The Year Abroad Reflective Essays
WHAT IS IT?
One of the requirements of going abroad for a year through the College of Social Sciences is to
write two reflective essays on your year abroad.
Together these count for the equivalent of a 30 Exeter credit module (15 ECTS credits), and so
mean that you are only required to take the equivalent of 90 Exeter credits while you are abroad
(unless the host university or your visa requirements means you need to take more).
They are a compulsory part of your year abroad. Students who go for only a semester are not
required to undertake these assignments.
There are two assignments that must be completed:
 One 3000 word essay comparing the educational experience of the host university with the
experience of being a student at Exeter. This is worth the equivalent of 12 Exeter credits,
and makes up 10% of the overall year abroad module mark.
 One 5000 word essay reflecting on your experience of the year abroad and providing
advice for future students considering a year abroad. This is worth the equivalent of 18
Exeter credits, and makes up 15% of the overall year abroad module mark.
WHY DO WE DO IT?
The Learning Log serves several useful purposes.
1. It encourages students to reflect on their year abroad and on the differences between the
two countries/universities. It helps students to track their progress over the year, and see
how they might have gained from the experience. Students will gain an understanding of
their own educational culture and how this is different to other cultures overseas, perhaps
challenging assumptions.
2. It formalises a way for students to give us feedback on the places they are going to. It
ensures that we hear from all students during their year abroad, and helps to answer
questions about the quality of the experience.
3. It helps future students to gain an idea of the year abroad. It gives them information far
beyond anything that we could hope to provide, on issues directly relevant to them, from
others in the same situation.
DOES THIS AFFECT THE NUMBER OF COURSES I TAKE WHILE ABROAD?
In a full year a student is expected to undertake 120 Exeter credits (equivalent to 60 ECTS credits).
As the Learning Log counts for 30 Exeter credits, it is only necessary for SSIS students to study the
equivalent of 90 Exeter credits (45 ECTS) at their host university. However, students in countries
outside the EU may find that their visas require them to take a full course load, and sometimes
partner university insist of students taking the equivalent of 120 Exeter credits.
When students have taken more than the equivalent of 90 credits of modules at the host
university, the best 90 credits will be used to calculate the portion of the Year Abroad mark that
comes from modules taken abroad.
HOW IS IT SUBMITTED?
Like any other assignment the work will come through BART.
HOW WILL IT BE SHOWN TO FUTURE ERASMUS STUDENTS?
An essential part of the Reflective Essays is that they can be shown to future students to help
them decide on where to go for their Erasmus year. If you do not want your work to be shown to
future students, then please make this clear at the top of the work. Otherwise it will be assumed
that you are happy for them to be able to see what you write.
Once both pieces of work have been marked, they will be put on the College Intranet or on ELE.
Currently examples of previous assignments (under a different assessment structure) can be found
at: https://intranet.exeter.ac.uk/socialsciences/ug/studyabroad/learning_logs/index.php
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ‘REFLECTIVE’ WRITING?
These assignments require you to write reflectively. This means that when you write, you are
drawing on your own experiences.
However, it is important that you do not merely describe your experiences – you need to reflect
on them. In other words you still need to analyse and evaluate them. You need to be able to put
your experiences into context (educational, political) in order to understand why things happened
the way they did. You may want to compose an argument that ties together different experiences
(although be careful to avoid cultural stereotyping).
Although the subject matter is yourself (or at least your year abroad experiences) it is crucial that
you are objective. You need to try and see your experiences not only from your own viewpoint,
but also that of others. This is important to understand why different countries/universities take
different approaches. Something that may seem very strange to you may make total sense to
someone else.
You need to be able to make comparisons between countries and universities. Obviously the
UK/Exeter and your host country/university will be the main source of comparison, but a good
learning log will draw on the experiences of others in order to add a new angle.
Although you may not undertake the same amount of reading as you would for a non-reflective
piece of work, a good learning log will reference relevant items of reading. For example, you might
be reading about the country before you go, and this may affect both your expectations and your
reactions to arriving. You may want to reference relevant news articles.
There is a very good guide to reflective writing available at http://www.exeter.ac.uk/fch/workexperience/reflective-writing-guidance.pdf. Although this was written with work placements in
mind, it still provides a very good introduction to reflective writing.
I will also send you the marking criteria for the Learning Logs. I would advise you to read through
these carefully before you begin writing.
Have a look at the two statements below. Although neither is perfect (for example, both lack
references to back up their points), they aim to give you an idea of the difference between a
simple descriptive account, and a more reflective, analytical piece of writing.
Nantes university has about 32000
students. I live in student accommodation
quite close to the centre of town. My room
is very small and there is only one
bathroom between 14 rooms. My room is
very close to the area of town with the
most bars and cafes. There are not really
any nightclubs that we go to.
I study in the department of history art
history and archaeology. I take several
modules including history of the french
republic, french colonial history and roman
history. my favourite is roman history as
the lecturer is quite young and the class is
interesting. The lecturer talks very fast and
has a strong accent but the other students
are very helpful and often share there
notes with me. The department seems to
have a lot of students but there are mostly
first-years.
A lot of my classes were not running
because of strikes. This was very frustrating
as it meant that we missed a lot of the
material that was due to be in the exam.
Nantes University is a medium-large university with about 32000
students. This makes it slightly over twice the size of Exeter, but smaller
than many European universities. I am based in the department of
History, Art History and Archaeology. This is a lively department with
quite a lot of new staff. This means that some of the lecturers seem
inexperienced, but are very enthusiastic.
Normal French universities are obliged to accept anyone who applies to
go there. At Nantes this means that a lot of students start the first year
but do not progress to the second-year. This is very different to Exeter
where students have to get high grades to enter the university in the
first place, but are then very likely to be able to finish their degree. I
think the system in the UK is much better as it means that students are
less likely to waste their time and then be disappointed. However, in
France students do not have to pay high fees, so it means that
everyone has a chance to get a university education.
France has a strong history of left-wing politics, so it is not surprising
that their university system focuses on providing opportunity to as
many people as possible. There is also a much higher level of student
activism on campus than at Exeter (or indeed at most northern
European universities). This also applies to the lecturers, and many of
our classes were disrupted by industrial action. This affected some
other universities to a far greater extent
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/05/internationaleduc
ationnews-france) than Nantes, but was still surprising to someone
from England, where industrial action like this is rare.
THE ASSIGNMENTS
First Reflective Essay – 3000 words – due on Thursday 6th March
How does the student experience at your host university compare with that at Exeter?
Things you may wish to consider include:

