A gap year (also known as a "year out," "year off", "deferred year," "bridging year," "overseas experience," "time off," or "time out") is a term that refers to a prolonged period (often, but not always, a year) between two major life stages. The most popular gap years are taken pre- or during matriculation in a university or college, between college and graduate school and a profession, during a career change, pre- or post-marriage, upon having a first child, or pre- or post-retirement.

History

1960s: Where it all began

The origination of the 'Gap Year' concept came in the decade following the Second World War when youth travel and cultural exchange was discussed amongst governments as a useful tool to create more of a global understanding to prevent future global wars. However, the first 'Gap Years' actually started in the UK in the 1960s, when the baby-boomer generation in the midst of the 'Swinging sixties' headed off to India on the infamous Hippie Trails, inventing the 'independent travel market'. In 1967, Nicholas Maclean-Bristol set up Project Trust, an educational trust, and sent his first three students to Addis Ababa, inventing the Gap Year Volunteer Placements market. These have been the two key elements to the gap year market ever since - 'independent travel' and 'volunteer placements' [also known more recently as 'Voluntourism']. Work Travel (or 'Work & Travel') appeared as a third key element with the introduction of student work visas (or 'Working holiday visas') in the 1980s.

Another probable driver was that Oxford and Cambridge required applicants to take Entrance and Scholarship exams in the Autumn term of a school year, for which many schools created a "third year sixth," while entry was then in the Autumn of the following year. This meant that applicants, even unsuccessful ones who ended up at other Universities had a "gap" between January and October to fill. They were effectively forced to either work or travel in that time.

1970s: the pioneers and the growth

The demand for what was essentially new 'Independent Travel' continued through into the 1970s and resulted in the pioneers of the independent travel market establishing businesses to satisfy this demand. Australian Graham 'Screw' Turner based in London in 1973 loaded a double decker bus with the first paying customers and drove them to Kathmandu. They arrived 3 weeks late. Top Deck Travel, the company he founded, still exists today. In the same year a young Brit by the name of Tony Wheeler, headed off on an overland trip across Asia. His need for basic travel information inspired the book 'Across Asia on the Cheap' and was the first title under his Lonely Planet brand, which became the world's largest travel guide publisher. With a tour company and self help travel advice, the independent travel market was born. In 1979, another Australian Dick Porter, founded STA Travel to bring in the final piece of the puzzle. A high street travel agent for students and 'youth' (those under 26), with which he was able to develop global youth travel as he opened student travel agents around the world. Initially 'Student Travel Australia' it renamed to the 'Student Travel Association'. Nowadays it is simply 'STA Travel'.

While the first uses of the actual term 'gap year' are hard to find, it was certainly helped along with the launch in 1977 of GAP Activity Projects, a UK organization facilitating volunteer placements for the 'Gap Year' in between school and university. Continuing on from where Nicholas Maclean-Bristol had forged the way 10 years earlier with Project Trust, GAP Activity Projects brought the gap year to the schools. A year later in 1978, The Prince of Wales with Colonel John Blashford-Snell formed the basis of what we know today as Raleigh International, launching Operation Drake, the first ever Gap Year Expedition - a round the world voyage following Sir Francis Drake's epic route. In 1984 Operation Raleigh was formed, renamed Raleigh International in 1992, by which time gap years were becoming more popular as a pre-university option to the wealthy few in private schools around the UK.

1980s: steady growth

In the UK in the 1980s the baby boomers were settling into family life with their young children and so travelling less and the next generation were influenced by the obsession for money, careers and wealth generation. The housing market crash meant less funds available for parents to fund youth travel. Steady UK and global growth continued as STA Travel opened up branches around the world. Other businesses followed suit (Usit Campus / Usit World), round the world tickets were developed for this new breed of young gap year traveler and the scene was set for the explosion of the 1990s.

1990s: the boom

A combination of the baby boomers' children reaching 18 (whose parents encouraged world travel as they did in their youth), the UK coming out of recession and new, exciting, colourful media channels to bring gap year products to market resulted in an explosion of activity in the UK as Gap Year Travel and Gap Year Volunteering took off pre-, during, and post-university. Demand grew, prices for air travel fell and the roots of it becoming a 'rite of passage' were set. In Australia the first serious waves of young Australians heading to live and work in the UK started to appear.

2000-present: online developments, global growth, natural aging

July 2005 Mintel Gap Year Reports show a market valued UK outbound at £2.2bn and globally at £5bn. The fastest growing travel sector of the Millennium, predictions are that the global gap year market will grow to around £11bn by 2010. The market demographic is split into those aged 18-24 (pre-, during and post-university), 25-35 ('career gap' also known as 'Career Break' - and 'Career Sabbatical') and 55-65 (pre- and post-retirement gap-takers). Very much an option for all in transition between life stages, the effect on the entry into higher level education, the changing travel markets and staff retention in businesses around the world is staggering.

Gap Year growth is accelerating across all age groups in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The US is expected to witness a boom in the coming years as the small percentage of those who have passports starts to rise.

Activities

Some students spend time travelling. Others spend their time working, and many combine these into an international working holiday. A popular option for gap year students, also known as "gappers," is international volunteering. In the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, a great number of the volunteers who helped in South Asia were on a gap year. Also, many gap year students earn money while overseas by working cash in hand, often in the hospitality industry. Another growing trend for gappers is to enroll in global education programs that combine language study, home stays, cultural immersion, community service, and independent study. Such experiential opportunities exist in countries ranging from India to China and Morocco to Brazil.

