How international experience during academic studies can encourage the revelation of students’ entre

For my dissertation project required in the final year of my Bachelor in Business Administration, I decided to link my personal experience as an international student with my career orientation focused on entrepreneurship.

Studying abroad has become a big trend and I wanted to understand if people making the choice to study abroad had predispositions to become successful entrepreneurs.

As an international student, I realized that studying abroad was a big challenge, requiring crossing real borders as well as figurative borders. Making this decision can be hard for a young person. It is a big step that may represents some risk or uncertainties for the student. However, once taking this risk and leaving their comfort zone, international students will realize how enriching studying abroad can be.

They will certainly gain in autonomy, learn how to solve unexpected issues or situations and finally open themselves to a new environment and a new way of doing things with different dynamics.

Through the research process, I came to the conclusion that international students have a greater ability to recognize opportunity, value the outcomes of this opportunity on a long-term perspective and take a risk. International students are familiar with new and challenging environment.. Moreover, they have a strong willpower to widen their network, meet people from different cultures, learn from them, and adapt themselves to the culture of the country they live in but also take advantage of their experience to build up their personalities.

Another major point of this dissertation is the confirmation that international studies are an undeniable asset for a long-term career thanks to the possibility of becoming an intercultural speaker (Byram 2002), widening their network and being able to take opportunities on a global scale.

These characteristics of international students are very similar to entrepreneurial skills. An entrepreneur constantly faces risks when making decisions and leaves his or her comfort zone to achieve greater things. An entrepreneur's network is a significant asset to recognize and take enriching opportunities.

Studying abroad can train young people to recognize these opportunities, encourage them to leave their comfort zone to completely embrace a new environment and new dynamics. This experience builds up the confidence of the student and his taste for challenges, which are the first steps to becoming a successful entrepreneur.