It's easy to think about studying or volunteering abroad in terms of people from the West going away to Asia, Africa or Latin America, or of people from the developing world coming to the West to find work, but that would be a very limited view – and quite far from the truth.
It's not uncommon at all to see people from Egypt studying in India, or people from Russia volunteering in Thailand. There are plenty of examples to prove this but, for now, here are just three that cropped up this week:
Korean IT experts volunteer their expertise: A South Korean volunteer programme, supported by the National Information Society Agency – created to promote the deployment of information technology (IT) in their public and private sectors – is sending 153 groups of four IT experts each to offer free training in communities around the world for one month between July and August. They've been doing this since 2001, and have since sent 3,400 volunteers to 68 countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe.
Delhi University students go abroad: A new initiative from India's Delhi University will be sending three groups of 25 meritorious students on semester-long exchanges to Australia, China, Colombo, Dhaka and Kathmandu to "go abroad and meet foreign students, interact with them and learn about their courses."
Malaysian University extends scholarships across Africa: The Malaysia-based Limkokwing University of Creative Technology recently offered $12 million (RM) (approx. $3.8 million CDN) worth of scholarships for students attending its campuses in Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland. There are 45 full-tuition scholarships, 450 partial scholarships for 30 percent off tuition and five-day leadership training courses for government officers across Africa. There are currently more than 12,000 students in the university's African campuses.
