I'm off to college in a couple of months and as my parents want me to continue my education in an much better country that can fulfill my desires. I'm from Serbia and things here aren't as smooth as in the rest of Europe.
I visited most of the places around the Europe, as my dad owns a travel agency. But I would like something more exclusive and if possible to not be as expensive. It needs to have a good education system, not an highly- populated zone (like.. New York or smth), if possible to rain a lot (rain insipres me) and an eco-friendly community. It's too early and kinda dumb to actually SEARCH for the right country but as I plan to enroll to university in the late september, I really need at least a plan of what I'm going to do in near future. Was thinking of Denmark or Norway, but I guess it's too far away from my land. I thought of Canada aswell, but I highly doubt I will make it there.. So PLEASE HELP!
Thank you for reading!
No, it's not too early by a long shot. You have very early deadlines as an international student.
First some general advice:
You need to check deadlines for applications (they can be very early), the amount of money you need to get a study permit, prerequisites, and what language the courses are taught in. You'll have to document you have sufficient language skills (upper intermediate) in order to gain admissions.
To find official websites with study info type in "Study in (country) to google. Most countries have a domain that's studyinXXX.com for information.
For Norway, you're deadline to apply for the 2015 academic year is going to be March 1st, 2015. All but 5 courses are taught in Norwegian, so that means you'll need to pass the bergenstest or equivalent. You'll have to show you have NOK 94 400/yr in order to get a study permit, and that's really the minimum you need to survive.
The cost of living for the other Scandinavian countries is a bit less, but not much. You'll also have tuition to contend with. Sweden does have some courses in English. I think Denmark has about as many as Norway.
Germany has some English language programmes. The cost of living in Germany will be a bit less than Scandinavia. It's EUR 7908/yr.
Finland has programmes in English. Cost of living will be around the same as Scandinavia. Some unis have tuition, some don't. This is all subject to change at any time. They're currently looking at whether or not they want to start charging tuition to o international students.
Poland, believe it or not, has some really good universities (Norwegians who don't get into the programmes they want in Norway sometimes go there). There are English language programmes, as well as a zero year of Polish (uni of Krakow has that, not sure about the others). Cost of living is much lower too. I know people who have gone to the uni in Warsaw and Wroclaw, and they really enjoyed it. I'd assume the uni in Krakow is also really good. Just stay away from private unis in that country.
As for languages, some countries (like poland) will grant you a study permit to study the language. Some have summer schools (University of Oslo has ISS for Norwegian). You can also look at doing it privately in your own country.
I would not go to Denmark. The entire country is flat and their language is awful. Their water is bad (tastes bad) and even cold water costs money, which it does not in Norway. I'd get an education in Norway if I were you. We have great programs for students from other countries and great scholarships as well. I'd choose Oslo (the capital), Bergen (the most rainy city in Europe. It's my city and it's beautiful), Trondheim (the city of students) or Stavanger (the city of oil and expensive houses. It's a beautiful city though) These are Norway's biggest cities and anything smaller would be reeeaally small.
If not Norway I'd go for Sweden or Canada, not Denmark
The best countries for education and the other things you mention are the more northern countries.
Sweden
Norway
The Netherlands
Denmark
Finland
These are some of the countries which have a good state in Europe, they all have a good education system, good places to live, good economic state and a nice community to live in and get started and: overall are these 5 countries stated in the Top 10 Best Countries to Live In. I would recommend them.
And, all of these countries have a lot of rain as well.
From my opinion if you want the best country for education then go to Finland, South Korea. Best and awesome place to live and study.
