To coincide with International Education Week, the US State Department’s reminder of the value of work and study abroad, I wrote this piece for Today.  It looks at a recent EU study of the Erasmus program, the student mobility scheme that has helped hundreds of thousands of young Europeans study and work elsewhere in the European Union, and applies the lessons to Asia.  In Singapore, where policy makers worry that the mismatch of labor market needs with the skills of graduates may raise unemployment as it has elsewhere in the world, the ASPIRE commission has urged that more work experience be integrated into study at the tertiary level.  Using the Erasmus impact study results, I suggest that the benefits of international study or work experience for students in terms of employability should not be overlooked.  Continue reading →