The Student Room Group

How does studying abroad work?

How does the whole application thing work? Does the university give you resources for the schools and accommodation that is available or do you actually go on blind and you have to look deep in the internet?
I was thinking of doing a year abroad but if thats the case, then im not sure bc what happens if i cant find anything? Like for example if i wanted to go a year abroad in Korea or Singapore.
I wanna do a year abroad in a country where i probably wont be able to go to ever again, i can see the world differently, practise a new language and it would help it i was just emerged in it.
Also, the university you currency attend does it still pay for your tuition? Then accommodation and flights have to be paid by yourself?

I would greatly appreciate anyone's experiences if they have went and where did they go, thank you :smile:
Original post by Anonymous
How does the whole application thing work? Does the university give you resources for the schools and accommodation that is available or do you actually go on blind and you have to look deep in the internet?
I was thinking of doing a year abroad but if thats the case, then im not sure bc what happens if i cant find anything? Like for example if i wanted to go a year abroad in Korea or Singapore.
I wanna do a year abroad in a country where i probably wont be able to go to ever again, i can see the world differently, practise a new language and it would help it i was just emerged in it.
Also, the university you currency attend does it still pay for your tuition? Then accommodation and flights have to be paid by yourself?

I would greatly appreciate anyone's experiences if they have went and where did they go, thank you :smile:

Hi,

I did a year abroad in Berlin :smile:

I think it really depends on your home uni and where you want to go. You might have to look up a lot of stuff yourself. If you wanted to study at a university abroad, that university might get in touch with you and help with accommodation etc. But if you were working abroad etc., you might have to find accommodation yourself.

Your home university might have more information - see if there is a study abroad office and whether they have any events coming up. You might be able to speak to returning students.

Yes, you will have to pay for accommodation and flights. If you go somewhere within Europe you might get some funding towards it like the Erasmus or Turing schemes but I'm not sure about somewhere like Korea. If you get a maintenance loan from student finance, you get a higher amount for the year abroad. You will still have to pay tuition fees to your home university but it should be at a reduced rate - I think I paid 15%.
Original post by Anonymous
How does the whole application thing work? Does the university give you resources for the schools and accommodation that is available or do you actually go on blind and you have to look deep in the internet?
I was thinking of doing a year abroad but if thats the case, then im not sure bc what happens if i cant find anything? Like for example if i wanted to go a year abroad in Korea or Singapore.
I wanna do a year abroad in a country where i probably wont be able to go to ever again, i can see the world differently, practise a new language and it would help it i was just emerged in it.
Also, the university you currency attend does it still pay for your tuition? Then accommodation and flights have to be paid by yourself?

I would greatly appreciate anyone's experiences if they have went and where did they go, thank you :smile:

Hi Anon,

I'm currently on a year abroad in the US!

It really does depend on your home university. It's great that you have an idea of where you'd like to go, and I think it would be beneficial for you to speak to your study abroad team so they can tell you everything you need to know and do, as it might be different!

For me, I applied through ISEP (https://www.isepstudyabroad.org/) in my second year. It's a common route for universities to take and would be a great place to do some research on potential host universities, even if you don't apply through ISEP itself. Although my university does use ISEP, I still did a lot of research into my potential host destinations in my own time, which I'd always recommend doing.

For an exchange through ISEP, which I am currently on, I only pay fees to my home university. They give you a set fee for food and accommodation and I pay a reduced fee for my tuition (15%). You can still apply for student finance, and I think it is quite common to get a higher amount of a maintenance loan for your year abroad. You do have to pay for accommodation and flights, but you can also apply for other funding to help with this. I found this to be a useful resource: https://www.sherpr.com/en/funding-for-studying-abroad/.

I hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions!
Isabella :smile:
Original post by Anonymous #1
How does the whole application thing work? Does the university give you resources for the schools and accommodation that is available or do you actually go on blind and you have to look deep in the internet?
I was thinking of doing a year abroad but if thats the case, then im not sure bc what happens if i cant find anything? Like for example if i wanted to go a year abroad in Korea or Singapore.
I wanna do a year abroad in a country where i probably wont be able to go to ever again, i can see the world differently, practise a new language and it would help it i was just emerged in it.
Also, the university you currency attend does it still pay for your tuition? Then accommodation and flights have to be paid by yourself?

I would greatly appreciate anyone's experiences if they have went and where did they go, thank you :smile:

Hiya I'm doing a year abroad in Singapore next year. In terms of stuff like accommodation yes you'd have to pay for it yourself but as previously mentioned there are a lot of travel grants and scholarships offered by the government/your university if you have a quick Google (also some partner universities too). I'd say it's smart to do as much research as you can and your university's study abroad application will help guide u on what you need to know about but some things you might overlook. Eg. If English isn't the main language, if your proficiency is good enough to learn in their language or if they do enough English courses for the whole year, what their accommodation is like (you might have to share a room or bring your own WiFi router), you may not be able to take courses from certain departments there that are oversubscribed eg. law, engineering etc
also weather and temperatures (Singapore is hot and humid year round ~30°c) , culture (Will it be difficult to adapt to the language/ diversity). Also for places like Korea and Singapore they are a lot more competitive (at least at my uni) than for example European universities so definitely read up as much as possible for a strong application 🙂

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