Gap Year

In the professional or career world, a gap year is a year before going to college or university and after finishing high school or taking a year off before going into graduate school after completing a bachelor as an undergraduate. It is also known as a sabbatical year. During this time students may engage in advanced academic courses, extra-academic courses and non-academic courses, such as yearlong pre-college math courses, language studies, learning a trade, art studies, volunteer work, travel, internships, sports and more.

Gap years are sometimes urged as a way for students to become independent and learn a great deal of responsibility prior to engaging in university life.

In 1967, Nicholas Maclean-Bristol set up the educational volunteering charity Project Trust and sent three volunteers to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

In 1972, Gap Activity Projects was founded in the UK and later renamed Lattitude Global Volunteering in 2008.

In 1973, Graham "Skroo" Turner set up the company Topdeck, one of the first tour operators.

In 1978, the Prince of Wales and Colonel John Blashford-Snell began what is now known as Raleigh International by launching Operation Drake, an expedition voyage around the world following Sir Francis Drake's route.

In the United States, the gap year idea was promoted by Cornelius H. Bull to allow students more time to grow as a person, in 1980.

Australians and New Zealanders have a tradition of travelling overseas independently at a young age. In New Zealand this is known as "doing an OE" (Overseas experience). Sometimes an OE is limited to one year, but often Australians and New Zealanders will remain overseas for three to five years, with many working short-term in service industry jobs to fund their continuing travels. Europe and Asia are popular destinations for doing an OE. In Australia, through exchange programs and benefits for youth, there are so many opportunities for a young person to broaden their mind through travel in a gap year. The concept of the OE is so ingrained in the New Zealand psyche that the national tax department devotes a section of its website telling people doing their OEs how it will contribute to the country.

...
Wikipedia