Europe has some good higher educational institutions. These are often not considered options due to a variety of misconceptions — “they don’t have English language programmes”, “the admission process is complex”, “the cost must be prohibitive”, “job opportunities after a course are limited” and so on. The real picture is different.
Countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Italy and France have universities that offer numerous study programmes in English. Most European colleges have low tuition fees and, in some cases, are entirely free. “Earlier, students mostly went for STEM-related courses but these days they also opt for medicine, economics and psychology. Ireland has become very popular among students and countries like Malta are good for nursing and various diploma courses,” says Piyush Gupta, CEO of Innvictis Edutech, an education consultancy.
Germany is known for its engineering programmes and is also a popular choice for business management courses. Public universities there do not charge any tuition fees but private universities do have a fee. Katja Lasch, regional director of DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), says, “Currently, we have about 29,000 Indian students studying in Germany, which is the second-largest group after China. Most students come for master’s and PhD programmes. They have to pay only 300 euros (around Rs 24,000) per semester at public universities.” In addition, students have to pay for travel and living expenses.
Universities in Germany offer housing, especially to first-year students. But many other European countries do not provide accommodation or dormitory facilities and students must make their own arrangements. This is because most of these colleges don’t have a defined campus.
Dhriti Arjun is pursuing liberal arts with machine learning at Groningen University in the Netherlands. The course options, combined with the affordability of programmes in Europe, helped her decide on this university. “It’s an exciting course with great prospects and it is affordable, similar to what a liberal arts programme would cost in India,” she says. (The course fee for a liberal arts programme in India varies from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 11 lakh.)
Medha Gupta, a Class XII student, had applied to universities in the US, UK and Netherlands. But she finally chose an interdisciplinary programme — where she will study history, political science and international relations — at Maastricht University in the Netherlands (ninth best university worldwide under 50 years according to The Times Higher Education Ranking). “US universities that have rankings similar to Maastricht University cost four times as much, so it didn’t really make sense to go for that,” she says. The tuition fees at Maastricht ranges from 6,900 euros for an arts, economics or business programme to 9,800 euros for a data science or engineering programme (Rs 5.5 lakh – Rs 7.85 lakh per annum).
Medha plans to study law and would like to work in the area of human rights. She says, “The International Court of Justice is at the Hague (Netherlands), and I look forward to doing my final-year internship there.” Switzerland is well known for its hospitality and leisure management institutes and France has many culinary arts programmes. “This year, one of my students got into a bachelor’s programme in French pastry arts at the Ecole Ducasse in Paris. More than academic requirements, you must demonstrate interest and passion in the culinary arts. My student had a food blog and had also done some baking and pastry-making internships,” says Prishma Jain, who works at The Red Pen, an education consultancy. She adds that knowing French was not a course requirement.
Some students see learning a foreign language as an advantage. Vedika Singh, a student of Class XII in a Bangalore school, started learning Spanish two years ago. She plans to study in Europe after school. “Spanish is easy to learn and a widely spoken global language. Whether I study in Spain or not, it’s beneficial to know the language.” Spain also has a custom-made 10-month programme for international students — Spanish LCA (Language Culture Adaptation). Once they finish LCA, they can enrol in any of the country’s 84 universities (50 public and 34 private).
Carolyn Barr, international relations adviser at Leiden University in the Netherlands, says, “While English-proficiency levels in the Netherlands are very high, it is advisable to learn a bit of Dutch to ease their transition and help integrate with the local community.” Bachelor’s programmes in Europe usually have at least one semester dedicated to an internship or an exchange programme. “In research universities, students have an opportunity in the third year to choose a minor, study abroad or, in some cases, do an internship. There are advisers in each programme to assist students with their options,” Barr says. The options for internships are varied. Students can do internships outside the country they are studying in. Many of these internships convert to full-time positions. All in all, Europe is an exciting destination for students.