Have just heard that more kids going to study in EU dues to lower grades and fees....

[deepest]

What do you think - one girl off to Bulgaria to do dentistry another to do medicine in Cyprus -- friends tell me that Germany and Holland are popular for medics.....anyone any experience of other courses...assumed all the US courses were more expensive and higher grades.

[Unexpected]

We will be looking seriously at this as we have family in two European countries where university teaching takes place in English. Cheaper fees is definitely a consideration. Am just starting to research it now and comments from anyone who has a child a university in a European country would be very welcome!

[FrancesNiadova]

Yes, any RL experiences would be great to read. Back in my day, I had a gap year to travel before I went to Uni. I wondered if today, studying abroad would take its place.

[OldBeanbagz]

We're very interested in this as we have family in Europe and i think it would be great for our DC to study abroad.

[CatherineofMumbles]

Excellent idea! We are hoping DS will take an interest in this. he has expressed and interest in US universities, and came top in the practice SAT exam he sat, but the cost, and 4 year course puts us off, would much prefer EU or Canada.
A friend's son ( British, of Indian descent) studied dentistry (English language course) in the Czech republic, miniscule fees and very cheap living costs, and with fantastic cultural exposure, and is now back here practising as a dentist.

[kittybelle]

Does anyone know if there is a central resource or info point or if you just search college by college?

[senua]

Isn't part of the University experience the contacts and connections that you make? Going abroad might cut down UK opportunities, though I suppose it might increase international opportunities not that I, selfishly, want that for my DC.

[CatherineofMumbles]

I was a uni in the UK, made no prestigious contacts .
I think that at the moment DC studying abroad are at ahead of the curve, in a few years it will be more mainstream and companies will spring up offering advice etc. At the moment it is the more adventurous types who will go for it, like my friends who was/ and entrepreneur, and as a fairly recent immigrant here had the can-do mindset...

[BadgerB]

Unfortunately there are no loans from the UK govt for students who wish to take a degree in the EU. Thus this cheaper choice is only available to those with enough money to pay upfront. The poor who need a loan must pay the higher fees for UK universities. Seems very unfair.

[eatyourveg]

ds had a place to read English in Dublin last year (no fees) but decided to take up his ucas offer instead. Is still considering it for a postgrad.

I think it depends on the subject, when he was doing all the research (mostly looking at Holland) the vast majority of courses were science/business or law related.

[TheWordFactory]

I think there are some great university courses on offer sbroad.

However there are usually no loans available so parents need to pick up the full tab.

Also , some are not going to be regarded as equivalent to some uk universities (which is why the uk is over run with applications from overseas).

Homework is needed

[Oodlives]

Dd1 is interested in going to Germany as she is into languages but also wants to do sciences. The courses are often taught in English but living there would give her immersion language wise.
We haven't looked in detail so I'm interested in people's experiences.

[CatherineofMumbles]

Oddlives, my DS2 is also interested in Germany for the same reasons! I suspect DS1 will go to Uni in the UK, and DS2 more likely to be study in Europe.

[kittybelle]

Def not an advantage to being in UK to make connections with other gards for a grad job! Thats not how it works! I work in grad recruitment for big global company - we recruit from a list of the top 20 global unis and we expect grads to be seeking an international career.....so doing this would be an advantage. Shame abiut the funding - but if there are NO fees at all at some Uni then there must be a oint where being 27k + Interest up before you start is worth more than the loan + interest you have access to in the Uk? Hopefully one of those smart mathematicains will be along shortly to prove my point. My son thinks that this is the most exciting thing

[Hamuketsu]

Also interested in this, as dd1 has been talking about it.

kittybelle, is this "list of the top 20 global unis" the only ones you consider? (In any case, I'd be interested in seeing it!)

[TheWholeOfTheSpoon]

CatherineofMumbles When you say he came top in the SAT, do you mean he got a 2400?! Because, that's really rare and you would be pretty much guaranteed to get a scholarship, even if you're in the UK.

[CatherineofMumbles]

TheWholeoftheSpoon (great name),
No not full marks he got the top marks on a course he went on run by a tuition company, and his scores went up during the week form 2i50 at the start to 23700 at the end, - the others ranged from 1960-2360 at the end.
So they were confident he would be able to get into a college, but we are getting to make a list of why he thinks US would be better than UK, given that there are many disadvantages, not least the cost, unless you are a US citizen. We got the stats yesterday Last year 27 from his school went to US unis, and probably half of those were US citizens, the rest either got sports scholarships or had parents who were happy to stump up the dosh