The permeation of the English language

[kerouac1848]

When I worked in The Hague during 2010 I met a fair few British students going to Leiden for post-grad courses. Even if you take all living costs into consideration it can still be cheaper studying in some places than the tuition fees here alone. I worked out that doing a Master's in Uppsala would have set me back in total slightly under £7000, and perhaps as low as £6000 if I got a place at the cheaper end. It's only because you need to do 2-years that I didn’t apply. I imagine once more European universities switch to 1-year intensive Masters like here you’re likely to see a flood of British students studying across the rest of Europe. Undergraduate is a bit more tricky, students are younger and it’s several years abroad rather than 8-12 months, but once a significant minority are established it may become a common route.

[Core Rising]

The university is cheaper, the weather is better, the food is better the city is more interesting, and the girls are prettier. This Italian University has everything a student could want!

[PadArch]

Originally Posted by Core Rising

The university is cheaper, the weather is better, the food is better the city is more interesting, and the girls are prettier. This Italian University has everything a student could want!

what are you comparing it with

[Core Rising]

Your average British Uni.

[kerouac1848]

Socially unacceptable to wonder around the centre plastered off your head at 3am though!!

[Core Rising]

There probably isn't the same opportunity to do that no. But assuming you can live without social binge drinking and slutty orange* girls, then Milan is the university for you!










*I realised after I typed that, that of course there will be orange girls in Milan. Difference being they will be naturally so..

[PadArch]

well, i think britain would certainly be a better place with more people spending some time abroad in their education

[Jonesy55]

It would, but it is hardly unheard of at the moment for students to spend 6 months or a year at a foreign university as part of their studies. Quite a few of my friends did that.

[PadArch]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

It would, but it is hardly unheard of at the moment for students to spend 6 months or a year at a foreign university as part of their studies. Quite a few of my friends did that.

compared with european students, its quite rare.. in france, spain, italy students are fighting for exchange places. in the uk, many of them go unused.

[tuten]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

Why cant you get a part time job?

I can't speak Italian?

I would love to do a masters abroad and I'm sure it would work out cheaper, but you need a lot of money to get started I think.

[kerouac1848]

If it works out cheaper why would you need a lot to get started? There are no visas or other additionally costs compared to studying here. I know you’re thinking of things like upfront housing costs and the like but I when I worked in the Netherlands I only had to pay the usual one month’s rent and a small deposit which took about 5mins via my online account and charged me a fee of about £12 (If you get dorms it’s probably even easier). I guess moving your stuff can be costly if you have a lot, but if you don’t a plane is barely more than a train fare. In my case it was literally no different to if I gone for a job in, say, Newcastle.

I think a lot of it is psychological - the fact you’re going ‘abroad’ and generally that means paperwork, barriers and lots of upfront costs (and in Italy it may include some of that!) I know I was surprised at the ease of it, especially since I had worked in the US some years before and that was full of hassle and was major. It may make more sense to stick to a Northern European country though if you want ease of moving and settling it.

[tuten]

But I would need enough money to sustain myself throughout the length of the course, so a year of housing, food etc...

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by tuten

I can't speak Italian?

I would love to do a masters abroad and I'm sure it would work out cheaper, but you need a lot of money to get started I think.

I'm sure you would be able to find something or other even with no italian, pulling pints in an irish pub run by anglophones or something, you would soon pick up the basic italian words and phrases needed to serve customers.

[PadArch]

english tuition is one of the best options for a part time job abroad.

[Core Rising]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

I'm sure you would be able to find something or other even with no italian, pulling pints in an irish pub run by anglophones or something, you would soon pick up the basic italian words and phrases needed to serve customers.

[kerouac1848]

Originally Posted by tuten

But I would need enough money to sustain myself throughout the length of the course, so a year of housing, food etc...

