Some countries to study abroad on Europe

Studying abroad has become very popular in the last years. It is an

opportunity to complement the academic knowledge, but before
going, it is important to know about what it implies in several aspects;
it is important to recognize the different educational systems as they
will depend on the desired country. This essay will provide a general
overview of some different educational systems in a selected group of
countries: France, Italy, Spain, and England. This will be seen by
discussing the languages, evaluation methods, general requirements
for the admission process and particularities of educational systems
in the considered countries. Therefore, this document explains
particular characteristics that could be relevant to decide which of
these countries to choose.

Among France, Italy, Spain, and England the first thing to notice is
that each country has a different language French, Italian, Spanish and
English respectively. For studying in some of these countries it is
important to know that most of the people could speak just their natal
language, that is why it is crucial to have some basic knowledge on it.
In the same way, there are other countries where those languages are
spoken too, so learning a new one opens the door of many countries
and cultures in the world as shown down below.

Language Primary Number of countries Speakers

Country where the language is (millions)
spoken
Spanish Spain 44 329
English United 112 328
Kingdom
French France 60 67.8
Italian Italy 34 61.7
Tab 1. Language spoken in the countries mentioned in a decent way of number
of speakers (Languages of the World - Nations Online Project, n.d.).

Regarding the evaluation methods, one of the most important things

when someone want to study abroad is choosing the university and,
according to the QS world rankings that studies the performance of
the many universities around the world, the best ones are Univerité
PSL in France, Politecnico di Milano in Italy, Universitat de
Barcelona in Spain and University of Oxford in England. The
admission process will depend on the university people choose (QS
World University Rankings 2021, n.d.). And it is also important to
know how different the qualifying scale could be, depending on the
country. It is relevant to be aware at times that the student has to do a
conversion and compare among them to calculate his grade
(Universidad de Granada, 2010).
The scale of the countries previously mentioned, are respectively:

Country Scale
France 0 - 20
Italy 0 - 30 e lode
England 0 - 100
Spain 0 - 10
Table 1. Table of conversion grades (Universidad de Granada, 2010)

In terms of the admission process, in general, when starting the

process of study abroad, the first thing to do after choosing a
university is selecting a course; on the website of the schools must be
available the form of pre-registration. At the same time, it should be
noted whether there exists a language sufficiency requirement of the
university. If it is, a first test must be presented at the embassy of the
chosen country. As well the academic calendar must be observed to
start at the right time because in each country it is different. It is
important to be updated with the destiny university calendar, to avoid
being late with the application process.

Concerning the calendars there are some particularities about these

countries: in Italy the academic year begins in September and goes
until June. In Spain, the final exams are in January, May and June.
Universities such as Oxford recommend sending the application up to
3 weeks in advance; in France it is important checking the websites
who carry on all the lines of process, they indicate the specific
academic dates (Étudiant | Campus France : Estudiar a Francia,
n.d.). Even if here, some particularities are exposed, the truth is that
each country has very specific conditions in its educational systems.

Summarizing, in the considered countries, the languages, evaluation

methods, general requirements for the admission process and
particularities of educational systems with topics like the selection
process (interviews, exams or a presentation essay), visa paperwork
or even the different scholarships the universities offert, compose part
of the important things to study abroad in Europe.
The process could be very long, however this experience is
accompanied by the privilege of meeting another part of the world, of
course an opportunity someone could have!

References

Étudiant | Campus France: Estudiar a Francia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2021, from

https://www.campusfrance.org/es

Languages of the World—Nations Online Project. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2021, from

https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/languages.htm

QS World University Rankings 2021. (n.d.). Top Universities. Retrieved April 29, 2021, from

https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2021
Universidad de Granada. (2010, June 17). Vicerrectorado de Internacionalización TABLA

CONVERSIÓN CALIFICACIONES | Universidad de Granada.

https://internacional.ugr.es/pages/conversion-calificaciones/tablaconversioncalificaciones