The higher education exchange programme Erasmus has growing rates of students spending part of their studies abroad. It therefore sparks many question about the motivation as well as outcomes for participating students. To this date there has not been a study, which examined aspects important for outgoing medical students.

We developed a retrospective study for Erasmus students at Medical Faculty Maribor. 52 questionnaires(63 items) were completed by former Erasmus students (attended exchange between 2008 and 2012). Their control group were non-Erasmus students from 2nd to 5ht year medical school. 65 questionnaires (39 items) were completed.

The hypothesis were:

1. Students taking part in exchange programs are more academically successful and involved in connected extracurricular activities.
2. Highest ranking reason for studying abroad is language proficiency.
3. Participating in exchanges motivates students for more active engagement in society.

Erasmus students are: 

     1) equally academically successful as their peers 

     2) engage more in extracurricular activities

     3) their top motivation is professional learning