How does free tuition at European universities work?

  • Does this apply to both graduate school and undergrad?
  • Do you have to be living there for a period of time?
  • What universities have the biggest names? I don’t know the academic reputation of any school outside the USA (aside from Oxford, Cambridge, and LSE).

I want to study bioinformatics or computational biology.

With so many tech layoffs about to surface, it’s not looking good for my finding a WFH job outside government. And government WFH jobs don’t allow you to leave the US.

It depends on the country.

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Europe is a continent, with EU and non-EU member countries. There are many different rules depending on the country, EU membership and if you are or not a EU citizen.

Need to specify

Let’s say:
Finland
Germany
UK
Portugal
France

not free

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It’s actually quite expensive for foreigners

yeah, like Canada, Australia, NZ, and the US, foreigners want to go and pay for the pleasure

You’re talking about the UK, right? I’ve heard as much, but I’ve also heard it’s easier for Americans to get in those prestigious ones because they can make you pay more.

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I can provide some answers here:

Yes, it applies to all public schools.

Generally, Germany has Bachelor and Master degrees.
While there are some Master degrees that are taught exclusively in English, finding a Bachelor degree which doesn’t require fluency in German will be really difficult.

Also, Master degrees are usually consecutive, so in practice it’s usually not that easy to apply for a Master degree if you don’t have a Bachelor’s degree from the same university.

There are some programs (MBA or similar) which specifically target foreign students and/or working professionals - but they are usually offered by private institutions which might charge hefty tuition fees.

No.

However, some German states charge tuition fees for non-EU students.

Also, if you want Bafög, i.e. a government stipend for your living expenses while studying if you and your parents are unable to pay these yourself, you need to be a German citizen or have “significant ties” with Germany.

“Academic reputation” is not that important when applying for jobs in Germany. Having a degree is the most important aspect - the “name” is only of minor importance or even irrelevant depending on the company (if you plan to do a PhD, the academic reputation of the institution might be more important).

Depending on the institution, there might be more networking opportunities with certain companies - usually those in the area of the institution.

Also, this might be different, of course, if you want to use the degree outside of Germany.

Some people in Germany will consider a “paid” degree one of lesser “value” because the acceptance criteria of private universities are usually much less strict than those of public ones.

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If you are not a EU citizen, both public and private universities will cost you.

If you are a EU citizen, public universities will cost you less, but still something.

If you are a citizen of that country and satisfy income/merit requirements, both public and private universities might cost you either nothing or very little, even getting you scholarship income.

Even Finland? They were free for foreign students, but I guess that couldn’t last

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Whoa. In the US there are 5-year bachelors/masters but it’s not the norm.

Thanks. I’ll have to look at some student loans for something.

Yeah I just googled this. Baden-Württemberg is the state.

Is this an example of what you’re talking about?
ligas

I briefly looked into Iceland a few years ago. They offer some degrees in English. Tuition isn’t free but of almost negligible cost. Cost of living is high though

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If there’s a way for me to smuggle food up there once a month, I’d be in Iceland all the time.

Why not study in Taiwan?

Austria is good choice too, their universities are less complicated and since they are Austrians they accept everyone.

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Not European enough

No, NC refers to the Numerus Clausus.

Basically, the university will limit the number of of students who can be admitted each semester (quite common for many fields of study, especially medicine and law).

The criteria for admission are quite complicated but it mostly boils down to two factors: Your average grades from the previous degree / diploma (mostly from the German „high school“) and how long you‘ve already been waiting to be accepted.

Note that the „high school“ in Germany is usually more advanced than the one in the US: The last year of „high school“ (which will take 8 or 9 years) in Germany is comparable to the first year of college in the US. Thus, as a US high school diploma might not be enough to study at a German university - you might need some kind of additional diploma (not sure exactly how it works for non-German degrees / diplomas. There is definitely a way which will probably be a bureaucratic nightmare…)

The universities usually won’t state it that clearly on their websites, because in theory, the system was meant to be more flexible. Instead, their admission criteria for Master degrees will be quite detailed (n hours of topic X, …) and in some cases impossible to match if you haven’t received your Bachelor’s at the same university.

Personally, I see that as a huge annoyance in some cases - it really feels like some sort of „power play“ by some universities who think less of other universities. Or - in some cases - a desperate attempt to „reserve“ their Master degree spots for their own students if they grade more aggressively in their Bachelor’s degree than other universities - because of the NC, they would need to give these spots primarily based on the grades in the Bachelor’s…

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Now’s not the time for me to go to Taiwan.

Serve the military son! It’s honorable

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