Our Story

Asia Exchange was established in 2007 in Finland by two former exchange students, Harri Suominen and Tuomas Kauppinen. They both had studied abroad in Asia in the mid-2000s, and the experience left a deep impression on both of them – so deep that they wanted to help others do the same.

At the time, opportunities to study abroad in Asia were either limited or very inconvenient. Harri and Tuomas wanted to change this and give more and more students the chance to spend a life-changing semester in Asia, easily and affordably.

Today, Asia Exchange offers the chance to study abroad in Taiwan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, and Vietnam.

Through our partnerships and an effortless and fast application procedure, we help young people worldwide gain valuable international experience and enjoy life-changing experiences abroad.

MORE THAN 10 000 STUDENTS

FROM OVER 900 UNIVERSITIES

AND OVER 100 COUNTRIES

Many students are interested in studying in Asia, but not everyone can find the right option through their home university or college. Others are simply left outside the tight placement quotas. Normally, the only option left would be for the student to arrange the study abroad semester independently.

First, they would have to find a suitable university abroad, contact the university, find out about courses in English they could take, and then finally apply. The whole process can mean countless hours of work, dozens of emails sent back and forth, and piles of documents to fill out.

On top of all this, the student would also need to take care of travel arrangements, such as finding accommodation and applying for a student visa. What’s worse, there’s still no certainty that it will all work out for the best.

This is where we come in: We offer an easy and affordable way to study abroad. We do this by coming in between the student and the foreign university. We take care of the application process, communication with the foreign university, and mailing all official documents.

We also provide the student with all the information they need to make their course selections, travel arrangements and generally make the most out of the semester abroad. We answer all questions quickly through email, phone, and live chat.

Not only do we help students: by doing all the above, we make things easier for the student’s home institution.

Interview with Harri Suominen (Founder of Asia Exchange)

All the courses offered by our partner universities are part of their official curriculum. The courses consist of lectures, workshops, visits to local businesses and charity organizations that we sponsor.

Students from all fields and majors can apply through us. While most applicants have a background in business, technology/engineering, law, social sciences or tourism, there are many students with other majors as well.

While not everyone might be able to find courses perfectly matching their field, there’s still the possibility to take interesting elective courses or minors to complement your major.

Decisions about scholarships and transfer credits are still made by the students’ home universities and colleges. We encourage students to plan their studies carefully and to include the course descriptions (available on our website) in their study plans. This helps the home institutions allocate transfer credits.

Since 2007, a lot has happened. New destination countries, new universities, and new programs have been added, and are still being added, as the demand for study abroad semesters in Asia grows. We are now sending close to 1000 students per year to spend a life-changing semester in Asia. Each year, we have welcomed students from more and more countries and universities to join our programs.

We truly believe that studying abroad is one of the best decisions anyone can make. Not only does it help you grow as a person and provide you with more career opportunities later on, but the experience of foreign cultures and international friendships brought about by studying abroad can help to create a more tolerant, harmonious world for everyone.

Beyond Abroad was established in 2020 in Finland by Harri Suominen and Tuomas Kauppinen, founders of Asia Exchange and Edunation. We decided to make the big step and to leave our comfort zone in southeast Asia. Beyond Abroad was born. In the past decade, we learned a lot about international student mobility and became true experts in this field. With this expertise from sending more than 10 000 students abroad, we decided to grow our portfolio with destinations that are safe in terms of COVID-19 and are not limited to Asia anymore. Things developed quickly and today, we are proud to work with 17 Universities in 11 countries worldwide, including destinations such as Costa Rica, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Mexico and Cuba.

Beyond Abroad is still developing fast and we are optimistic to add many more destinations shortly. At Beyond Abroad we follow the same values as Asia Exchange and with our expertise, a remarkably simple and fast application procedure, we help young people from all over the world to gain valuable international experience. The students of Beyond Abroad enjoy life-changing experiences in some of the most intriguing destinations worldwide.

“Don’t think about it, just do it!”

I sincerely recommend Asia Exchange to anybody daydreaming about Asian horizons, and if I have a single piece of advice: Don’t think about it, just do it! –Mathilde, France

“If you’re ambitious, this is for you”

If you are ambitious and looking forward to achieve your goals this opportunity is for you. Thank you Asia Exchange for making a better future for students. –Vilma, Finland

“It was great altogether”

I can’t even point out any single thing that was particularly good. It was great altogether. Asia Exchange always responded to my emails right away (sometimes within minutes). Seriously how do you do that? You should offer customer service trainings! –Fabian, Austria

“Very good organisation”

Very good organisation, nearly everything go as planned, kind employees, everyone is so nice and they’re helping as much as they can! Thanks for that! –Maren, Germany

“10 points out of 10”

Asia Exchange: Absolutely ten points out of ten. I was an exchange student in Bali, Indonesia for the spring semester of 2015. There were no issues, we were taken care of and everything went as it was supposed at least for me. The organization offers great support, infrastructure and is a trustworthy safety-net and provider for its students. I highly recommend Asia Exchange as an exchange agent/provider. –Kare, Finland

MORE STUDENT EXPERIENCES

Since 2007, a lot has happened. New destination countries, new universities, and new programs have been added, and are still being added, as the demand for study abroad semesters in Asia grows. We are now sending close to 1000 students per year to spend a life-changing semester in Asia. Each year, we have welcomed students from more and more countries and universities to join our programs.

Helping more and more students study abroad in Asia is our guiding vision, but it’s something we couldn’t fulfill independently. In addition to our partner universities, we collaborate with many home universities and study abroad organizations. Learn more about our partnerships and references.