How did your expectations (hopes, worries etc) compare to your experiences on arrival?
o What surprised you?
o What preparations did you make?
o Were they adequate?
o What were your expectations based on?
o How did they compare to the experiences of others?

How does the university compare with Exeter or other universities?
o Why is it different?
o Things to consider include (but aren’t limited to):
 Classes , teaching methods
o
o
o
o

 Assessments, feedback, marking system
 Range of subjects
 Approach to academic discipline, link to research
 Administration
 Accommodation
 Students
 Societies, social events
Which aspects are better, which worse?
How does the country compare to the UK and other familiar countries?
What can we learn from this?
Why are the approaches different?
How are British students viewed at the host university?
o How is Britain generally perceived?
o Does the UK feature in the local media?
o If so, which stories appear, and why?
o Which stories don’t appear?
o Why not?
o How does this compare with our perception of your host country, and its
appearance in our media?
Second Reflective Essay – 5000 words – due on Thursday 16th October
Reflection on the student's period abroad and what they have gained from it, together with a
guide for other students visiting the same institution
This is a chance to revisit areas you might have raised before, but in greater depth, enabling you to
really explore aspects that interest you. You will now have completed your time of studying
abroad, so have a complete academic year to draw upon. Reread your previous submission before
writing.

How has your year gone?
o What have you learnt from your experiences?
o What do you wish you’d known before you went?
o What would you advise future students interested in the same experience?
o Have you or your attitudes been affected by your year?
o What should future students expect?
o What were the most helpful things you learnt?
o Where were the best sources of information?

Feel free to address any aspect of the year abroad, but don’t overlook the academic side.
o How did your host university/country compare with others you are familiar with?
o What lessons can be learnt to make improvements at home?

You are welcome to include photos, maps or other images
If you have any questions about the Reflective Essays, then you are welcome to contact me:
Tim Rushforth
T.Rushforth@exeter.ac.uk
+44 1392 723675