Where, how and why to study in crisis

In the yard crisis, the stock quotes are not encouraging, and the chief for the third time said of the possible reductions? If you want to immediately somewhere to escape from it all, and Downshifting option in Goa are not happy, then the unstable couple of years, it is quite possible to spend on education in West University.

Study abroad - is not just a unique experience of living in another country, make new friends and useful contacts, but also the opportunity to radically change their lives, to stay there work. But with the right approach, you can go to study at virtually no cost.

So it is worth a try. And I will prompt where to start.

How to choose the country of study

Country of study chosen primarily on the basis of a foreign language that you speak best.

If you have good English, you predictably open road in the UK universities, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It should also pay attention to the traditionally strong Dutch universities. Graduate and post-graduate courses in English only - it is not a whim and not a whim but a part of the Dutch state educational policy. In addition, the country is fluent in English, so the language barrier will not be any.

For the same reason, you can consider and the Scandinavian countries. But go, such as France or Italy, if the asset is only English, it is not necessary. Even if the university has a program in English for foreigners, you are likely to be excluded from the general university life, deprived of the opportunity to attend lectures outside its limited program. In addition, there are problems with the passage of the practice, which is often a prerequisite for graduation.

The next question to ask yourself when choosing a country of study: would you like to stay there to work. If yes - look at the local labor and immigration laws.

In many countries, the government is interested in skilled labor, so foreigners received diplomas local universities, may rely on it to stay in the country after study.

In the US, for example, a so-called Optional Practical Training - a year after graduation in during which you can legally live in the country to look for work and accept offers employers. Similarly operates Job Search Year in Holland. In Australia, after graduation can live up to three years in search of work and a better life. In France, you can stay for up to six months job search. Here in the UK the student can live in the country just before the expiry of student visa, which is the job he is still quite a bit of time. If you are suddenly going to Oxford or Cambridge, keep this in mind.

How to choose the right university

Princeton, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, the Sorbonne - these names are fascinating, and familiar even to those who have never been in either the US or the UK or France. But the academic world is not confined to the US "ivy league" or dozens of leading universities, to get into that easy. The world a lot of strengths and decent universities. How to find your and not miscalculate? International ratings to help you!

The four main global ranking of universities:

• Times Higher Education;
• QS Ratings;
• shanghai Ratings;
• U.S. Ratings.

These ratings are ranked universities in general, and in particular specialty. So choose your university (or better a few to ensure the supply of at least one) and go for it! University located in the top 50 or even top 100 world universities - is a guarantee of a good education.

How to choose the degree of

If you already have a first degree, you can continue their education in magistracy, post-graduate or obtain a certificate of non-degree.

Master - is 1-2 years of training for those who want to deepen their knowledge in a particular specialty, and continue to make money in the real world.

Postgraduate studies - this is for romantics from science. Education in Western graduate lasts 4-5 years, during which you are doing, for rent exams core subjects and write a serious thesis, on the basis of which publish in one of the most important scientific journals. In the West, with very few exceptions, the graduate school received only by those who in the future plans of academic and scientific career. Others prefer not to spend so many years in the study.

However, there is one nice feature of postgraduate study. It is free in most countries. Universities tend to themselves cover the costs of studies and even pay small stipends to those who bravely decided to devote his life to science.

How to submit a package of documents for admission

In Western universities is not traditional in our understanding of entrance examinations and have documents that you send in paper or electronic form to the university. The traditional package of documents (it may vary depending on the country and the university) includes translated and notarized diploma of the Russian higher education, the results of the official language test (TOEFL, IELTS, DALF), certification examinations (GRE or GMAT), as well as 2-4 letters of recommendation, resume and cover letter.

Go to last should be taken with the utmost seriousness, as it was on the basis of its selection committees often take the final decisions.

Motivation letter - it is not just a free paraphrase resume and a compelling story of why you are the one and only (one needs a brief, but succinctly enumerate all of their professional and personal achievement), the happiness of this university, and why they want to continue study.

I advise you to write a cover letter in advance to rewrite it at least 2-3 times and as far as possible to give to the final proofreading by native speakers. The steep high school one typo can cost you revenue.

In general, start to prepare for admission to a foreign university is necessary with a good time margin. Considering the registration and preparation for qualifying exams, should attend to income for the year and a half before the deadline for submission of documents.

How to find the money to study

Studying abroad - expensive thing and consists of tuition fees and living costs in the country. Where to find the money if you do not own a controlling stake of "Gazprom" and the system of education loans have yet very poorly developed?

Do not panic. I have good news for you!

In some countries, especially in Europe, education can be free, even for foreigners. For example, in the Czech Republic (though on the condition that you learn on the Czech and not in English), in Germany, Austria and others.

For the other cases, there are scholarships. Get them is not easy, but the odds are at all. Scholarships are government and private. Private scholarships are issued by the universities and the various corporations and foundations. Government scholarships are financed by the taxpayers of the countries concerned, so is applied to the fellows a lot of restrictions. In most cases, recipients of government scholarships must return to their country immediately after studying and some time (usually two years) to spend there, so as not to compete with local labor force.

International governmental scholarships in Russia remains a little. But pay attention to the Fulbright program (US), Erasmus Mundus (European Union), Endeavor Awards (Australia), Chevening (UK), DAAD program (German Service of Academic exchanges).

Also operates a Russian government program "Global Education". It covers the cost of study and living Russians received by the world's leading universities.

On completion of the program, however, will have to go back three years to work for the good of the homeland, but the program provides its graduates employment.

Many universities are very keen to attract foreign students, since it is the most positive impact on their position in the international rankings.

All information about scholarships, usually found on the university website under "Financial Assistance". In addition, there are resources aggregators, which receives information about the scholarship programs from around the world, such as site Scholarships-Links.com. So for some perseverance scholarships can be found!

It is said that the Chinese concept of "crisis" consists of two characters: "danger" and "opportunity." Defying danger, should take the opportunity to learn from abroad, organizing itself an exciting journey, while the Dow - Jones will not return to normal values. The more that the modern world requires us to constant self-improvement and renovation, and "education lifelong learning "is no longer an abstract formula, created by UNESCO in the 60-ies of the last century.