Teen preparing for Uni year abroad in 2027.

[cadburyflakefan]

Hello,
Our son is at UCL and is preparing to go abroad for a year as he's studying a language as well as history. Please can anyone share their experience of what it's like and how it works financially.Any tips/ advice would be great as we're a little unsure about it all. Thanks 😊

@cadburyflakefan First of all, check when Erasmus might start again. We have gone back in after Brexit but I don’t know when it resumes. This means no visas and that’s a blessing.

Is he studying or working? EU or non Eu? Where? Does UCL have partner universities, or is he having to find one? Is he doing British council teaching assistant, or working? When you clarify, the answers can be tailored to where and what he’s doing.

Hi there,
He hasn't decided which country yet,but I think it must be with a Uni that partners with UCL. I need to find out more of these questions- thank you for your response and for giving me some more things to clarify first😊

@cadburyflakefan Which MFL? Spanish gives options, Italian - not so much! Or German! French - a few more. UCL will have a web page about this and should have a staff team dedicated to it.

My son is at UCL and has just returned from an amazing year in Canada at McGill. If you search threads from July/Aug last year I posted under a different name about having a nightmare with visas. It all turned out ok, but if she needs a visa apply ridiculously early. I was on first name terms with UCL’s chancellor by the time it was resolved. There was nothing problematic about my son…. The visa process is painful and they seem to approve at the last minute.

That said, he loved every minute of it once he got there. As parents we went to visit and loved Canada. Going back a few decades I also loved my third year out in France as an Erasmus student. I haven’t heard any negative stories from DS about any of his friends. Other DS who is at a different uni wants to do similar. Oh and the costs of a Canadian uni worried me but he paid 15% of the £9k fees 🍾 and cost of living in Canada is a lot less. His friends at UCLA told a different story as it was staggeringly expensive.

PS he speaks French but McGill is all taught in English. The French was useful day to day. He could have studied a French module but didn’t.

If you are actually studying a MFL there’s usually a requirement to be taught in French or the MFL being studied. It’s part of the degree. So doing modules in English isn’t normally acceptable as the MFL isn’t optional.

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your experience. I can imagine the stress with the Visa side of things. But otherwise it sounds like it was a brilliant experience. I understand that they start preparing for it when they go back into Year 2. Hopefully,things will run smoothly. Will wait to see what happens as the world is a little unsettled at present. Fingers crossed! 😊🤞

@cadburyflakefanStudents should attend sessions on where, how and what! They make decisions regarding study or work. Only some of the would is unsettled! Is he doing Russian? Most MFLs have countries that are still open for business. Erasmus is coming back for 2027. So what is he studying?

Not ucl but my dd is going abroad semester 2 yr3. Not for language. There’s a uni of abroad instagram for the uni. And a go abroad service at the uni. The uni held in person advice events in yr2. She had to submit a formal application Nov yr2, there was a criteria and put 3 preferences. Found out February then had a couple of in person sessions including chance to chat to students who have been there. I’ve also found a parents facebook group for yr abroad.
She’ll pay fees to home uni and not eligible for Turing funding. She appears to be getting a tiny bit more than min maintenance loan I assume due to semester abroad but we’ll be funding visa, accommodation and flights.

Thank you for that useful info. Yes ,we've wondered how it works with the finances etc. There's plenty of time to prepare. Think I'll check out other parent groups on Instagram and Facebook😊👍

@cadburyflakefan This will greatly depend on Erasmus or whether it’s the useless Turing funding that’s means tested at many universities. You pay for flights and also visas. You may or may not get subsidised uni accommodation, or dc will have to find their own. Many universities in Europe don’t have much accommodation. If you work, it’s down to you.

I strongly suggest you both read the “How to Decide Guide” published by UCL about study abroad and dc goes to info events they put on. These are the best sources of info for this uni and their students. It’s easy to find!

My Dd is doing mfl and will be doing the same in 2027 (but she is at Durham) - afaik Erasmus will be back up and running by then (according to the gov website) which is great news - I have no idea how much funding they will get but it’s meant to cover their expenses (to what degree I don’t know though - does that mean all accommodation/food/flights?) - I have no idea how they sort out where they’re going etc, I guess the uni helps them sort it out when they go back in year 2. But Erasmus should make it all much easier in theory (thank goodness!)

