Thinking of going to school in Europe (Finland, Germany, etc), any suggestions?

[rubecube]

So I've been thinking a lot lately about starting university. I'm 21 and have been working since I graduated from high school 3 1/2 years ago. My biggest dilemna is that school is expensive and I also want to live on my own.

The other night I met a group of people from Finland who told me that Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany all provide tuition-less education. Being that I'm also a British citizen I also have the ability to work anywhere in the EU so I could probably afford school and living expenses.

Has anyone done this before? I know we also have a few Finnish people on the site and I'm wondering if they could also provide some info. Thanks.

[Temporary_User]

Not too sure how things over there work, but what I would recommend doing is looking through the school's calendar of a random school that you wouldn't mind going to.
One thing to keep in mind, would be to check out how out of country tuition is charged. I know that if you're not from Canada, tuition is 3x the price. In the states, if you arent from that exact state it's 3x the price.
Typically you have to get residence where you want to go to school to get the "home discount" which is typically one year of living there paying taxes.

Other than that, just make sure you have the required courses/credentials to get in.

GL!
Hopefully someone else can fill you in on more specifics.

[McG]

My MBA is from the University of Edinburgh. i cannot recommend studying abroad highly enough. its a great experience and one that you will never forget.

and don't forget your canadian accent for "the talent".

[Kipru]

Not sure what type of info you are looking for. What were you thinking of studying? Classic humanistic scienses or technology? I think the best way you could do this is that you applied and got in on one of your local universities and then go to somekind of exchange student programs.

I am not sure how the system works when you are foreigner applying to Finnish university, but i'll try and find out. I'm sorry but i'd be pretty pissed off if it was free also for foreigners, seeing that they haven't paid/likely will not pay the tuition back in taxes.


List of Finnish universities

Wikipedia list

Some info from my universitys page

Probably the smaller universities in Finland doesn't have bachelors degree for foreigners, so you have to check out the larger universities( Helsinki, Hel.Univ.technology, Tampere, Tampere univ. techn.)

I will get back to this when I have more time (My thesis work is calling)

[STeeLy]

Originally Posted by Kipru

I'm sorry but i'd be pretty pissed off if it was free also for foreigners, seeing that they haven't paid/likely will not pay the tuition back in taxes.

I'm almost 100% sure that foreigners are not free, because I know Sweden is like that, I'd expect Finland nearly the same.

[flamingchina]

I know when I was looking to go back to school, I was looking at going somewhere in Scotland. It turns out, even if you have your citizenship, you need to have lived there for the past two years (or three? it was a while ago) if you didn't grow up there to have it free (or cheap..)

[Hack&Lube]

I hate you lucky people with EU citizenships, it opens that entire great part of the world to you to live, study, and work very easily.

[Kipru]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I hate you lucky people with EU citizenships, it opens that entire great part of the world to you to live, study, and work very easily.

I will trade that with you in a second for our national independece.

Gladly it will not last. Just like communism it's an idea born dead.

For the first question. Seems like you have to get your bachelors degree in some other university and then apply to masters degree programme if you want to study in Finland. Or you should learn finnish. Believe me, getting that bachelors degree is easier.

http://www.helsinki.fi/admissions/un...applicants.htm

[BlackEleven]

As a citizen of Norway, I can confirm to you that tuition is not free for foreigners. You have to be a citizen in order to qualify for that.

Also, it would probably be difficult to work there if you cannot speak the language unless you have skills that can qualify you for a white collar type job. There are quite a few Americans, Canadian and Brits working in Norway, but they're usually in office jobs with lots of previous experience under their belts. To work in any industry where you have to deal with customers, you will need to speak the language. Almsot all people under 60 do speak English though, so it would not be impossible to get a job, just difficult.

Hope this information helps you.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Kipru

I will trade that with you in a second for our national independece.

Gladly it will not last. Just like communism it's an idea born dead.

For the first question. Seems like you have to get your bachelors degree in some other university and then apply to masters degree programme if you want to study in Finland. Or you should learn finnish. Believe me, getting that bachelors degree is easier.

http://www.helsinki.fi/admissions/un...applicants.htm

Well, you can get a university exchange to study in Finland. There are lots of Canadians at places like Helsinki School of Economics, but that's just an exchange for a year or less.

I was in Europe for a course earlier this year, I felt like I had many less rights and opportunities then my friends (fellow Canadians) who had EU citizenships. They could walk through a lot of security without checks, they could easily apply to various programs, they could all get EU government jobs, etc.

[McG]

Originally Posted by flamingchina

I know when I was looking to go back to school, I was looking at going somewhere in Scotland. It turns out, even if you have your citizenship, you need to have lived there for the past two years (or three? it was a while ago) if you didn't grow up there to have it free (or cheap..)

This was true back in the day...and it is probably still true now.

Although born in Scotland, and having dual citizenship, i still had to pay foreign student rates.

but i would do it again in a second.

it was awesome.