Student fees - studying in Europe. Its cheaper - but where can you find information?

2sides2everystory

Genetics doesn't make the world go round, it just wobbles it a bit if too many people are trying to run round in circles at the same time. What is the point of working out what makes it possible for average life expectancy to become 140 if we haven't worked out what to do with people once they are over the hill at 50? Don't you think that is running before we can walk?

Yeah genetics has spin offs like giving cancer sufferers hope but the drug companies control the economics of implementing every new discovery of that kind, so who really benefits?

I have never heard of the London Business School and I have lived and worked in Central London for ten years. Actually I have probably heard it and dismissed it like I have heard of many schools with London and Oxford in their titles. How do you tell them apart? With league tables? Is Harvard any good? Hmmmm ....

What exactly do they teach them about business anyway? I was an Open University Business School student once. I am not in anyway impressed by UK business. I spend most of my day undoing bad stuff they do as standard.

melancholly

honestly, all i can say is that if you don't know the names of such prestigious uk universities, then you're not really that informed about HE.... that's all that's coming across - you have massively strong views about how rubbish it is without knowing much about what the institutions are and what they do. (and btw, your summary of what genetics has contributed to science also speaks volumes about your understanding of that. just suggesting that's all it does compared to identifying and treating some life long disorders is honestly, quite staggering).

Oldernotwiser

2sides2everystory wrote: »

I think we (as usual) are in danger of being a bit parochial. Are Audi and Mercedes design teams and production engineers at their main motorwerks educated at UK or US universities? Largely not I think. We simply have a tiny concentration of engineers out Oxfordshire way mostly working on the glamour part in F1 racing.

Do we think that Siemens design teams and production engineers who design and everything from GPS chips to high speed trains were educated at UK or US universities?

Do we think that the most successful renewable energy design teams and production engineers were educated at UK or US universities. I think not.

And how many of the above are educated at Maastricht?

bewildered123

One thing that people need to be aware of is the fact that huge numbers of students start degrees in the Netherlands (and other European countries eg in scandinavia) but fail first year. That is why your child OP is experiencing small classes in the later years of the course - the big classes are in first year and they fail lots of them. It's because they let anyone with A-level equivalents register regardless of their actual grades and first year is a sink or swim experience. I know people who work at Maastricht and apparently this came as a nasty shock to some of the British students who went there after failing to get places in the UK. Incidentally for anyone thinking of Maastricht be aware of their education methods - it's problem-based learning throughout (lots of groupwork on projects and little input from the teaching staff) - it would suit some but not all.
Europe can be a good option but I think needs thorough research, and will need the prospective student to be more independent and mature than average. Also it's worth pointing out that A-levels are not always accepted if certain subjects are not studied - for the German speaking world for instance they usually insist on at least one language and one science/maths in the combination of subjects (regardless of what you're actually applying for).

lorietta

Just one thing to be aware is that some professions in this country only accept UK degrees acredited by their organisation, for example, if you want to go into Psychology, in this country, you usually need a degree acredited by the BPS. I imagine this is true for a number of professions, so do your research carefully.

I also know a few European students who came to England because they believe the degree quality is better, and it's seen as more prestigious, but that's obviously their personal opinions.

Voyager2002

lorietta wrote: »

I also know a few European students who came to England because they believe the degree quality is better, and it's seen as more prestigious, but that's obviously their personal opinions.

In many cases (depending on the subject and their country of origin) there will be lots of evidence to back up their belief.

atypical

The_One_Who wrote: »

Quite a lot about this on BBC Breakfast this morning.

I think it's this piece you probably saw:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15031461

Catapa

jbirch wrote: »

There seems to be a real "gap in the market" here for a "Go Compare" for EU university funding and courses, which is odd as - even before you factor in the amazing experience of studying with people from across the world in somewhere like Utrecht or Copenhagen (no fees at all!) - the savings could run into tens of thousands of pounds.

Any idea where we could start?

Hi JBirch, for information on degree programmes on the continent (and abroad in general) you could try http://www.university-directory.eu/ . I've found that to be the most comprehensive and useful global University Directory. It helped us a great deal in choosing the right university in Europe (France in our son's case).

2sides2everystory

melancholly wrote: »

honestly, all i can say is that if you don't know the names of such prestigious uk universities, then you're not really that informed about HE.... that's all that's coming across - you have massively strong views about how rubbish it is without knowing much about what the institutions are and what they do. (and btw, your summary of what genetics has contributed to science also speaks volumes about your understanding of that. just suggesting that's all it does compared to identifying and treating some life long disorders is honestly, quite staggering).

I make a point not a flippin' PhD thesis.

As for London Business School being prestigious then if it is so prestigious and I got my first degree in London, have also looked at MBA courses and am trying to help my 2012 entrant son sort the actual prestigious from the pseudo-Johnny-come-lately 'prestigious' plus I have dealt with quite some students in London in recent years, how come I do not already have the opinion that they are prestigious? Is it because I am not easily fooled?

OK they got a neat website domain name. Did they have a neat website before 2008?

Their Corporate Partners page has three entries - a bank I would never rely upon as my main or sole bank, a recruitment company I see as pretty hardnosed, and a flippin' Hedge Fund company :rotfl:

Sure they might be the best of a bad bunch for what they do, but are their courses accredited for anything really useful? Maybe, but 'prestigious'? In what sense? Is someone naturally going to offer my son or daughter a responsible good starting salaried job just because they attended London Business School and got good marks? A Prestigious employer (not Adecco, Man or Citi) are more likely to recruit an MEng of MSci graduate from a real prestigious university don't you think?

I just heard an interesting development of the Student Loan fiasco:

One real prestigious university is offering immediate £3,000 cashback to committed high performing new entrants and again at the start of each year to those who stay committed high performers (One way to get the tuition fees next year headed back down towards 2011 figures "... now that the government have pulled the plug" said one of their long term Professors).

Good idea? Possibly. Fair? Discriminatory? People might say all those things ...

jjblondie

From my experience researching for potential universities abroad with English teaching, my results that were unless you wanted to do something engineering or business related, your chances of finding a course at a non-private university (where fees are 16k anyway, so defeats the object of studying abroad to save money) are very low. I was particularly looking into biology, history, and classics, and found nothing of use to me. Masters courses are much more frequently available in English than Bachelors.

From my experience of German universities vs English ones, the style of learning is very different. We may joke about the silly degrees and universities we have in England, but the level of care and attention given to students in England is comparitively through the roof. In England my classes are small, the tutors care and know your name, and if you have problems academically, timetable wise, or pastorally, they will be solved. In Germany, classes are so big not everyone can fit into the room, let alone have a chair. Study is very much self driven and there is almost nothing in the way of student societies and university groups outside the lecture theatre. Professors show little interest in individual students or their problems, or that there is no more space for them on a compulsory module for their course.

The overbooking of courses and entire lack of space and personal learning also applied to my experience in Spain, and a friend's experience in Portugal - "This classroom is full, so would all exchange year abroad students please leave immediately to make way for others".