My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Higher education

Anyone have a child studying at a University outside the UK?

36 replies

Eve · 12/09/2016 22:17

Looking at options for DS and a university in Copenhagan runs a degree course in Englishin the subject are that he is interested in ...and the appealing bit - no fees for European citizens.

..anyone any experience of European education?

OP posts:
Report
Pandapumpkin · 14/09/2016 08:55

Is your DC British because if so, he won't be an EU citizen soon. If he doesn't already have a place you would probably be looking at fees for non-European citizens.

Report
OhYouBadBadKitten · 14/09/2016 08:58

Panda, no one knows what the timescale of that is at the moment. A minimum of two years, so I'd carry on at the moment, with business as usual.

Report
Bobochic · 14/09/2016 09:02

Brexit is not good news for students wishing to avail themselves of cheap study options in the EU.

Report
Pandapumpkin · 14/09/2016 09:08

I agree 'probably' might be too strong as no one knows for sure yet, but there are no guarantees that non-EU fees won't be introduced for students who don't yet have a place. It is a risk to be aware of.

Report
haybott · 14/09/2016 09:32

Denmark also has quotas for non-EU students. Since the student concerned wouldn't be starting the course until just before we leave the EU, OP definitely has to take this into account.

European education is not homogeneous, so experiences outside this specific department in Copenhagen would not be any more relevant than e.g. using experience of Oxford to describe the courses at Oxford Brookes. In general though you should expect far less pastoral support than at UK universities - it is very much sink or swim, students are expected to be mature and do not get the same amount of interim assessments before exams as we do in the UK.

Report
VeryPunny · 14/09/2016 10:01

Our DC have dual citizenship so won't be affected by Brexit and even before Brexit I have thought about encouraging them to EU institutions, mainly from the fees angle. This website is the centralised EU application system for EU degrees taught in English.

www.eunicas.co.uk/

Ours are a bit younger so we have time to think but I think if your child is reasonably confident and robust they'll do fine.

Report
haybott · 14/09/2016 10:19

Be very careful about Eunicas.

It is missing a lot of highly valued EU universities and includes lower ranked "universities" without indicators showing that they are low ranked.

For example, the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (hva.nl) is called the "Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences". However, HvA is not what the Dutch would call a university - it does not do research, and students from the grammar school stream in Holland (top third) would not go to a Hogeschool rather than a proper (research intensive) university. A degree from HvA would not be viewed as a university degree in Holland.

Report
VeryPunny · 14/09/2016 10:20

haybott - that's worth knowing. I did get a bit suspicious about some of the institutes, and would stick to the ones I've heard of.

Report
TinklyLittleLaugh · 14/09/2016 12:24

DD is considering Trinity College Dublin. We are thinking of winging it, and hoping once a student is enrolled, they won't suddenly apply non EU fees.

Report
OhYouBadBadKitten · 14/09/2016 12:33

fair enough Panda :)

Report
dotdotdotmustdash · 17/09/2016 12:30

My Dd17 is studying Mandarin in China for a year on a scholarship. If she reaches the required language level (HSK4) she can apply for a further 4yr sholarship to attend various Chinese Universities. Her current scholarship pays tuition, accommodation and a monthly food/travel allowance of about £130pm (doable since cost of living is cheap - about 60p for main meal in canteen and 20p for bus journey).

Report
CorkieD · 17/09/2016 13:23

Be careful with winging it. Those who enrol from next year onwards are taking a risk.

Fees for non-EU students can be quite considerable. For example, In Trinity College Dublin, fees for non-EU students are €40,000 per year for undergraduate medicine and somewhere in the region of €24,000 for science and engineering. The non-EU fees for medicine in the University of Amsterdam are €20,000.

Report
Takeittotheboss · 17/09/2016 14:59

Dot, I've pm-ed you.

Report
Eve · 21/09/2016 22:46

Thank you, we are all dual citizenship ( can be triple citizenship if required).

On further research the university was ranked way to low to consider it... Basically what haybott said.

Tinkly - fees aside - trinity is a huge amount of fun! Didn't go there but had a few misdemours there!

OP posts:
Report
dotdotdotmustdash · 22/09/2016 16:30

Dd and her fellow Uk students have been in China for two weeks. Today they had to have a medical for their student visas. She said it was awful - they were taken to a hospital and treated like cattle. They had x-rays, abdominal ultrasounds, and ECG and bloods taken. She said they left an big hole in her arm and the blood was running down it and she fainted. They had to sit on other student's x-rays and one girl was told she had gallstones.

