"There are two types of freshers: those who have taken a gap year and those who have not."

So said the Dean of Durham University, and so will say any first year student at any higher education establishment.

The opposition to gap years from academics is usually held only by those who have buried their heads in ivory towers all their lives and can see no value in the breadth of experience which creates socially aware citizens.

Universities and colleges generally positively encourage gap years since they can lead on to so much that is valuable.

A gap year may be the only opportunity you have to do anything unconventional. You will never have the length of time or the lack of commitments to get really stuck into something ever again. Once you are at university you will not have the money, and once you are working you will not have the holidays.

If you want to travel or have a "good" time, there are hundreds of opportunities and companies to help you, some more responsible than others. You will see interesting places and meet interesting people, probably people just like you travelling the same circuit.

You will see different cultures, but never really experience the people, shielded as you will be behind the glass of a bus window or behind the lens of your camera.

If the laid-back lifestyle of Australia, the excitement of America or the beach in Bali attracts you, then VAE may not be for you.

If you want to live in a totally different culture and in a totally different way, away from Coca-Cola and McDonald's, then Africa may be for you. If you are not too worried about your creature comforts or about not having reception on your mobile phone, then Africa is probably for you. If you want to use your superb Western education for the betterment of others, to sit drinking tea in the houses of the children that you teach, and to realise that a cabbage is sought after food, not bought in a supermarket, then VAE is probably for you.

VAE aims to be of benefit to all those with whom it comes into contact. That includes both you, the gap year volunteer, and the Kenyan child who does not have your benefits of endless food, medicine and education. The culture shock will be greatest not on your arrival in Africa but on your return home, when you will realise that the developing world is not always "poor", and neither is the West always "rich".