But let's take a closer look at this claim and find out how much this notorious free education actually costs. Honestly, I myself, as an employee of one of the leading educational agencies, willingly supported this myth, telling prospective students where they don't have to pay for higher education.
However, information published by the German magazine Der Spiegel made me deeply doubt the 'free lunch'. Just a month ago, this well-known publication expressed its concern over the introduction of tuition fees by the federal states (now in some states, university tuition costs an average of €1,000 per year) and published an article listing the expenses associated with obtaining higher education in various fields. The magazine calculated costs for food, rent, heating, clothing, textbooks, transportation, and emergency expenses for the entire period of study at a university.
In the states of West Germany, the price picture is as follows (in euros): philosophy – 67,900, medicine – 63,900, theology – 61,900, psychology – 61,500, German studies – 61,100, construction – 60,700, computer science – 57,100, political science – 56,300, mechanical engineering – 55,900, mathematics – 54,700, electrical engineering – 53,900, biology – 53,500, natural sciences – 51,100, law – 50,300, chemistry – 49,900, pharmaceuticals – 49,000, auto mechanics – 47,900. The costs of studying at universities in East German states are €10,000-12,000 lower, but the figures are still impressive.
It is believed that French, Spanish, and Italian students need €800 per month to live, while Scandinavian students need $1,000. However, as students say, in practice, about 30-50% more is spent due to visits to leisure and entertainment venues: cinemas, theaters, youth clubs. The only exception might be the Czech Republic, where the cost of living is around $500 per month.
When considering study options in countries with formally free higher education, it is also important to remember that it is quite problematic to enter a foreign university right after high school. To become a first-year student at a German university, one must either complete two years at a domestic university or, after the first year, enroll in a one-year preparatory program, the so-called Studienkolleg. Thus, the total time to obtain a higher education diploma or bachelor's degree will be 6-7 years instead of 4-5.
In France and Scandinavian countries, our seventeen-year-old graduate will need a guardian. The universities themselves do not provide guardianship services, and private guardianship firms charge serious money for their work.
However, there are two ways to make good use of the year left until adulthood. First, if the applicant does not know the language of the country of study well, they can spend that year learning it. And second, study for a year at home and try to transfer the credits earned at a local university to continue studying abroad from the second year. But this is only possible if the university where you study can issue you a proper document that meets the requirements of the Bologna agreements. Despite the fact that our Ministry of Education and Science supports the Bologna Agreement, which provides for the transition to the Anglo-Saxon model of higher education, there is still a lot of confusion in the universities themselves regarding the correct documentation.
And in Scandinavian countries, there is also a pitfall related to language learning. The fact is that local language courses are usually free, but they are designed for people who have received a residence permit and do not speak the national language of that country. With some persistence, a foreign student may be enrolled in these courses, but obtaining a student visa will be a serious problem.
The problem of knowing the national language can be circumvented by choosing a program taught in English. These are called diploma programs taught in English, or English-Language-Taught Degree Programmes (ELTDP). It is possible to study in English in all the above countries, but with a great many restrictions. According to a study conducted by the European Association for Academic Cooperation (ACA), ELTDP is not yet a widespread phenomenon in Western higher education. Only 2% of the programs available at a given university are taught in English, and the number of students studying in such programs is less than 1%.
In terms of creation time, ELTDP programs are young. Almost half of them were organized after 1998. And the educational institutions themselves that offer a degree in English are not much older than the programs. Most of them were created after World War II, and a third even later—after the end of the Cold War.
The geography of the development of diploma programs in English is also interesting. Most of them are in Germany (180), the Netherlands (115), followed by Finland (85), France (33), Scandinavian countries, while more southern countries—Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece—either have no such programs at all or offer a very limited number (5-10 programs).
What prompts higher education institutions to open diploma programs taught in English? The main reason is participation in the internationalization of education, which has become especially relevant in a united Europe. The presence of ELTDP allows local students to study a number of disciplines without leaving the country, and foreigners who do not speak the native language, for example, Finnish or Dutch, the opportunity to study in English, since it is the most widespread compared to other European languages.
The benefits for everyone are obvious. The university acquires students; the country chosen by students as a place of study receives a significant injection into its economy (for example, US business schools bring the country $7 billion in profit annually, making it the fourth most profitable export item, and in Australia, education provided the treasury with income of $4 billion – significantly more than from sheep breeding and meat production). The students themselves increase their attractiveness on the labor market, sometimes at the expense of the host country, because a number of programs do not require payment (only accommodation and living expenses are paid).
It should be noted that for students from European Union countries, transferring from one university to another is much easier than for students from other countries. Specially for them, programs such as Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, Nordplus have been developed, allowing to start studies at a university in one country and finish at a university in another.
If we take into account the specialization of ELTDP, two areas clearly dominate – business and management. The third most common are engineering disciplines.
Thus, in Germany, the percentage of educational institutions offering engineering disciplines is 44%, followed by business – 35%, natural sciences – 24%, mathematics and computer disciplines – 15%. France – 44% business, engineering disciplines – 28%, Finland – business 59%, natural sciences – 26%, Netherlands – business 63%, engineering disciplines – 44%.
It is also important to take into account that in the vast majority of cases, ELTDP are offered as postgraduate education, i.e., for persons with a bachelor's degree. And in France, English-taught programs are mainly offered in Grandes Écoles. This means that one has to pay for tuition, and the more prestigious the school, the higher the cost. For example, at Grenoble Ecole de Management, which ranked fourth this year in the Financial Times' ranking of the best master's programs in management, the first year of the bachelor's program in international business will cost €11,500. And at the lesser-known Burgundy School of Business, a year of study costs €8,000.
Now let's take a look at which English-speaking country with traditionally paid higher education is cheaper to study in. A team from IDP Education Australia, the most well-known Australian recruiter of foreign students, studied, through direct surveys of a number of respondents, the costs associated with studying and living for students in five English-speaking countries (USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand) that are most attractive to foreign students. The study covered tuition fees, housing costs, food expenses, textbooks, insurance, utilities, transportation, clothing, and communication. 39 Australian universities, 8 New Zealand, 50 American, 47 English, and 24 Canadian were surveyed. The cost of 3,146 bachelor's and master's courses was considered.
Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded: the cost of tuition at New Zealand universities in bachelor's programs (except for medicine, which is cheaper to study in Canada) is lower than in other countries that participated in the survey. However, if airfare is taken into account, the costs of studying and living in Canada and New Zealand turn out to be quite comparable. As an example, the ranking of costs for a bachelor of business specialty can be given (see table).
Although IDP's efforts were aimed at redirecting the flow of students traditionally oriented towards the US and UK to Australia through a comparative analysis, the ultimate winners were the Land of the Kiwi and the Land of the Maple Leaf, as New Zealand and Canada are commonly called. Thus, it can be concluded that despite the tuition-free education in a number of European countries, living and household expenses are significant. Therefore, obtaining higher education abroad remains an unfulfilled dream for the vast majority of our citizens.
Based on materials from ЦМК «Парта»