Gap year among American students

In the United States, the first and oldest independent gap-year counseling organization, the Center for Interim Programs, http://www.interimprograms.com, was founded in 1980 in Princeton, New Jersey by Cornelius Bull, a former teacher and headmaster of schools both in the US and abroad. At the time, the term "gap year" was not readily known in the US.; the term seemed to gain a foothold after articles about UK Prince William's 2000-2001 gap year appeared in the US. The Center for Interim Programs has worked with over 3,000 American students nationwide since 1980 and, as of 2008, has been featured in more than 230 gap-year articles. Holly Bull continues her father's groundbreaking work as president of the Center for Interim Programs. From twenty-eight years of accrued experience in the gap-year field, the Center for Interim Programs has noted a marked increase in the numbers of American students taking a gap year before or during college, as well as an increase in people's general awareness of the gap-year option and its benefits. The evidence can be noted by the following:
(1) an increased number of inquiries about the gap year as well as an increase in the numbers of students signing up with the Center for Interim Programs
(2) the fact that there are more American independent gap-year counselors successfully working with students, e.g. Center for Interim Programs, Time Out, Where You Headed, Taking Off, SEEC
(3) the increase in numbers of American gap-year programs successfully filling their sessions each semester
(4) sustained American media focus on the gap year
(5) recent books written about the gap-year experience, e.g. Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson's The Gap-Year Advantage or Colin Hall and Ron Lieber's Taking Time Off
(6) the emergence in 2007 of organized gap-year fairs across the United States
(7) positive endorsements of gap-year benefits by top universities such as Harvard ("Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation") and Princeton ("Bridge Year" option)
(8) Princeton University's creation of the "Bridge Year" to start in the fall of 2009 which offers 100 incoming freshman the option of taking a Princeton-financed full year of service work abroad before commencing their four years of academic study at Princeton
(9) the hiring of gap-year counselors in prep school college guidance offices, e.g. Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut.

Most students considering a gap year apply to college while in high school and then, once accepted, ask for a deferred admission for a year which most colleges will grant. A number of students will reapply to college halfway through their gap year. Although not a guarantee, the gap year has helped some students gain acceptances at colleges that they might otherwise not have been able to attend. In the United States, the practice of taking a "gap year" before entering college, is on the rise. In the United States, the practice of taking a "gap year" before entering college remains relatively rare. Students either enter college (half enter the post-secondary system through community colleges) or the labor force directly after high school. After college, most university undergraduates directly enter the labor force. This trend can be partially traced to American culture, which stresses economic independence as well as the considerably higher cost of post-secondary education in the U.S. Some organizations have offered young Americans structured gap year programs. These include:

• AFS Intercultural Programs, the world's largest and oldest non-profit foreign exchange organization. AFS-USA sends over 1,500 US Students abroad each year to over 40 countries. Gap Year opportunities are available for many of these countries. http://www.afs.org/usa
• Andeo International Homestays, offers language immersion and homestay programs around the world, 4 weeks to 12 months.
• Brown Ledge Gap Year, travel the US while learning digital video, audio, and photography as you create your own documentaries. http://www.brownledgegapyear.org.
• Carpe Diem Education ^[1]
• CIEE, offering gap year abroad programs in China, Japan, and other countries.
• City Year, an American gap year option with locations in urban centers around the U.S.
• Dynamy, with sites in Worcester, Massachusetts and Santa Rosa, California.^[2]
• IMPACT 360, a gap year program in Pine Mountain, GA associated with Lifeshape and
• LEAPNOW: Transforming Education, offering a year-long program for college credit with one semester group travel in either India or Latin America and one semester individual internship.
• Rustic Pathways, offering cultural immersion community service and travel programs around the world.

Gap year in Australia

Australia currently has 19 reciprocal working holiday programs with countries which include: Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Belgium, Estonia and Taiwan Typically restrictions for the working holiday visas include being 18-30 yrs, can prove access to funds and hold a valid passport. Work restrictions also apply to ensure that the purpose of the holiday is not to further an individual's career.

The UK and Canada remain two of the most popular destinations for Australians to visit every year, with 35,061 UK and 6,517 Canadian working holiday visas issued in 2003/4.

Gap year in the United Kingdom

British citizens are able to take advantage of the Freedom of movement in the European Union to live and work in Europe for an extended period of time. Australia, New Zealand and Canada remain popular destinations due to the cultural similarities with the United Kingdom and the preferencial visa status granted to citizens of the Commonwealth, an echo of the British Empire. Recent research by STA showed that South America and, in particular Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, San Jose and Lima, are among top 10 fastest growing destinations among UK gappers. http://www.thetravelmagazine.net/i-3016--gap-year-students-head-to-south-america.html

Gap year in the Netherlands

The most common form of gap year is work-holiday travel to another country, preferentially on another continent if the person taking it can afford the tickets. Australia and other English-speaking countries are among the most popular due to the high standard of Dutch high school courses in English, but culture/language immersion programs in Spanish-speaking countries are increasingly popular, and are sometimes offered on all-in basis. Most will leave the Netherlands for only half the year, spending the other six months working to finance the trip.

References

1. ↑ Carpe Diem International Education
2. ↑ Internship Opportunites with Dynamy

External links

ja:???????? pl:Gap year simple:Gap year