Universities in Europe have been known for their high academic standards, cutting-edge research, and their value for money. In addition to programs in native language, many universities offer programs administered in English, both on graduate and undergraduate level, thus making them attractive destinations for international students.

 

 

Why to study in Europe?

 

 

1. Europe is home to some of the best universities in the world

 

According to the QS World University Rankings 2014/15, 15 European universities are ranked within the world’s top 50. The highest-ranking European universities include the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London (both ranked 2nd in the world), as well as University of Oxford and University College London (both ranked 5th).

 

Other highly prestigious European universities include Switzerland’s ETH Zurich (ranked 12th in the world) and Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (17th); France’s ENS Paris (24th) and Ecole Polytechnique ParisTech (35th); Denmark’s University of Copenhagen (45th); Germany’s Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (49th) and Technische Universität München (54th).

 

The Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, and Belgium also have universities ranked within the world’s top 100. Extend this to the world’s top 250 universities, and Norway, Austria, Spain, and Italy join the list. Hence, there is plenty of choice if you want to study in Europe at an internationally renowned university.

 

 

2. English as the language of instruction

 

In all, there are over 4000 higher education institutions in Europe offering a wide range of courses at Bachelor, Masters, and Doctorate level. With more and more of these institutions introducing English as the language of instruction for at least some of their degree programs, universities in Europe are now better placed than ever before to offer a warm welcome to international students and to deliver a course of study that meets their career needs in today’s global market.

 

There has been a substantial increase in the number of Masters programs taught in English at European universities. In 2002, 560 Masters programs were delivered in English in 19 EU countries (excluding the UK and Ireland). By 2012, this had risen to 6,800 in 11 EU countries (excluding the UK and Ireland).

 

Degree courses taught in English are available in an expanding array of disciplines, ranging from Business and Economics (currently the most popular, representing about 28% of English-taught Masters programs in Europe) to Engineering, Life Sciences (including medicine), Social Sciences, and Humanities.

 

 

3. Low tuition fees

 

Tuition fees in Europe are considerably lower than those at similarly ranked institutions from, for example, the US and Canada. 

 

Tuition fees in Europe vary based on student’s country of origin. Depending if the student comes from Europe (the European Economic Area) or not, the average tuition fee for an international Master’s program in Europe is around EUR 5.100 for students from within the EEA, and EUR 10.170 for students from outside the EEA. For international Bachelor programs this is EUR 4.500 for EEA students and EUR 8.600 for non-EEA students.

 

However, there are programs offered with considerably lower fees than average. As of winter 2014, Germany is a country free of university tuition fees for both domestic and international students students. Already marked as an extremely popular low-cost study destination, Germany became tuition-free following the decision to remove higher education charges from the last two German states (Lower Saxony and Bavaria).

 

 

4. Bologna Process

 

Although universities in European countries differ significantly across a number of criteria, the Bologna Process – introduced in 1999 – helped the European higher education system to achieve a certain level of standardization.

 

The Bologna Declaration had led to higher education systems throughout Europe becoming aligned to a 3-cycle system of Higher Education as follows:

 

• Bachelor Degree (3-4 years)

• Masters Degree (1-2 years)

• Doctorate Degree (3 years).

 

Furthermore, the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) has been introduced, which permits students attending a European higher education institution to transfer to another university within Europe or indeed further afield and to easily transfer their credits. The ECTS helps students to transfer between universities during the course of one cycle (normally at bachelor degree level) or to transfer upon completion of one cycle to another university for further studies.