Year Abroad at Geneva University -helpful advice/hints welcome!

[Georgie8]

Really, just that!

Eldest is off to Geneva Uni for her year abroad and I wondered if anyone has any helpful inside intel about the boring stuff eg accommodation, banking, food shopping, laundry, etc.

@Georgie8
The “tame” red light district is a thing because, frankly, foreign nationals visit the NGOs in Geneva and misbehave! It’s the same the world over.

Well, we’re almost there!

Popped over for a “look, see” and discovered the red light district 😱 we were in Novotel, it’s 5* as long as you turn right as you leave the hotel 😂

Getting Assurance D’Autorisation de Séjour wasn’t the easiest, mainly because it wasn’t made clear that we needed it -but we figured it out. We had to do this through the Canton in advance, so that she can apply for the permis B once she’s there.

UK uni useless re this!

Somewhere to live: had the UK uni submitted the application on time she could have had UNIGE accommodation at 350-650CHF pm.

They didn’t, despite sending a confirmation email in Feb 2023 saying they had, and so by the time she was accepted all unige accommodation was taken.

After visiting and asking Swiss friends we secured accommodation at 1300CHF pm. Somewhat irritated 🙄but I think living with a family will be beneficial.

Also need health insurance -ours is excellent, but a client/friend’s insurance company offers coverage at a cheaper rate than that suggested by the Swiss university (30CHF pm less) and there’s also UK uni coverage.

Going over with her and will keep a room for an extra day -but I’m sure she’ll be okay.

If she can be bothered, complain to the uk university for not doing what it was supposed to be.

if there is a clear evidence thread I would expect that at the very least it’ll sort out processes for next year and it may involve financial recompense.

I hope she was a wonderful time!

I think DD applied for accommodation directly to Geneva University. I don’t think her uni here had anything to do with it. I did know the accommodation was hard to get and DD applied much earlier. The cost is more for anywhere not via the uni.

Can’t say I remember the registration but DD took forever in the overseas student office on arrival. Don’t know why now!

Has DD decided which modules? I know my DD didn’t get free choice but wasn’t unhappy with the outcome. She had wanted a law module I think but could not do it.

Oversll though it was great for my DD. Her Swiss friends really helped and she travelled a bit with them too. Plus some parties as quite a few live at home. The university also put on a few trips for overseas students locally and DD met others from various countries on those. As you might imagine, it’s an organised uni.

Don’t forget to visit the Patek Philippe museum. It’s truly wonderful.

Just to say that banking is really irrelevant these days inasmuch as a local bank account is not needed. You can do everything though a UK bank account and a Monzo card. I don’t know any of my DSs year abroad cohort who opened a local bank account anywhere in the world.

Don’t think DD did 10 years ago either. No Swiss Bank account that I know of!!!!

Yes, students still have to sort out accommodation themselves but she wasn’t able/allowed to apply for uni accommodation because the UK uni didn’t put her nomination in -when she contacted the Swiss they’d never heard of her!
We told her to complain and try and get the UK uni to help, but she didn’t want to. Didn’t even receive an apology!
Still, she now has a uni place and somewhere to live 😅

She’s just been sent a list of the courses available to her and she’s working out a “timetable” but cannot yet put her name down for anything. She’s decided to do history/politics type courses (not what she does in the UK) mainly because she wouldn’t have to learn any ‘technical’ terms/language.
Doing the on-line French Lang assessment next week to see what French class she should be in and sign up to those lessons.

Re Swiss bank accounts -agree, we don’t think she’ll need one. Thirty-five years ago 😱 I had to open a French account, but they can do everything on-line now -so much easier.

Overseas students induction day is on the 15th September and she’s already been sent a list of trips/activities organised by the Erasmus Student Network. She’s a bit nervous, but still very excited 🙂

Water under the bridge but the uni not sending in the application has caused a lot of extra costs. She really should complain or at least get a reason for the incompetence. Fortunately DDs study abroad staff were on the ball.

I remember DD enjoyed the trips. Lots of the international students speak English. I think DDs uni had told them what French they needed to do. I think DD did History of Art and Portuguese as additions.

I agree,
it’s happened now, but I do think that she should raise it, if only to ensure new measures are put in place to stop this happening to someone else. They obviously need a system of double checking since she had an email from them confirming the nomination had been made.

She probably would have complained had we not been able to finance her, but she knew that we’d cover the costs -mind you, they don’t know that.
It’s costing twice as much as the most expensive uni option 🙁 although I think that living with a Swiss family might be better for her French (well, that’s how I’m selling it to myself 😂).

Had we been in a different financial position she might not have been able to go, especially as the Turing grant hasn’t yet been confirmed!

In no particular order:
@TizerorFizz
@Boosterquery
@Delphigirl
@Florissant
@SmartHome
@Upanddownthemerrygoround

Well, at great extra cost (9000CHF more than we were expecting) she’s in a very lovely shared apartment, but 30 mins from uni.
As we speak, her Permis B is winging its way to her. She sent the forms in on 15/09 and heard back last week.

Once she has it she can open a Swiss bank account, needed for the SEMP scholarship from the Swiss government.
Turing -as I don’t want to ‘out’ my daughter, I’ll say nothing atm 😡
Otherwise, I visited her a month ago and her father is with her now (reading week), and she’s really enjoying it.
Loves her courses and, in translation classes, is getting 5.75/6, ie 96%
Met some lovely people but, unfortunately, English is always the default language …I did warn her.!

DDs flatmates spoke French to dd! Can flatmates do this? Lessons are in French! Glad she’s enjoying it. How did the cost become CHF 9000? Just interested. Not criticizing. Did she get no money for housing? Is she in a uni flat?

UK uni failed to nominate her on time so she missed out on Geneva uni accommodation. Had she not been proactive and contacted Geneva, she wouldn’t have even had a place at Geneva. No apology from UK uni.

Her friends are paying 450CHF per month for uni accommodation, she’s paying 1300CHF per month.

Her flatmates do speak French to her but she doesn’t see them much because they all work. Courses are in French and she’s doing well, but speaking is harder than reading, listening and writing.

@Georgie8 I wondered if the high cost was lack of uni accommodation. I think I said earlier that DD had an early deadline to apply but her uni were organised. Thank God! We knew the uni accommodation was subsidised a lot and one of DDs friends didn’t get round to applying for it. They all knew they were going (only around 4 of them!) but this girl didn’t read anything and get round to it. Staying in Geneva is wonderful. DD went on to Italy after the first semester.

Just to add my tuppence here, I know the visa situation is frustrating, but most if not all UK universities will not provide assistance with visa applications for students going overseas. They're not qualified to do so, and I believe it's illegal if you don't have the appropriate qualifications. It's the norm for the host university to advise on visas for students coming to 'their' country, or at least to provide guidance on their website. Immigration law is complex and if you give the wrong advice, the student could end up losing a lot of money. If you're sending students to 10+ countries, as many universities are, that's a lot of immigration systems to get a detailed knowledge of.

On the other hand, all UK universities have a team of people who can advise students coming to the UK on UK immigration requirements.