My first major culture shock was the huge importance that the UEA put on mental health.

And mind you, this wasn’t a one time campaign that lasted at best a week, it was a constant effort by the staff and the faculty to ensure that their students were ok and if not, using the services that the university has to offer.

UoM has counsellors, it has places we can go if we’re struggling and I’m certain that there are students and staff that really put a lot into it to ensure that it’s up to scratch.

But in my two years of studying there, I’ve barely been told anything about it, it’s as if we’re either naturally meant to know these things, or the services are there to tick a burdensome box.

On the other hand, at UEA, we were barraged with emails about what to do if we were feeling low. We had dog walks, dog visits, mental health volunteers, and so many other events and opportunities created to lift our spirits at the very least.

But this wasn’t the biggest thing for me.

The thing that really got me was an email I received two months into my exchange. At this point, I was travelling quite a bit, and my attendance morphed into a slight decline, nothing too drastic – just a couple of missed lectures here and there.

So, I received an email from the university, saying that they’ve noticed that my attendance has slightly dwindled and at this point, I was expecting some kind of disciplinary action or threat of failure. But what I received was far from it.

The email quickly reassured me that I was not in trouble. Rather, they were concerned about my mental health and whether everything was ok. They told me to let them know if I was struggling, and that they’d happily help me out.

Conversely, I’ve seen lecturers in Malta threaten students with automatic failure due to their poor attendance before trying to figure out why they stopped showing up.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been taught by many professors that don’t really care about attendance as long as the assignments are handed in and the exam rooms are filled.

And yes, a certain degree of attendance is definitely important, Maltese students are being paid to go so it’s only fair to do so.

However, for those lecturers that value a high attendance, they should try and understand what’s holding a student back rather than immediately scolding them. And then, take the relevant action.

It’s normal for students to struggle, especially when most courses get progressively harder. So being comfortable to actually approach the university with concerns would probably do a lot of good.

Another thing that stuck out to me was the fact that most units involved a healthy mix of lecture and seminar-based learning.

For my course this was extremely beneficial, it took more effort from week to week but it really helped the development of a lot of useful skills.

The seminars involved discussions led by the students based on take-home readings and previous lectures. Most lecturers facilitated the flow of conversation between the students but didn’t really contribute much in terms of discussion. They allowed that to evolve between the students.

This has numerous benefits. Firstly, it encourages students to actually read papers recommended by academics. Secondly, it hammers at that fear of speaking up and gives a lot of students the skills and confidence they need to articulate their ideas better and hold a proper debate – two essential skills.

Another minor dissimilarity of the two universities which makes a major difference to the quality of student life is the procedure of the cancellation of lectures.

At no point during my exchange did I enter a lecture room and wait there for 20 minutes only for the professor’s chair to remain void with no warning. 

I was always informed about the cancellation, rescheduling and changes of lectures. Whereas in Malta, showing up to a lecture only to realise on your own accord that it’s cancelled, happens way too often. And it explains why so many students don’t feel the need to attend – if a professor can just decide to not show up, why can’t we?

Of course, sometimes there are accidental miscommunications, that’s normal. But the frequency of these incidents tends to suggest that more effort is needed to avoid them.

Students have lives too, most of us work, and some of us travel all the way from Gozo for lectures – it’s quite rudimentary to expect a baseline level of respect from teachers and staff to let us know when we don’t need to show up.

With all of that being said, I’m extremely grateful to UoM for actually providing me with the opportunity to study abroad.

There are countless positive things about UoM some of which I noticed through my exchange.

It’s needless to say that Maltese students are extremely fortunate to not have a looming life-long debt hanging over their heads from the minute they step into university walls.

We’re also extremely incentivised and supported by our stipends, something that many of the friends I made in England were understandably envious of.

However, since Erasmus is intended to be a perspective-changing learning experience for students, there’s no reason why all universities involved can’t learn from it too.

One thing that I’ll definitely take away from Erasmus is the newfound independence that’s almost impossible to experience when you’re born and bred in Malta.

Although our island’s sense of family and community is a truly beautiful thing, expanding out of that lifestyle can be beneficial in more ways than you’d think.

Independence is championed when you’re expected to do things on your own without the direct safety net of a family. This develops certain life-skills that will stick with you and be built on as you grow.

It’s hard to be highly independent in Malta because of a myriad of reasons. The cost of living generally soars above what students and fresh graduates can afford, and the fact that Malta is so small makes it easy to just stay home.

However, independence doesn’t solely refer to the domestic aspect of living – learning to put yourself out there without the comfort of people that you’ve known for years adds another layer of integral self-growth.

The lack of automatic community when you go abroad allows you to explore yourself without the confines of predetermined expectations when you meet somebody new.

It’s quite difficult to meet someone in Malta who knows absolutely nothing about you; someone that doesn’t know who your family is, what company you work at, or isn’t a friend of a friend. And generally, since ‘everyone knows everyone’ in Malta, it’s hard to find the courage to reinvent yourself beyond what people expect of you, because change isn’t always well received.

Whereas when you’re abroad in a country filled to the brim with strangers, that’s your only option – there are zero expectations. As cheesy as it sounds, you have the chance to push yourself and be who you want to be, and the self-growth that comes from that is transformational.

So if you have the chance to engage in a programme like Erasmus, or just go and move abroad – take it, you can always come back.

This article is all based on personal experience and is not made to bash any institution that’s mentioned. It is, however, made to show the room for exploration that universities and ministries can undertake by listening to their students after giving them the opportunity to study abroad. 

Like this, everyone can reap the rewards.

It’s also important to note that while the university has a lot of power, the true reformation responsibility lies in the hands of the government and the Ministry for Education. Education is constantly evolving and the government should allocate the necessary funding for research-based changes that will only improve the lives of students and teachers.

What was your student exchange experience like?