Hi,
That sounds encouraging. I am afraid to admit I know little about Erasmus but I need to do some research and reading around it all. I think our son said they'll be starting to prepare for it in Sept. It's nice to get info from other parents! 😊

@sweetpotatowedgeswithmayo @cadburyflakefan My DD got Erasmus funding back in the day. Her university did student exchanges with other universities. Both hers were in Europe. Erasmus gave a grant and DD chose how it was spent. Swanky accommodation would take all of it but she spent a medium sum on accommodation and had money for food, entertainment and travel. We paid for flights - mostly. DD travelled around using her money. She thought it was reasonably generous but it can get eaten up in an expensive city so sensible choices can matter. Fees, I think, are still paid to your home uni on the year abroad.

Thank you- that is helpful! 😊

This probably depends massively on which country you are going to (I'm not sure the Erasmus scheme is very helpful if not studying in Europe).In general: you pay tuition fees but only about £1500 per year, which you can get student loan for. You can also apply for the usual maintenance loan, and I think you get slightly more for going abroad (dd is going abroad for one semester).
The main thing I wanted to say is, if it's an in-built part of the course it's different, but otherwise, the process can be very competitive depending on university and country, so don't take it for granted that he will be automatically accepted for his first choice. It doesn't always go only on academic grades and some universities don't publish their selection criteria.
Oh, also wanted to say, there might be two options for study, depending on if languages is an integral part of his degree. Dd is doing a science degree so different, but she has the option to study her subject in the native language if she can pass the language test at a high enough level. If not, she will do generic language and culture studies modules taught in English.

I would separate this into three lists: academic placement rules, visa/insurance/admin, and money. Ask UCL which partner universities are available, what fees are due to UCL during the year abroad, whether there is Turing or other funding, and what proof of funds or insurance each country needs. The country choice changes the practical answer a lot.

@worcesterpear ? Ws left Erasmus as a result of Brexit! I cannot see why the MFL students should not benefit who study European languages - as they did in the past? My DD did French and Italian. The DS here is studying a MFL so it’s mandatory. Generally you still pay fees to your home university because it’s an exchange of students plus it funds the Study Abroad staff and any work set for the year. That’s why the best universities list their exchange university partners. Some could be Latin America for Spanish or Portuguese and then there’s Japan, China etc. Yes, the place might be competitive but you probably choose three in order of preference. Some dc will do British council so they won’t all want a uni exchange. Getting back to Erasmus should make life so much easier!

The info on the gov website re Erasmus isn’t massively helpful but it definitely starts up again in 2027 which is good news - although being the first year in a while might mean nobody really knows what’s going on. A quick AI search tells me funding for Spain, for example, will give roughly 2500 euro funding for 6 months (so presumably 5k for the year?) so similar to the maintenance loan amount (which they can take out) so hopefully between both of those, costs will be mostly covered as long as they don’t choose somewhere very expensive. I have another Dc starting university in 2027 so I am quite nervous about costs.

Thank you- Erasmus sounds like a good system😊

Okay,thanks for sharing your experience. I need to do some more reading around this subject😊

Thank you- that sounds like a sensible approach. Yes,I think having a list like this makes it seem more manageable. Thankfully our son is organised and will want to get started on the preparations as soon as😊

@cadburyflakefanWe’ll start by reading the How to Decide guide on the UCL web site. Exact funding won’t be there yet but possible universities will be. My DD went to Geneva. Yes, an expensive city, but accommodation for students was reasonable if you met the deadline and got a uni hall. My DD just chose the highest ranking unis her uni was paired with. She still muses about turning down Venice though!

The Erasmus Programme will be back for UK universities for the 2027-28 academic year. All the finer details are still being worked out so universities won’t know how much money is available until early 2027.

It’s unlikely that Erasmus will change visa requirements as we’re not in the EU, so a visa will probably be required for most countries.

We don’t know if the Turing Scheme will run in parallel with the Erasmus Programme. Rumour is that it will be scrapped after 2026-27 but there’s no confirmation either way.

Thanks- that sounds like good advice. What a place to study! And yes Venice would have been wonderful too! 😊