Education in Europe - why not travel abroad.

[HuffingMum]

University education (taught in English) in Holland costs about 2000 Euros a year. Here in Luxembourg, some of us Brits prefer to send our English speaking teens to Dutch or German universities.

See the websites www.studyinholland.nl/education-system/tuition-fees-and-cost-of-living
and www.topuniversities.com/where-to-study/europe/germany/study-germany-english
We pay about 400 euros a month for guaranteed accommodation.

My DD is studying in the Netherlands. We are from Ireland. She's taking a BA as a dancer/ maker. There was no course here in Ireland. She auditioned successfully in the UK but decided on the Netherlands as she finds the dance scene there more interesting. From our point of view it was a relief as the fees and cost of living are very reasonable. She also gets a student loan.

She is extremely happy there now after a slightly rocky start. The main bonus has been the friends she has made from all over Europe. She cycles everywhere, makes use of a fantastic transport system to go to Amsterdam or other cities for nights out and enjoys a good standard of living. She's in Arnhem. I have no idea how her school ranks in ratings but it's a very specific course in an arts university so not really comparable.

I'd certainly recommend it as an option to consider.

Whether or not a university is in the top hundred is largely irrelevant at undergraduate level.

It is not irrelevant. Research informs teaching. Higher quality research is correlated with deeper and more challenging courses.

For international education, research quality drives league table position but it also drives recognition of the course. It's all very well to say that university x or y teaches wonderful courses, but pretty useless if most UK employers haven't heard of x and y. Top 100 league tables, comparable to top UK universities, helps reassure potential employers about the degree.

It is not irrelevant. Research informs teaching. Higher quality research is correlated with deeper and more challenging courses.

While not entirely irrelevant, the correlation is at best weak. Researchers are rarely judged on their undergraduate teaching and it is of little consequence to the majority of them.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/00346543066004507
Hattie and Marsh examined 58 studies and their conclusion was that for teaching and research “the relationship is 0.” In a subsequent analysis, the same authors sought specific conditions under which research supported teaching, but their analyses failed to reveal a single moderator to the general findings, leading them to conclude that the observed absence of correlation between teaching and research is robust.

Employers don’t agree though do they? A great time and a degree from the University of Blog in Transylvania is not going to persuade anyone it’s a better bet than UCL or Durham. Cheap fees and the possibility of speaking Romanian are not going to trump a world class university. The reputation matters. Research matters. Of course the quality of research is important to undergrads. It underpins what they are taught. My DD was certainly taught be lecturers who did high class research in their fields.

So is there a great list of universities in Europe that teach in English that the wannabe linguist should be heading to then?

Performing Arts universities are not research led so will never feature in the top 100 of the highest quality universities. However they will be judged on who actually gets work afterwards. Only then can you judge value for money.

While not entirely irrelevant, the correlation is at best weak.

This is ridiculous.

Back in the real world, there is no way that a maths degree from a top research university is viewed as equivalent to a maths degree from a low entry tariff university. The contents are simply not comparable.

BubbleBuddy seemingly is not a fan of Bolyai-Lobachevsky geometry

I might be if I knew what it was!!

What does it have any relevance to correlation?? I’ve googled it and it doesn’t seem to be related at all. If you google, it’s also called hyperbolic geometry.

www.math.cornell.edu/~mec/Winter2009/Mihai/section5.html

BubbleBuddy seemingly is not a fan of Bolyai-Lobachevsky geometry

But in combinatorics, it would be a lottery

I also think that the UK will very much need people who are at home with how things are done in more civilised countries, have excellent language and communication skills, etc. As recent events have shown, we are too insular in this country.

Yet, ds, who has lived in Belgium since he was 10, chose to go to UK for university. He can get by in Flemish and French. He is currently doing his MA at the same place he did his BA...which is known for having a international cohort.

As for more civilised countries.....moot point. Those will be the ones where all the police are armed, and you can be fined for not having your ID papers/card on you? Mainland Europe does not equal more civilised at all ime and imo.