In 2009, the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) made extensive changes to its curriculum from a majorcentric to a liberal arts style broad-based degree with emphasis on the soft-skill development. One of the important components of the new curriculum is the mandatory year out also known as the ‘Discovery Year’. The objectives of the discovery year is to promote real-world experiential and design-centric learning, and students are given the opportunity to gain community-based or international experience outside of the UBD campus. During the discovery year, students have a choice of four activities namely study abroad, internship, incubation and community outreach programme. Since the inception of the discovery year, study abroad has always been the first choice for most of our students. In 2011, the ratio of UBD students who did the study abroad programme was 4 out of 10. This proportion increased to 7 out of 10 in 2014. More importantly, around 90% of students who left Brunei chose the study abroad option. In this paper, we investigated the reasons behind why study abroad is and has always been the first choice, and also the reasons behind the increasing proportion. We also explored the benefits of study abroad from the perspectives of both the home and host universities. Furthermore, we examined the issues and challenges that hindered the students from taking other activities during discovery year. To conclude, the benefits of study abroad are an all encompassing one from raising the quality of education, improving the university’s ranking to fostering global citizens.