university league tables. There’s no need to stay in Britain, either.
‘Why pay £9,000 a year when you could pay only around £1,472 (€1,771) at Holland’s Maastricht or Groningen Universities, where teaching takes place in English?’ asks John Wallis, co-author of Uni in the USA, a Lonely Planet-style guide to universities in America and beyond. ‘Not only is it cheap, but the Dutch government offers student loans, which is unusual for students abroad.’
Nowadays, 40% of our 15 year olds have
enquiries came from the occasional pupil.
‘ Five years ago,
declared an interest in going abroad for university
Indeed, the whole wide world could be
one’s oyster. Henry Bradley was head boy at Pate’s Grammar School in Cheltenham and predicted to achieve 4 A-level A*s when he was turned down by Oxford, Durham and Bath. He’s now in his third year at New York University’s new Middle Eastern campus, NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), having secured 100% financial support (at American university prices) including travel to and from Abu Dhabi twice a year and a stipend to keep him going while he’s out there. It was, he says, ‘the best decision I ever made, and I can say I’m very confident that I couldn’t be in a happier place in the world than at NYUAD’. Other British students have found a snug academic fit at Nottingham’s Ningbo campus in China (the fees are lower than at the home campus). Options in the USA continue to grow in
’
popularity. As Wellington College Master Anthony Seldon writes in his introduction to Uni in the USA: ‘Five years ago, enquiries came from the occasional pupil with specific reasons, such as having a dual- nationality passport and the attraction of going to their country of birth to complete their education. This is no longer the case… 40% of our 15 year olds have declared an interest in going abroad for university.’ Most of these will be heading to America. Some of today’s brightest sixth-formers
are even beginning to question the very concept of university. Last autumn’s freshers are the first to cough up the Government’s newly increased fees of up to £9,000 per year. So it’s no surprise
www.countrylife.co.uk The whole world in your hands: today’s graduates can enjoy a global perspective
that some entrepreneurial 18 year olds have decided they’d rather sink £27,000 into starting a business than stay on the academic treadmill for three years. ‘Much of the content of university
courses can now be found on the internet anyway,’ says sixth-former Matthew Cross. In 2011, 356,000 people from 190 countries contacted Stanford, one of America’s top universities, when it announced it would offer three of its classes free online. Some 43,000 students went on to complete one of the university’s virtual offerings. Last
year, it ran five online classes. Oxford offers more than 60 courses online. Mr Cross has decided to take time out after finishing his A levels—not for a traditional gap year, but ‘to focus on my options’. We wish him luck and, once he’s figured it
all out, please could he email us the answer? Janette Wallis is a senior editor of ‘The Good Schools Guide’ (www.good
schoolsguide.co.uk) ‘Uni in the USA’ (paperback) and ‘Uni in the USA… and Beyond’ (ebook and online) are avail- able from
www.uniintheusa.com
School Life, Spring 2013 47
Jamie Grill/Getty Images
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