The effects of studying abroad on academic outcomes

TY - CONF

T1 - The effects of studying abroad on academic outcomes

AU - Jones, Martin

AU - Zhang, Yin

A2 - Smith, Julie

A2 - Duke-Williams, Emma

A2 - Holme, Richard

A2 - Srinivasan, Sundar

A2 - Spark, Gordon

A2 - Martindale, Linda

A2 - Kinnear, Susan

N1 - © 2025 The Author.

PY - 2025/10/6

Y1 - 2025/10/6

N2 - According to the Universities UK (UUK) publication “Gone International: Expanding Opportunities” (UUK 2018), studying abroad is advantageous for a variety of reasons, including the potential for increasing students’ overall marks when they return to study in the UK. While there are other motivations in a student’s decision to study abroad, the potential effects on their degree outcomes are frequently a dominant concern. In Dundee University, and other universities, there are many Business/ Social Science/ Humanities students who take the opportunity to go abroad and the effect of this on their marks is of prime importance. However, the UUK analysis is based on a simple comparison of average academic outcomes between “mobile” and “non-mobile” students, taking no account of potential confounding factors. This study joins an emerging body of empirical literature that attempts to quantify the effects of studying abroad on academic performance (e.g., Nwuso, 2022; Czarnitzki et al., 2021). We adopt the difference-in-difference approach to address self-selection bias, while controlling for such confounding factors as the timing, duration and destination of studying abroad. Our sample consists of student records data from the University of Dundee for six year cohorts of students who completed a Business/social science/humanities degree in 2014/15-2019/20. The results demonstrate that the supposed performance enhancement , contrary to the UUK analysis, does not enhance results when students return from studying abroad and other confounding factors account for the difference from the UUK’s analysis.

AB - According to the Universities UK (UUK) publication “Gone International: Expanding Opportunities” (UUK 2018), studying abroad is advantageous for a variety of reasons, including the potential for increasing students’ overall marks when they return to study in the UK. While there are other motivations in a student’s decision to study abroad, the potential effects on their degree outcomes are frequently a dominant concern. In Dundee University, and other universities, there are many Business/ Social Science/ Humanities students who take the opportunity to go abroad and the effect of this on their marks is of prime importance. However, the UUK analysis is based on a simple comparison of average academic outcomes between “mobile” and “non-mobile” students, taking no account of potential confounding factors. This study joins an emerging body of empirical literature that attempts to quantify the effects of studying abroad on academic performance (e.g., Nwuso, 2022; Czarnitzki et al., 2021). We adopt the difference-in-difference approach to address self-selection bias, while controlling for such confounding factors as the timing, duration and destination of studying abroad. Our sample consists of student records data from the University of Dundee for six year cohorts of students who completed a Business/social science/humanities degree in 2014/15-2019/20. The results demonstrate that the supposed performance enhancement , contrary to the UUK analysis, does not enhance results when students return from studying abroad and other confounding factors account for the difference from the UUK’s analysis.

U2 - 10.20933/100001448

DO - 10.20933/100001448

M3 - Paper

T2 - University of Dundee Scholarship Conference 2025

Y2 - 2 September 2025 through 3 September 2025

ER -