In recent years, many small local shops have closed because customers travel to large shopping centres or malls to do their shopping. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

295 words, band 8.0+
12. Many students now have more opportunity to study in other countries. Studying abroad may bring some benefits to some students, but it also has a significant number of disadvantages.
Discuss both sides of the argument and give your own opinion.


A few decades ago, people mainly chose to do their university studies in their home country. However, today a growing number of people are going abroad/overseas for this purpose. Although it is true that there are some challenges associated with doing a university degree abroad, I believe that the benefits are more significant.


The drawbacks of the trend in question are clear to see. One of these is that students may experience a culture shock in the first few months of their stay in a new country. For example, even though new students can speak the language in the host country well, it may be difficult for them to comprehend the norms of politeness or other things. Homesickness is another challenge that is experienced by many who study abroad. During this period, they miss their families, friends and the things they used to do back home. However, these problems mentioned are usually short term.


On the hand, the trend towards studying at foreign universities brings more benefits to both the individuals and society concerned. First and foremost, this often brings different nations together. When studying in another country, people make friends with locals or students who come from other countries. As a result, they learn and appreciate their differences in religions and cultures. Individuals also benefit significantly as they have a chance to master the language which is spoken as a mother in the host country. Clearly, these benefits are very significant in many ways.


To sum up, despite the drawbacks of missing home and misunderstanding differences at the beginning, in my view, the benefits that come with this trend outweigh these. Therefore, governments should encourage their citizens to go to a foreign university.