Chris Hitchen studied German and History at the University of Glasgow and spent a year of his degree as an Erasmus student at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität in Freiburg, south-west Germany. Using the language skills he acquired and improved upon during his year abroad, he now works in Berlin for Idealo UK. Here are his top five reasons why a year abroad will benefit your CV...

We talk a lot on the site about taking advantage of the opportunity to travel, make friends, absorb the culture and have amazing new experiences, but this should not be at the expense of your career plans - yes, getting a weekend job will mean you can't have crazy Friday and Saturday nights, but if it's work experience in your dream industry or helps you afford a course to learn a new skill, then you need to get your priorities straight.

Olivia Russell is studying Spanish and History at Sheffield University and is on her year abroad in Madrid, and has some great advice about making the most of your year abroad with your career and final year in mind.

The British Academy and University Council of Modern Languages (UCML) want to demonstrate the value of the year abroad to UK graduates and to potential funding bodies.

They have gathered over six hundred short reports from graduates on the importance that the year abroad has had for them, in terms of their skill set, their careers and their lives, to put together a position statement entitled "Valuing the Year Abroad", which launched on 27th March 2012 and is available to download here.*

ThirdYearAbroad.com has helped to collect and analyse the data, and has made 100 of the best case studies available online below...