A study conducted at the Johannes Kepler University Linz in Austria compared a group of 540 students who had studied abroad with a sample, of roughly the same size, of students who had not left their home university during studies. A study period abroad hones students? foreign language skills as well as their social and intercultural skills.Although graduates with study abroad experience do not get promoted more quickly or more frequently than their local counterparts, they seem to choose different strategies for their professional careers by consciously looking for and getting hired by employers who pay higher salaries.