How do we find out about studying in Europe?

[igivein]

DS is in year 12 and hoping to study physics / Astro physics at uni (assuming he gets his finger out and gets decent grades …).
He’s starting to realise the insane amount of debt he’s likely to graduate with.
We were chatting this morning about how you can study undergrad courses abroad that are taught in English but the fees are much lower. Does anyone have any experience / knowledge of this, or can point me in the right direction to explore further?
I appreciate it’s probably not as easy now - thanks brexit!

Sorry not time to read the whole thread, but re study in The Netherlands, the student housing crisis is serious. Very serious. There are online open days in the next few months so worth signing up and asking. I know of some unis saying that you should be prepared to have a nightmare finding a place.

That's Amsterdam, Leiden, Erasmus (Rotterdam), Delft. and Utrecht.

There's a general housing crisis in the country, students are far down the list of priorities really.

Re housing in Amsterdam, my DD knows lots of students there and they all have places to live! It's the same as in busy cities/towns in the UK - you have to start looking early and use all available help and networks.

If it is debt he is worried about then why not do a graduate apprenticeship? You get paid, work and come out with a degree. The degrees tend to be from less well known/rated universities as they are more willing to work round the employer, but this matters much less as you also have had several years of working by that point.

Example: rollsroyce.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Apprentice/details/Rolls-Royce-Manufacturing-Engineering-Degree-Apprenticeship---Inchinnan--UK_JR6101939

Do Rolls Royce offer Astrophysics degrees?

Don’t think so. That was just an example of a degree apprenticeship. They would need to look to see if there are any available that might pique their interest.

I would highly recommend Delft for any student considering Engineering.

Certainly where Civil and Structural Engineering are concerned, there are two standout universities in the world. No question but in first place is MIT and it is deservedly considered the top university for Engineering. In second place is Delft.

The other universities on this side of the Atlantic that are in the premier division are ETH Zürich, Cambridge and Imperial. Honourable mentions also go to Oxford, Technical University of Munich, EPF Lausanne and Politecnico di Milano.

But who needs any world rankings for universities offering Civil and Structural Engineering if you intend to work here? Sheffield is better for many employers here than any world list. Cambridge and Oxford are general engineering. Plenty of grads don’t work in engineering afterwards! That’s well known. No engineering employer is that bothered about civil engineers with an Oxford or Cambridge engineering degree. Most engineering employers don’t see them very often! What they might care about is whether you can do the job and the further training required.

How many MIT grads are seen here? Yes, if you want worldwide jobs of course it has currency but no more than CEng qualified engineers here. UK Students rarely learn in German and Italian. We really do need to understand that our universities are great for civil and structural engineering. No one needs to go abroad. World views are largely meaningless for the vast majority.

Tizer, that sounds a little narrow. The new generation cannot be sure what the future holds. They could well end up overseas. My bil is an engineer. He ended up gaining experience in urban public transport systems and now works for an international consultancy, and has worked on bids/projects in Scandinavia, Hong Kong, Switzerland and elsewhere. People end up deciding to work for a couple of years in Dubai, or marrying someone from elsewhere, or deciding to emigrate to Australia. Having a degree from somewhere with good international name recognition does no harm. It is known that places like Cambridge and Imperial have high entry standards and that you are pushed/challenged when you get there. This must count for something.

No one needs to go abroad. World views are largely meaningless for the vast majority.

Global rankings are indeed useful if you're looking to work internationally. The UK has 3 top ranked Engineering/Stem unis - Oxbridge and Imperial. Then there's a large gap, filled by European and North American Universities.

I moved to the UK as part of my job (not engineering) and hope that my dc will also explore jobs outside of the UK, especially as the salary for engineers tends to be my ch higher outside of the UK (not just Silicone Valley but even continental Europe),

So it can indeed be helpful to go to a highly ranked Uni that is well recognised by employers outside the UK.