I was already in touch with students from Queen’s University. Through this connection I was able to find a room in a student house three minutes away from the business school, living with five other girls, which allowed me to integrate within days. Apart from studying and travelling, there was also the opportunity to take part in conferences and case competitions.

Having spent a year in Canada, I have improved my interpersonal skills and gained valuable insights that I am eager to share with the rest of the Cass community.

For a list of our current partner institutions please visit the following link: http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/student-exchange-programme.