Diversity of nationalities at the University of Aberdeen

Hey guys,

I am an international student who is looking forward to studying in Aberdeen from September onwards. One reason for choosing Aberdeen was because of the great diversity of nationalities. I wanted to meet new friends from other cultures. But now I have been told by a friend who has a friend who lives in Scotland that there are many EU students at the University of Aberdeen, but only a few international students.

Is that really the case?

On the one hand, I do not want to be one of the only international students and, on the other hand, I also want to get to know people and cultures apart from Western Europe and the US. I am fascinated, for example, by Russia, Japan, China, but also by other countries.

Thanks, guys!

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

I mean, of course there are more European students than international students, because continental Europe is closer to the UK than the rest of the world is 😅 Also, studying in Scotland is free for EU students, so that's why many choose to study here.

But I don't think that European students are any less interesting than international students?
Also, there still are a lot of international students, specifically from Asia. But there is also a Russian society, a Ghanaian society, and many more, so there's definitely enough international students at Aberdeen.

I particularly met a lot of Americans and a lot of East Asians (apart from the Europeans).

Obviously it might be a little different this year, because many East Asians (and international students overall) might choose to study at Aberdeen remotely due to covid-19, but let's hope that it's all back to normal by next year.

Aberdeen itself has stated that there are students from over 130 nationalities represented on campus. Also, take a look at this: https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/student-advice/where-to-study/international-students-at-uk-universities
According to this, 20% of Aberdeen students are international - and honestly, it feels like a lot more. European students included, I had some tutorials with 15 people and only 2 were actually from Scotland.
Last term I had a tutorial with 8 people, 1 of them Scottish, and the rest were all different nationalities.

Obviously that's not always the case, but Aberdeen really is very international - European students included.

University of Aberdeen

Reply 2

Anonymous #2

Also, I'd like to add that according to the link I posted, the only universities with more international students than Aberdeen are Imperial in London and the University of the Arts in London - which is quite impressive actually.

Reply 3

Ziggy_

huh, i didn't realise aberdeeen was so diverse tbh

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

Original post by Anonymous

Wow, crazy! I certainly didn‘t know that. I guess there‘s nothing to worry about.

Reply 5

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

Wow, crazy! I certainly didn‘t know that. I guess there‘s nothing to worry about.

I definitely wouldn't worry about it! Let's just hope that it's still that international in times of corona

Reply 6

PomtheTom

It's true that it's pretty diverse, but at the same time consider the reason for this, as at least the people I met on my course were not the brightest of stars. I felt like the uni essentially takes anyone with a pulse, and I'm considering changing uni for this reason.