Briefing 4
Student Mobility and Learning Abroad

International student mobility is commonly defined as either full-programme ‘degree’ or ‘diploma’ mobility and short-term (typically up to a year) or ‘credit’ mobility (e.g. study abroad and student exchange programmes). Diploma mobility is the simplest type of mobility since it usually only requires a relationship between a student and a university, whilst short-term mobility requires a partnership between an organisation in one country (a university or a study abroad agency) and a university in another – although in some cases institutions establish their own study abroad locations overseas (Woodfield, 2010). It is short-term mobility that forms the focus of this briefing paper.