Today is one of the days when I bless our NHS.

Report
Sadusername · 22/09/2016 18:52

This blog seems to be saying that the fees for British students would go up in the Netherlands as soon as UK left. I think I would be reluctant to start a course in EU .
studyabroadforukstudents.wordpress.com

Report
user1474361571 · 22/09/2016 20:16

But ultimately this blog doesn't have any information - they are speculating on what would happen, without doing so from a position of knowledge.

FWIW fee status is not EU and non-EU, but EU/EEA and non-EU/non-EEA. So, for example, the Swiss pay the EU rate of fees despite not being a member of the EU. I suspect it is unlikely that we will be in the EEA or some equivalent of the EEA made up for Britain i.e. soft Brexit is less likely than hard Brexit. However, in the event that we are EEA members (or some equivalent) it would be perfectly legal for EU countries to have different rules for us than for other countries in the world.

I agree that there is a lot of uncertainty and this in itself is a reason to be cautious about studying in the EU but really nobody knows what will happen yet. (Universities in the UK and the rest of the EU are making income projections based on alternate scenarios.)

Report
astarman · 22/09/2016 22:28

Speculation? Yes, because that is all that is possible at the moment. From a position of no knowledge? Well I suppose you could have reached that conclusion if you didn't read carefully.

The confusing thing with EEA membership is that, at least as far student finance goes, it would be possible for every EU member state to come up with different regulations that might, should that be our ultimate destiny, see Brits being treated differently in all 27 countries. Try being Norwegian and studying in Britain. At least as far as the Netherlands goes it is clear that this wouldn't make any difference.

The one thing that is clear is that if we leave, we will leave from one day to the next and whatever your status was the day before will be of no importance the day after.

Report
CorkieD · 22/09/2016 22:39

Entitlement to EU/EEA fees is dependent on residency and nationality. Dual citizenship may not be enough if the student was normally resident in the UK before commencing the course.

Report
TinklyLittleLaugh · 22/09/2016 23:46

Hmm lots to think about. So bloody annoying that brexit is limiting our kids' options.

Report
Breward · 18/01/2017 21:11

What do people think now about studying in Europe after yesterday's hard Brexit announcement?

It must be really hard for those looking to start courses in Sept 2017.

Report
Grufallosfriend · 19/01/2017 09:06

Corkie, as a EU citizen you can study at any EU university if you have the relevant school leaving diploma (and pass any language requirements).
It does not matter where in the world you have been living before applying.

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

ThisYearWillbeBetter · 19/01/2017 09:23

At my institution, we are looking at what happened to the Swiss in participating in various educational & research schemes with the EU. The deal hinged on the Swiss reluctance to allow freedom of movement; the EU does not budge on that (thank goodness!) The EU prevailed.

Brexiteers are very gung ho about controlling borders, immigration, and getting rid of EU freedom of movement principles. So it is highly unlikely once Article 50 is passed, that the EU will remain open to UK citizens in the way it is now. The next generation's loss.

So those advising on this thread about caution are absolutely correct. In academia, we are watching what's happened elsewhere, and making quite logical, evidence-based inferences from it.

The other things to think about in terms of a university education elsewhere in Europe are about language, culture, what sort of university experience you/your DC want, and what they want to do after graduation.

If your DC want a career principally in the UK, then do a degree in the UK, but one which has the possibility of a year/semester abroad.

If you're looking at the rest of Europe (including the EU) for reasons of saving money on fees, that is the wrong criterion. It's a false economy, and probably not that much of an economy.

Report
ThisYearWillbeBetter · 19/01/2017 09:25

Corkie, as a EU citizen you can study at any EU university if you have the relevant school leaving diploma (and pass any language requirements).
It does not matter where in the world you have been living before applying

That's not the case for UK citizens. There are residence requirements if you want to pay Home/EU fees. Ditto, as far as I know with any certainty, in the Irish Republic.

If you are UK citizens, but have lived abroad, or been educated out of the UK, for most of the period before attending university, at most universities in England & Wales, you will be an overseas student for fee purposes.

You need to check with individual universities for chapter & verse on this.

Report
Grufallosfriend · 19/01/2017 09:30

I would love my children to study abroad as it opens up so many opportunities: becoming bilingual, understanding another culture, seeing the UK from outside, and it opens up a much bigger job market. Saving tuition fees would be relatively low on my list, but still a factor to consider.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.