Gap year students three times more likely to work abroad

STUDENTS who take a gap year – or Erasmus year – abroad are three times more likely to work overseas than their home-loving peers.

A study into the Erasmus overseas study programme in Europe shows 40% of its participants live abroad during their working lives.

The Erasmus Impact study had a romantic twist too, suggesting more than one million Erasmus babies have been born and that 27% of participants meet long-term partners while overseas.

The research, carried out by the European Commission, studied 88,000 people who had studied across 30 countries and suggested that Erasmus participants have a higher chance of being employed post-university.

The Erasmus scheme was launched in 1980 and is now looking to expand, creating study-abroad opportunities for four million people during the next seven years.