A gap year is an expression associated with taking time out to travel between life stages. It is also known as sabbatical, time off and time out, referring to a period of time (not necessarily 12 months) in which students disengage from curricular education and undertake non curricular activities, such as travel or work. They are most frequent among individuals who have ceased secondary education and intend to commence tertiary education.

History[link]

The practice of taking a deferred year developed in the United Kingdom in the 1960s.^{[citation needed]} During this time, a student might travel, engage in volunteer work overseas or undertake a working holiday abroad. The term 'Gap Year' was coined by the UK charity GAP Activity Projects, now called Lattitude Global Volunteering, which was established in 1972.

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 deferred year idea was promoted by Cornelius H. Bull, in 1980.^[1]

A year out has grown very popular among students in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. A trend for year out is to participate in international education programs that combine language study, homestays, cultural immersion, community service, and independent study.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, year out travel increased among school, college and university leavers, as this is seen as an attractive option for future career development.^[2] Conversely, 2011 saw a decline in the number of prospective students from the UK taking breaks due to the competitiveness of courses and the imminent rise in university fees.

By country[link]

Denmark[link]

Denmark has sought to limit the number of students who take a year out, penalizing students who delay their education to travel abroad or work full time.^[3] In 2006, it was announced that fewer students than before had taken a year out.^[4] In April 2009, the Danish government proposed a new law which gives a bonus to students who refrain from a year out.^[5]

Japan[link]

The employment practice known as Simultaneous Recruiting of New Graduates matches students with jobs before graduation, and the practice of a sabbatical is unusual in Japan as a result.

United States[link]

In the United States, the practice of taking a "year off" remains the exception. Taking a year out has recently become slightly more common for Americans, with prevailing reasons as a feeling of being burned out of classroom education and a desire to understand oneself better.^[6] Universities such as New York University^[7], Amherst College, Princeton University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yeshiva University^[8], and Reed College have formal policies allowing students to defer admission.^[6] In recent years there has been an increase in 21-23 year olds taking time off after completing their degrees.^{[citation needed]}

India[link]

In India, the practice of taking time out to travel after high school education, popularly called a drop year has been on a steep rise in recent years, primarily students deciding to enroll in coaching institutions to prepare themselves for rigorous college entrance examinations, including the IIT-JEE, the entrance test for the Indian Institute of Technology.

Ghana[link]

In Ghana, all Senior high school leavers have a year out from August to the August of the following year although this is not mandatory. Brilliant students can avoid this one year break by taking the private high school final exam in their second year instead, before graduating in the third year.

Yemen[link]

In Yemen, a defer year is obligatory between secondary school and University. Unless you attend a private University, you have to wait one year after secondary school before you can apply to University. Until the nineties it was mandatory for male graduates to go to the army for one year, and to teach in a school or work in a hospital for female graduates (and for men who cannot attend the army for health reasons).

Australia[link]

Australia is a popular destination for overseas gap year travelers as well as being a common source of gap year travelers. Usually, around 2% of Australians take a year off prior to attending tertiary education and choose to travel abroad (usually South East Asia or Europe) or within Australia backpacking, and within the last decade "Gap Year" students join the Australian Defense Force in the ADF's Gap Year program, some opt to stay on in the ADF, but others do continue on to tertiary education.

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

TussenJaar (Dutch Gap Year)

Look up gap in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Gap or The Gap may refer to:

General[link]

• Gap (ecology), a spacing between large trees in a forest
• Gap (landform), a mountain pass, often carved by a river
• Gap year, a prolonged period between a life stage

Places[link]

• Gap, Hautes-Alpes, France
• Gap, Pennsylvania, United States
• The Gap, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
• The Gap, New South Wales, farming community in the central east part of the Riverina close to Wagga Wagga
• The Gap (Sydney), an ocean cliff at Watsons Bay, New South Wales, Australia
• Cumberland Gap, a pass through the Cumberland Mountains at the juncture of the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia
• Loughborough Gap, a disused section of the Great Central Railway in England
• Mid-Atlantic Gap, in World War II, an area in the Atlantic Ocean with no air coverage
• Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, license plate code GAP
• Darien Gap, Central America, the terrain feature that has prevented a roadway from being built that connects North and South America

Entertainment[link]

• The Gap Band, an American music group
• Gap Mangione, jazz pianist and bandleader
• The Gap (Joan of Arc album), a 2000 album by Joan of Arc
• The Gap Cycle, a science fiction novel series by Stephen Donaldson
• El Boquete (The Gap), a 2006 Argentine film
• Gap FC, a French football club
• G.A.P Adventures, the largest adventure travel company in Canada

Mathematics and technology[link]

• GAP computer algebra system (Groups, Algorithms and Programming), a software package
• Generalized assignment problem
• Generic access profile, an interoperability protocol used in wireless telephony
• Graph automorphism problem
• Gimp Animation Package, an extension for the GIMP

Science[link]

• GaP, Gallium(III) phosphide, a semiconductor material
• GAP, Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, a 3-carbon molecule metabolite important in both glycolysis and the Calvin cycle
• GAPs, GTPase activating proteins, a family of regulatory proteins
• Gap or Accidental gap, a form predicted by grammatical rules but missing from a language
• Gap junction or nexus is a specialized intercellular connection between a multitude of animal cell-types
• Band gap or energy gap, the energy interval in which particles cannot propagate

Organizations and businesses[link]

• Gap (clothing retailer), a chain of retail clothing stores
• Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, a grocery retailer, ticker symbol GAP
• Government Accountability Project, a United States nonprofit organization
• Genocide Awareness Project, a movable pro-life display
• Great Ape Project, an international organization advocating legal rights for great apes
• Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, an American psychiatric professional organization
• Air Philippines, ICAO designator GAP
• Southeastern Anatolia Project (Turkish: Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi), a regional development project in Turkey
• Gruppi di Azione Partigiana (Partisan Action Group), an Italian terrorist group founded by Giangiacomo Feltrinelli
• Good Agricultural Practices A way of reducing the use of pesticides without forbidding them
• Gap Analysis Program A Federally-coordinated program operated in conjunction with states and regions to assess the overall health of wildlife
• Gap Central Broadcasting Formerly known as Gap Broadcasting, often capitalized as GAP
• Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, an airport operator holding group in Mexico

Other uses[link]

• George Andreas Papandreou, former Prime Minister of Greece
• .45 GAP, the "Glock Automatic Pistol" cartridge
• Good Agricultural Practices, any collection of value-based agricultural practices
• Gaps (Technical analysis), areas where no trading occurs in the stock market
• Gap insurance, a type of vehicle insurance

See also[link]

• GAAP, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
• Gaap, in demonology
• Gap theorem (disambiguation)
• Gaps (disambiguation)

References[link]

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