<p>The UK government recently increased tuition fees in the UK to a maximum of 9,000GBP per year. The telegraph newspaper in the UK recently reported that more UK students than ever before are applying for US universities - with some schools reporting a 50% increase in applications. The US study abroad fair in London attracted 4,000 prospective students, more than twice the previous year. Obviously, tuition fees are forcing UK students to look at other options. Meanwhile, US students are used to paying for their education, with fees of over $20,000 a year at some schools.</p>
<p>I did my degrees in my home country of the UK, back in the time just before fees came in. In those days, it was understandable for students to go to uni in their own country. However, nowadays the situation is completely different. The world is smaller than ever before due to the internet and globalization, and schools in other countries are offering programs taught entirely in English, often with far lower fees and sometimes scholarships. I teach at one of Japan's top universities on their new English language degree programs (College</a> degrees taught in English in Japan - University of Tsukuba), and I can happily say that our program is far cheaper than many in either the US or the UK. Other universities such as Hong-Kong University, Singapore University, Korea University and several Chinese Universities now offer programs entirely taught in English.</p>
<p>My question is how much research students have done into universities and programs in countries other than their home country? What factors do students take into account when trying to decide their course?</p>
<p>I’m from the United States. I looked into several Irish universities, but it was much cheaper for me to take financial aid and scholarships at a school here in the US.</p>
<p>
Many private universities are at around $60,000 (~£37,500) now for tuition, room, and board. Just tuition can come out to $40,000 (~£25,000) at many private universities. Public universities are often much cheaper in tuition, though, for citizens of certain states.</p>
<p>Wow, yeah, I just looked at an Irish Uni’s fees. For a non-EU student it ws about 16,000 Euros a year. Crazy stuff. I can see why that’d keep you from going there. Did you look anywhere else?</p>
<p>As I say, I am originally from the UK, and from the outside looking in, it’s scary how few students actually consider other countries.</p>
<p>We’re on CollegeConfidential, so there would definitely be a response bias; however, my experience is that most US students, including top ones, never consider foreign universities. Foreign universities tend to be (1) more expensive than public counterparts and, (2) domestically speaking, are not well regarded relative to US universities.</p>
<p>Since the general public is not college obsessed and largely unaware of foreign universities aside from literally just Oxford, attending any foreign university is almost an automatic setback to your career in the United States. Furthermore, foreign universities have different standards which employers do not want to have to deal with.</p>
<p>Attending a foreign university is more popular in nations with lesser institutions. The United States is indisputably on top of the university hierarchy (at least in our own minds) so there is no incentive to look for universities overseas.</p>
<p>When I was a PhD student, I had a friend also doing her PhD in the same department. From what she said, the quality of the education in the UK was far better than in the US. I wonder whether it is simply due to degree structure or whether the pressure for research and grants placed on US researchers by their schools leads to poorer quality. </p>
<p>It is a shame that there is such a perception amongst US students - I studied Biology at Uni. In my first year classes there were 400 students in the lecture theatre. I have heard of this number being more than 1,000 in US schools. Now, as I mentioned, I teach in a Japanese University. I have 22 students in my class starting in September.</p>
<p>“The United States is indisputably on top of the university hierarchy (at least in our own minds) so there is no incentive to look for universities overseas.”</p>
<p>Actually, I just noticed this part. I think there is a large degree of truth to this. However, as I am sure you are fully aware, there are very good, and much cheaper universities in other countries (for example, the yearly fee to attend Pittsburgh Univ is nearly 2x times more than at the university I work at, despite both being ranked similarly [In fact, the difference is greater, as my uni gives 1st year for free]).
Studying abroad isn’t necessarily about attending a better school either - it has many other benefits - you learn as much or more when you leave the classroom as you do in it.</p>
<p>Do you think that US students believe that US employers won’t rank a foreign qualification as highly as a US qualification (even if the two schools are ranked similarly worldwide)? Is this a justified opinion do you think? Are students scared / nervous about studying overseas? Or perhaps, as I believe is more the case in the UK, do students simply not consider overseas institutions?</p>
<p>The US is such a vast country geographically – there are so many internal options that there really isn’t a perceived need to look elsewhere, except in very unusual circumstances. Most Americans have never traveled abroad in the first place, and our country doesn’t do a good job of teaching foreign languages. Most Americans are pretty USA-centric. It just wouldn’t be on their radar screens to go any where else for college (except possibly Canada for those who live near the border). It’s not like Europe, where someone in one country would have likely traveled to other countries on holiday. I don’t think fear of what US employers might think even comes into the consideration set at all.</p>
<p>I would also add that the American archetype of college includes things like big sports and a general experience that likely isn’t offered outside the US.</p>