But in many cases the cost of living for a year is less than tuition fees here alone. Here you’ll likely need around £8-10k even if you live at home rent-free since fees are often at least £6,500, some pushing £12k. A part-time job during your studies isn’t going to cover more than a fraction of that, so the sources of funding are no different – your own savings, a bank loan, grants/scholarship and/or support from family or friends. The one difference I guess is you can only get a career development loan from Barclays or the Co-op (which has a year of suspended interest rates) whilst studying in another EU state if that course is not provided here, but imo you shouldn’t be doing a Masters funded purely by loans anyway.

[JollyRoger]

Originally Posted by PadArch

british students aren't known for their tendency to study abroad

Really? I did an ERASMUS for a year's study in the U.S at uni there with 4 other students from my course in the U.K

I have friend a few years younger than I, whose gone to Germany for two years from Swansea uni.

Also, another from Ebbw Vale who went volunteering in the U.S and some study at a camp too.

So I don't know if I necessarily agree that they don't have a tendency to, unless Welsh people are the exception, .

[tuten]

Originally Posted by kerouac1848

But in many cases the cost of living for a year is less than tuition fees here alone. Here you’ll likely need around £8-10k even if you live at home rent-free since fees are often at least £6,500, some pushing £12k. A part-time job during your studies isn’t going to cover more than a fraction of that, so the sources of funding are no different – your own savings, a bank loan, grants/scholarship and/or support from family or friends. The one difference I guess is you can only get a career development loan from Barclays or the Co-op (which has a year of suspended interest rates) whilst studying in another EU state if that course is not provided here, but imo you shouldn’t be doing a Masters funded purely by loans anyway.

Yeah you do make a compelling argument, I suppose when you get to post grad it's all funded by your own means despite where you are. Another thing I worry about is the quality of the course and if it would be as attractive for UK employers. My field of study is the planning and design and I fear what is taught in Italy, Germany, France etc is not relevant to the British job market.

[SE9]

Three news items from the past few days:

Workers told, ditch local languages for English
CNN
18 May 2012

While English has long been the de facto language of international business, more multinational companies are now mandating that employees communicate only in English.

According to Tsedal Neeley, a professor at Harvard Business School, companies that don't adopt English as a standard for their entire organization will, at some point, "experience some form of bottleneck."

"It depends on what the company does, but if you'll have members in different countries needing to collaborate -- whether it's to integrate technology platforms or cater to customers worldwide -- it will become more important that even middle managers and employees with international assignments will need a common language in order to interface with others."

Airbus, Daimler-Chrysler, Nokia, Renault, Samsung and Microsoft Beijing have all mandated English as their corporate language, writes Neeley in the May 2012 edition of Harvard Business Review -- and she says more than 70 Danish companies have now migrated to English.

- continued in link -

English most preferred language for Indians to communicate with the world: Ipsos Poll
The Economic Times
18 May 2012

A large majority of Indian workers (77%) whose jobs require them to interact with people in foreign countries say that English is the dominant language of business followed by Hindi at 15% as per a new poll by global research firm Ipsos.

"The most revealing aspect of this survey is how English has emerged as the default language for business in India. It has become the official business language for corporate India," says Biswarup Banerjee, head of marketing communication, Ipsos in India.

Saudi Arabia bans English language
Digital Journal
20 May 2012

The government in Saudi Arabia has decreed that the English language is to be banned by all government and private agencies. They must now use only Arabic, the language of the Quran.

The Gulf News reported that the use of the English language, widely used in business, has been banned, as has the use of the Gregorian calendar. The Islamic Hijri calendar will replace all use of Gregorian dates which are being used unnecessarily, according to a statement issued by a Saudi Ministry.

The statement went on to explain the reason for the ban as an attempt to preserve the Arabic language and the Islamic calendar. Arabic is the official language of Saudi Arabia but the English language is common in companies and hotels, and is a compulsory second language in schools.

It is unclear how the decree will affect business conducted in the Kingdom. Arab News highlighted the fact "English has necessarily become the language of business" due to the presence of so many foreign workers in Saudi Arabia.

I wonder how many other nations would go to the extent of Saudi Arabia to preserve their local language.

[erbse]

This is really interesting. I'm fond of finally getting a global language everyone is able to deal with, so more countries/institutes should at least introduce the lingua franca as a 2nd official language.