Gap year

Australia and New Zealand

Australians and New Zealanders have a tradition of travelling overseas independently at a young age.^[8] In New Zealand this is known as "doing an OE" (Overseas experience). Sometimes this is limited to one year, but at times Australians and New Zealanders will remain overseas for longer, many working short-term in service industry jobs to fund their travels. Europe and Asia are popular destinations for Gap Year travels.^[9] In Australia, exchange programs and youth benefits provide many opportunities for young people to gain experience through travel in a gap year. The Gap Year Association provided approximately four million dollars in 2016 in the form of scholarships and need based grants.^[10]

Belgium

The Time Credit system in Belgium entitles employees of one year per lifetime of absence from their job, in order to prevent burn-out and to provide an opportunity to pursue other important things in life.^[11]

Denmark

In Denmark during the late 1990s the percentage of students continuing their education directly after high school was down to 25%. Along with this drop there was a rise in the number of students enrolling and graduating within ten years of finishing high school.^[12] Data also shows that women in Denmark take more gap years than men^[13]

Denmark has sought to limit the number of students who take a year out, penalizing students who delay their education to travel abroad or work full-time.^[14] In 2006, it was announced that fewer students than before had taken a year out.^[15] In April 2009, the Danish government proposed a new law which gives a bonus to students who refrain from a year out.^[16]

Ghana

In Ghana, most senior high school leavers have a year out from August to the August of the following year, although this is not mandatory.

Israel

In Israel, it is customary for young adults who have completed their mandatory military service to go backpacking abroad in groups before starting university or full-time work .

Israel has also become a popular gap year travel destination for thousands of young Jewish adults from abroad each year.^[17] There are over 10,000 participants in the Masa Israel Journey gap year annually .^[18]

Japan

The employment practice known as simultaneous recruiting of new graduates matches students with jobs before graduation, meaning sabbaticals are highly unusual in Japan.

While unusual, gap years in Japan are not completely unheard of. Some students will take a gap year or two to readjust or reassess their career path or school of choice if not accepted into the school they had originally hoped for.^[19]

Nigeria

While waiting for their JAMB result after secondary school, Nigerian youths usually learn a trade or skill, or enrol for another academic program (remedial, pre-degree, JUPEB, A-levels, IJMB, etc.) to increase their chances of getting into a university.^[20]

Romania

In Romania, after finishing high school, for some universities an admission exam is required . People who do not succeed in passing sometimes take a gap year to study, usually passing in their second attempt . This is common in medicine and engineering .

Similar to the way that some students travel during a gap year, many Romanian students instead study abroad and in recent years the number of students who choose to do this has been growing.^[21]

South Africa

In the Republic of South Africa, taking a year off is common for those in more affluent classes . School leavers often travel abroad to gain life experience . It is not uncommon for gap year students to travel to Cape Town for life experience . Common volunteer opportunities include working in animal welfare or tree planting .

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the practice of taking a gap year – seen as an interim period of 7 or 8 months between completing secondary education and starting university – began to develop in the 1970s ("Martin, 2010). The period was seen as a time for gaining life experience through travel or volunteering. Universities appear to welcome post-gap-year applicants on the same basis as those going straight to university from previous education.

The number of students aged 18 opting to defer their university place in order to take a gap year reached a peak of 21,020 in 2008.^[22] This figure crashed to 7,320 in 2011^[22] – a year before the introduction of greatly increased tuition fees by the Conservative/Lib Dem (Cameron/Clegg) coalition government. Deferrals in 2016^[22] were near their peak again although Year Out Group states its members now take more bookings from students outside the UK. Shorter gap style experiences (volunteering, expeditions, courses and work placements) are gaining in popularity, as they can be taken without the need to take a full year out of study or work.

United States of America

In the United States, the practice of taking a "year off" remains the exception, but is gaining in popularity.^[23] Parents are starting to encourage their high school graduates to take a gap year to focus on service opportunities.^[24] Schools are also beginning to support gap years more; most notably Harvard University and Princeton University, are now encouraging students to take time off, and some have even built gap year-like programs into the curriculum, and many high schools now have counsellors specifically for students interested in taking a gap year.^[25]

Taking a year off has recently become slightly more common for Americans, the main reasons are that students are feeling burnt out with schooling and want to take time to make sure their lives are headed in a direction that suits them.^[26] Some 40,000 Americans participated in 2013 in sabbatical programs, an increase of almost 20% since 2006, according to statistics compiled by the American Gap Association. Universities such as Georgetown University, New York University,^[27] Amherst College, Princeton University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Middlebury College,^[28] Davidson College,^[29] Yeshiva University,^[30] and Reed College have formal policies allowing students to defer admission.^[26]

Tufts University offers a program called 1+4 which allows students from lower income families to volunteer abroad or within America for a period of one year before starting their bachelor's degree.^[31] Naropa University^[32] in Boulder, Colorado, is the first U.S. university to fully integrate the gap year into a four-year undergraduate degree, which makes financial aid directly available to any student considering a gap year.^[33]

Some formal gap year programs can cost as much as $30,000, but cheaper alternatives are becoming more widely available; some reduce costs by offering room and board.^[34][35] For example, the National Civilian Community Corps, an AmeriCorps program, offers 18-24 year olds (no age limit for Team Leaders) an all expense paid gap year (room & board, meals, transportation, etc.) in exchange for a 10-month commitment to National and Community service.^[36] AmeriCorps NCCC members travel the country in diverse teams and perform a variety of tasks such as rebuilding trails in national parks, responding to natural disasters or working as mentors for disadvantaged youth.^[36] As with most AmeriCorps programs, service members receive an education award of approximately $6,000 upon completion of their service that can be used toward qualified educational expenses or student loans.^[37] The zero cost to the member model AmeriCorps offers makes it an attractive alternative to costly gap year programs while leveraging taxpayer dollars to strengthen American communities.

Additionally, new federal partnerships such as FEMA Corps offer traditional gap year seekers an immersive professional and team building experience that can serve as a launch pad for their careers.^[38] Some government programs designed to help students afford college prohibit students from taking a gap year. For example, the Tennessee Promise program requires that students must "Attend full-time and continuously at an eligible postsecondary institution as defined in T.C.A. § 49-4-708 in the fall term immediately following graduation or attainment of a GED or HiSET diploma; except that a student enrolling in a Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) may enroll in the summer prior to the fall term." ^[39]Malia Obama, daughter of President Barack Obama, took a gap year before attending Harvard university in the fall of 2017.^[40] Universities such as Harvard and Princeton are encouraging students to take a Gap year. This time that is taken off can be beneficial so students don't "burn out" or partake in indulging behaviors that promote unhealthy stress.^[41]

Venezuela

In Venezuela, students from elite schools generally do their undergraduate studies outside of Venezuela . Gap years were unknown in Venezuela until educational consultant Nelson Agelvis, then counselor of the "Moral y Luces Herzl-Bialik Jewish school" in Caracas, insisted on having applicants to US colleges do them . The students went to leadership courses in Israel, PG years at elite US schools, tutorial colleges in the UK, work internships, language centers across the globe, and exploration gap years in remote countries . Today, the practice has become more widespread and Venezuela is a major economic contributor to the gap year. They are also major contributors in the college studies and English studies industries, especially in countries such as Ireland.^[42]

Yemen

In Yemen, a defer year is mandatory between secondary school (high school) and university. Unless one attends a private university, they must wait one year after secondary school before applying to university. Until the nineties it was mandatory for male graduates to go to the army for one year, and to teach in a school or work in a hospital for female graduates (and for men who cannot attend the army for health reasons).^[43]