INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EXCHANGE

The aim of the work is to identify the motives, benefits and barriers of international student exchange, as well as the gender gap in performance. The theoretical part of the work consists of the characteristics of the issue of internationalisation of education, description of factors motivating to learning mobility, barriers and benefits of going on a scholarship abroad. The empirical part consists of research carried out in 2017, using the diagnostic survey method, using CAPI survey technique among students of European universities. It turns out that among women, the main motivators to participate in international learning mobility is the desire to travel, as well as the development of foreign language skills. Men are motivated primarily by good fun and the desire to impress their future employer. Employers more often decide to employ people who have participated in international student exchange, and the risk of long-term unemployment among graduates with international experience is half that. On the other hand, the internationalisation of education is risky, as the commercialisation of partnership programmes may jeopardise the quality of higher education.