Studying abroad as part of a degree has become commonplace for many students in European and other developed countries. Universities actively promote opportunities as part of internationalisation strategies. Whilst research has looked into the 'abroad' aspect of study abroad, there is less literature on the 'study' aspect, and in particular the effects that the period has on academic achievement. This article provides evidence that studying abroad has a beneficial effect on overall academic achievement. The article compares the final degree grades of students at Sheffield Law School (UK) who participated in a year studying abroad, with those who did not.Interviews with students across the period deepen the qualitative dimension to the research by exploring how students felt about their academic experience. Whilst few students opt to go abroad for the purposes of improving grades, most feel that the additional confidence and maturity, alongside deeper knowledge of their subject and a break in the pattern of their studies, contributes to their higher achievement.

This article uses the language of governance to explore the relationships between the EU and the states around the Mediterranean. Against the background of multiple legal, policy and institutional arrangements which have been created by the EU since 1995 to frame Euro-Mediterranean relations, the article considers how seemingly different priorities and methods come together. Of particular interest is the EU's stated goal of a 'partnership' across the Mediterranean, which is promoted by the EU at the same time as it seeks to project its own values in the countries just beyond its borders. The article considers the changing nature of 'the Mediterranean' within EU policy-making, as well as the EU's changing priorities, which suggests incoherency but which instead underlines the central role of the EU in a Euro-Mediterranean system of governance. The positive connotations of the language of governance (identified in the first part of the article) are not fully present in the overlapping policy frames since the stated 'partnership' between the two sides of the Mediterranean in a system of governance is not borne out in practice.

Japan and the UK appear to have few commonalities in terms of their history of and approach to migration law and policy. However, strong similarities in their contemporary approaches can be detected. Migration sits at the very top of the national political agendas and both have undertaken successive, major policy reforms over the past decade. Both have governments publicly committed to policies to attract ‘highly skilled’ migrants, with a restrictive approach towards ‘unskilled’ migrants. This article draws out the similarities and differences of migration law and policy in Japan and the UK via their respective legislative structures and policy trajectories on highly skilled migration. The article argues that Japan and the UK promote a market-driven model which enables highly skilled migration to be ‘sold’ to publics believed to be hostile to increased migration. Yet, the rapid changes in policy and revising of applicable rules often prevents the successful recruitment of highly skilled migrants to both countries.

The EU's legal system has been built on the principle of a single legal order. Undeniably, however, differentiation has crept in. The UK has been at the forefront of seeking opt‐outs and exceptions to the euro, the Schengen area and so on. After Brexit, will requests by member states for special treatment continue, or will the Brexit experience strengthen the legal order? Is the EU's legal system capable of absorbing differentiation in its fabric? This article argues that differentiation can be accommodated only so far in the Treaty arrangements without a wholescale re‐evaluation of the purpose of EU law. The UK's departure removes the member state most ready to challenge some of the fundamentals of the legal order, but the article urges caution against a full re‐characterization of the nature of EU law post‐Brexit. Instead, the article foresees a continuation of the status quo, in which differentiation exists in various forms but as exceptions to the rule, rather than the rule itself.

No abstract