ABSTRACT
Students on Modern Language degrees at the University of North London, as in most institutions of higher education, are required to spend their third year in a country where their chosen language is spoken. The aim of this year abroad is to improve the students' linguistic competence and to provide the opportunity for them to experience the foreign culture. As year abroad tutors we are aware that students gain much more from their year abroad than just academic development. Colleagues comment on how students have matured and how their confidence has increased when they return for their fourth year. This impression corresponds with the students' own judgement of what they have gained during this year. In order to acknowledge and assess the importance of the non-academic learning we have developed a profiling system for the year abroad. Pilot projects confirmed, furthermore, that profiling not only records the students' progress but can also foster the development of transferable skills. Profiling now forms an integral part of the course structure of our Modern Language degrees as a component of the year abroad.
