Where
Great Britain remains the number one country for education. According to experts, about 15,000 of our compatriots come to the United Kingdom each year to study (including summer and holiday programs). Some educational agencies even open their own offices in Britain to be able to supervise the large flow of clients. However, this popularity is becoming 'dangerous': it is increasingly rare to find a school (not to mention language courses) without our students. This is not exactly bad, but it does not contribute to full immersion in an English-speaking environment. The only consolation is that the choice of quality educational programs in Great Britain is so vast that there is always an option that suits you in every respect.
Countries once unpromising from an educational business perspective are gaining ground. For example, New Zealand. It would seem, who would travel so far, to such a small country, and why. But New Zealanders continue an active campaign to attract foreign students, luring them with immigration prospects and the international standing of their diplomas. And now, having considered the prospects outlined above and taking into account the fact that a visa to New Zealand is obtained more easily and quickly than to neighboring Australia, the future knowledge seeker sets a course for the Land of the Kiwi.
Or take Canada. The visa problem has finally moved forward, and the number of students from the CIS has immediately increased. In general, English-speaking countries with an immigration policy are certainly very attractive to us, even despite their remoteness. And vice versa. As soon as the visa procedure is tightened or the processing time is simply increased, the country begins to lose foreign students. Not everyone manages to emerge victorious from the embassy of the USA or Spain.
Attention to European countries – Germany, France, Switzerland, Malta – remains stable. True, the first two have recently been doing everything to make this interest sharply increase. And they have something to attract students: higher education in Germany is still free, and in France – almost free.
Having saturated themselves and the market with familiar and similar offers, agencies are looking for new, sometimes unexpected programs - with an optimal balance of quality, price, and emerging prospects. Therefore, the list of countries where our compatriots go to study has been expanded to include Holland, Belgium, Cyprus, Sweden, Austria and Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Japan, China, India, Norway, Denmark, Thailand, and even Vatican City. In short, you can go to any country, as long as you have the money and the desire.
Interestingly, to get an education abroad you don't even need to have a lot of money, since many countries provide free education in Europe for foreign students. For example, Slovakia offers various programs under which our citizens can study in language or preparatory courses for admission to local universities. At the same time, expenses will be minimal, going towards accommodation and food, while the education itself will be completely free.
Why
This question can be answered in one sentence: to arrange your life and career. But these general words break down into many components. Short-term language and professional courses are needed to improve existing skills. Year-long school programs - to gain experience living and communicating abroad, to learn a language. Long-term study at school - to enter a foreign university. University - to get a sought-after profession and diploma. Postgraduate education - to supplement, develop, and improve qualifications.
Any long stay abroad 'pushes' a person to stay there. As we have already written, this desire is all the more natural and logical in countries experiencing a shortage of qualified personnel (Australia, New Zealand, Canada). Programs lasting up to a year usually end with the student returning home. Although, in this case, the task is precisely that: to gain knowledge (diploma, qualification) required for a career at home. But, as we know, every rule has exceptions.
One thing can be said for sure: even the rarest and most exotic educational programs are available abroad. And if you yourself do not know why you need it, they will certainly explain it to you on the spot.
Who
Undoubtedly, those who have money. Because even free education abroad requires considerable funds. After all, you need to get around, live somewhere, eat. Even at a minimum, it comes to $8,000-10,000 per year. There are, of course, scholarships, internships, work programs such as Work & Travel, Work & Earn, Camp America, Au Pair. But it must be taken into account that the latter have a very indirect relationship to education (language, of course, is learned in the process, but that's all). Grant programs, as a rule, leave no choice: the place, time of study, and the student himself are chosen by the organizers-sponsors.
But, of course, not all people with money necessarily study (or send their children to study) abroad. Although this is becoming increasingly popular, fashionable, and necessary. Foreign education is mainly chosen by those who connect their life (their own and their children's) with abroad, the international community, transnational companies. To think globally and feel at home everywhere, you need to travel, live, and study in different countries.
However, is not the educated, free, multilingual, open, tolerant, broad-minded person our future?
Parents dreaming of quality education for their children, and simply those who want their child to see the world. Teachers who form groups to open new paths and incentives for education and self-determination for their students. Students with an unquenchable desire for discoveries, travel, and learning about the world. Professionals who, armed with 'foreign' knowledge, begin to apply it in their homeland. In essence, anyone can become a student at a foreign educational institution. As long as there is desire and purpose.