<p>In the rapidly globalized world, promoting the outbound exchange of domestic students is beneficial and is widely advocated by governments. Based on a two-dimensional framework of policy instruments and policy goals, the national scholarship programs’ policy instruments and policy goals for short-term exchange abroad are compared using Australia’s New Colombo Plan and the UK’s Turing Scheme as examples. The government-led high-threshold, quality-oriented Australian approach and government-supervised, low-threshold, quantity-oriented UK approach are summarized, and four ideal policy models for the national scholarship program for short-term exchange abroad are further proposed based on high-/low-threshold and quantity-/quality-oriented dimensions. This study provides references to governments around the world to design better NSPEAs. This study contributes to the knowledge of fast-growing international short-term mobility studies. It offers theoretical and practical references to policymakers and practitioners of outbound student mobility of governments and institutions worldwide.</p>