Did your DC get any money from Turing ?

[IlovedLadybirdbooks]

DD is doing MFL degree and on her year abroad in France. Just been informed by her home university that she won't get anything from Turing.

Bit disappointing as her YA is mandatory and she only gets the minimum maintenance loan. Would have been good to get some help with visa, insurance and travel costs.

I agree that prospective students need to research how the MFL year abroad is organised ahead of deciding to apply to MFL degrees. However, the decision to apply for MFL usually happens at latest in Year 12, if not in Year 11 when choosing A-level subjects, and students currently on their MFL year abroad would therefore have done their research in 2021 or perhaps 2020 when the clarity of what post-Brexit funding and reciprocal Erasmus agreements would look like was almost nil.

@Ceramiq I realise for current students, it was difficult but there was no Erasmus - that we did know. Where it’s gone wrong is different policies at different universities and the difficulty of applications and visas. Plus decisions about not giving Turing to MFL students is not transparent. Data is very much needed because unis are not proritising MFL students for whom the year is mandatory.

I feel your pain, we spent thousands, it felt never ending at the time.

The ending of participation in Erasmus was not a black-and-white thing: some universities have renegotiated reciprocal exchange programmes whereas others have abandoned them altogether. There was also a reasonable assumption on the part of both university and students that Turing money would be allocated more than has been the case to students with a compulsory year abroad requirement to graduate.

Personally I think that immersion in university courses abroad is greatly overrated and that most MFL benefit from targeted language courses in addition to lectures.

@Ceramiq it’s the other way around. Turing is used for leveling up. Often MFL students don’t get it as you see here. It’s means tested and nice to go students get it.

Has anyone with DC studying MFL who didn’t get funding written to their MP to ask them to raise it with Bridget Phillipson? It may be that govt is unaware that universities are prioritising funding in this way and it is another disincentive for DC to study MFL. Perhaps they cld ask for a consistent policy across the sector. Seems unfair that in some places it’s means tested and in others it isn’t. BP studied MFL so maybe she wld be supportive? (Although I haven’t noticed her being supportive of MFL so far …)

I had thought about writing to BP - possibly framing it in terms of a shortage of language teachers. The big contradiction in making it harder to study MFL!

DD had first meeting about the Year Abroad last week.

Tutor asked who had European passports and then said "You are my favourite students!" DD smug but not sure that was helpful comment for those who don't.

Work placements have to be approved but they weren't told certain jobs would be unacceptable so DD could at least consider au pairing or working in a hotel or something. I guess if she was able to explain exactly how she'd use this to improve her French she might be OK?

They did tell them they had to apply for a uni as well in case they don't get a BC placement or other work.

My DS got the max amount, Uni of Sheffield and did a year in the US (2023-24) he also received minimum loan and had received FSM in school so got a small bursary from Sheffield. His year abroad was mandatory as he was doing International Business.

@loobylou44do you mind me asking what kind of costs? Dd just started MFL at uni (3 languages atm, dropping to two next year) so will need to start planning this time next year. Is it more than a ‘regular’ year at uni?

@HPFA I’m sure there were loads who are dual language already - see the other thread. It’s putting dc off. No wonder she’s smug. Pity everyone with a British passport! Now MFLs are off the GCSE must study list it’s going to kill them off for Brits with no connections abroad - it’s been going this way for years.

I guess the university is often asked about being an au pair or working in a hotel. They will have a stock answer! What’s required by the uni should be in the course handbook. My DD had to do some translation sessions as well as taking two subjects at the unis abroad. Then the research work for uk university. Cannot see how being an au pair compares with this. However some unis might just operate a tick box system.

She actually said she was surprised it wasn't more that had EU passports - only a few hands went up when the tutor asked.

She seems at the moment to be leaning towards applying to be a Language Assistant and then staying on for the summer afterwards.

My nephew got Turing. He was a self-funded (ie parental) undergraduate with a pension and student funding from his country of residence, doing a STEM degree. His year abroad was an added bonus. Levelling up? No, not exactly.

Au pairing in France comes with an absolute requirement to attend a course of study (which may or may not be language tuition). It's not a job as much as a way of covering room and board. Hotel work is unlikely to be accessible to non-EU nationals and being a chambermaid is not great for language skills.

I think to get an answer you need to go via your MP but others may know better.

@senorsenor Below are the costs for my DD who has just gone to Rome for the academic year. In practice it’s not really more money than a year at Uni in the UK and she’s funding her food etc with a job which she isn’t doing in term time at Uni. You still get your student loan while on Year Abroad. You still have to pay some fees to your home Uni but only about £1400 and they are covered by the normal student loan.

There are some upfront costs such as travel, visa costs and rent deposit.

• Visa Cost - £45 plus travel to London, passport photos
• Travel to Rome - £125 by train
• Rent £750 per month for 9 months plus one month rent as deposit
• Food, day to day expenses, sightseeing and Socialising: £80 per week funded by her babysitting job (you can work 20 hrs a week on a study visa)
• Local Travel - she bought a bike in Rome for €100

Also to get the visa we had to loan DD £6000 for a month to have in her bank account to show she had the money to support herself.

(Her university is chaotic and had no exchange arrangements so we ended up paying for a language school course for 9 months but that is not normal.)

@Juja All the costs you outline, plus the language course, would be covered by an au pair job in Paris or Milan, and there would be money on top. I don't know about the market for au pairs in Rome.

@Juja thank you, that’s really helpful. That doesn’t sound as bad as the previous poster said (maybe hers was much more for some reason?) DD is at Durham which isn’t particularly cheap re rent so I’m hoping it might come in a little cheaper depending on where she goes / what she does (first year at the moment so no firm plans at the moment) She is quite interested in South America but not sure if that would be any easier / harder to sort out and also very expensive to get there and back.
I have no idea how good Durham at helping - hopefully a little better than Oxford!

Latin America has always required visas (that do not allow students to work) and so is less different post-Brexit and post-Erasmus than the EU countries from an MFL student's perspective. It used to be extremely cheap to live in Latin American countries but that is no longer the case.

University of Nottingham are to suspend MFL degrees for new students.

Crikey. Where did you read that?

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/university-nottingham-suspend-16-courses-115617839.html

And now on BBC too: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9zwqvn53o

Such sad news for the humanities - Nottingham is an excellent university - I expect we will see more of this from other unis.

@HPFA DD has a few friends who were language assistants. Some loved it but others were lonely. One of her friends moved to DDs city lodging and commuted to her job as meeting young people her age had been so difficult. She was lonely. Some young people don’t mind this of course but you really can be in the middle of nowhere. DD liked her university courses and actually has found them more useful in work in terms of additional knowledge and conversation.