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The United Kingdom

Made by Nina ten Hove, e4a in June 2014. For this Practical Assignment for Sociology (Mr.
Seffinga) I was given the task to find out what studying a year in the United Kingdom costs.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the UK, is a
constitutional monarchy (with reigning Queen Elizabeth II) with a parliamentary system (with
current head of government Prime Minister David Cameron). Its capital is London. The
country is home to almost 64 million people, living on a surface of 243,610 km. This land is
divided into four countries: Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland, which all have
their own culture, principles and languages (Welsh, Gaelic and Irish, but of course they all
speak the common tongue: British English). The inhabitants of the UK are considered to be
prosperous, considering the GDP per capita is $43,829 (=32,138) . In British Pound Sterling
(the nations currency), also known as the pound, that would make a GDP of 26,056. The
British Empire was the biggest in the world, also known as the empire on which the sun never
set. The UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific
and political influence internationally.
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It is a member of the European Union: it has been ever
since 1973.

THE BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM
Annually, 7000 Dutch students pack their bags to study abroad, on the other side of the
English Channel. This makes it one of the most popular destinations, which shouldnt be
surprising: speaking English well looks good on your rsum, its not that far from the
Netherlands and it has some of the best universities of the world (for instance Oxford and
Cambridge University); and more than 130 others. In order to be able to study abroad, you
have to get to know their school system first.
The British education system is very much like the Dutch system, but there are a couple of
differences. They start primary education at the age of five and end it at eleven. After that, the
children from the ages of eleven to sixteen get secondary education. Afterwards, students can
take exams for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), for which they can
decide themselves how many subjects they want to do exams on (usually 510). As you might
already know, the British dont give marks, they give letters. A*, A, B and C would in the
Netherlands be 108 and D until G would be 7,55. Students who get the latter, usually go for
further education (= beroepsopleiding). When a student gets a A*C, he can choose to do a
preuniversity education (which will last two years). This education leads to the General
Certificate of Education on alevel (GCE). Most universities require that students take exams
in at least three subjects. These exams can be compared to regular Dutch VWOexams. If you
choose to take exams in two subjects, you can afterwards do a higher professional education,
which can be compared to the Dutch HBOstudies.

If you want to go to university, you have to file an admission at the Universities and Colleges
Admissions Service (UCAS) for a study youd like to do. In order to get through, you have to

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom
qualify certain course requirements, that are specified on the study you have chosen. If youre
accepted, you start searching for a university youd like to go to. These universities then send
you a conditional offer, which says youll be accepted into a study after getting certain results
on your GCEexams. If you get those results, you start your undergraduate study, which lasts
three or four years (except for the Medicine studies, which last six years). At the end, you get
your first degree, which is usually the Bachelordegree. When youve finished this, you can do
your postgraduate study, which ends with a higher degree, which is either a Masterdegree or
a Doctordegree. This usually only lasts one year.
I understand that this might be a bit confusing, so I found a very handy overview that might
help you (via http://www.nuffic.nl/bibliotheek/landenmodule-verenigd-koninkrijk.pdf ):




























GETTING INTO AN UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE FEES
If youre absolutely sure about studying in the UK, the admission procedures will be the same
for you as for the English students. The moment they finish their preuniversity education is
the same moment you end your VWO. This means you will, too, have to file an admission at
the UCAS. This can be done online, at http://www.ucas.com/apply . You have to do this
between September 1 and January 15. For studies at Oxford and Cambridge and for Health
studies (for example Medicine), you have to do this before October 15.
Next to the normal demands, foreign students of course have to show that they are capable of
speaking good English. You will find that some universities are satisfied with a good mark on
your English VWOexam, but other universities want you to take a test. Note that the marks
you get for your exams are of major importance: its more important than in the Netherlands.
When you get in, you have to think about the costs that are linked to it. The United Kingdom
has the same studentloan system as the Netherlands will have in 2016: students dont get any
money from the government, all they can do is borrow money from the bank. The fees you
have to pay vary considerable per study, but within studies there is also a difference. This
depends on the university (e.g. Oxford and Cambridge are very expensive, because they still
have the tutorial system: students receive private colleges once or twice a week). Generally,
these will be the costs for the different studies (in pounds) per year:
Foundation degrees: 6,00015,000
Humanities and art degrees: 8,00017,000
Scientific degrees: 9,50024,000
Clinical and medical degrees: 11,00028,000

Humanities and arts programmes: 9,00014,000
Scientific programmes: 10,00029,000
Clinical programmes: 12,00037,000
Masters 9,50052,000
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This comes down to an average of 14,800 for undergraduates and 18,700 for postgraduates.

MATERIALS FOR YOUR STUDY
Youll have to buy expensive books and other materials you need, which will around 300.

FUNDING
When you study abroad, you usually do get funding from the Dutch government. Youll have
to fill in this form: http://www.ibgroep.nl/Images/8417A-14%20SF%20buitenland_tcm7-
38985.pdf and post it, and they will answer. It depends on if your study is recognized by the
Dutch authorities, and if it is, they will then decide how big your funding will be.
What you can also do is try to get grant, which will cover (part of) the costs of studying abroad.
An overview can be found on http://www.wilweg.nl/financiering/beursopener . If you want a
grant, youll have to fill in a budget estimate, which can be found on
http://www.wilweg.nl/documentatie/begrotingsformat.pdf . They will then decide if youre a
possible candidate for the grant. Another option to get funding is to go to a university and ask
if they offer any scholarships. Especially the bigger universities offer a couple of scholarships
per study to students who they find promising and who cant afford it on their own.
If you choose to study in Scotland, youre lucky: the SAAS will usually cover the costs. Do note
that in Scotland, undergraduate studies usually take a year longer than they do in the rest of
the United Kingdom.




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http://www.savethestudent.org/international-students/international-student-fees.html
Undergraduate studies
Postgraduate studies
VISA AND HEALTH INSURANCE
This is important information for studying in the UK, but also if you want to do an internship
there. To live and work in the UK for a year, you dont need a visa or registration. However,
Customs can ask for your passport, proof of registration for an university and financing.
You can work fulltime, without paying tax twice (namely in the UK and in the Netherlands).
You do need to get a National Insurance Number, so you can pay taxes.
As for your health insurance applies that if youre insured in the Netherlands, that insurance
counts in the UK as well. To prove that youre insured, you need your European Health
Insurance Card. Its free and you can apply for it on https://www.ehic.nl/Aanvraag.aspx .

TRAVELING EXPENSES
As I already mentioned before, you can bring the money youd get in the Netherlands for your
OV to the UK. You have to fill in this form: http://www.ib-groep.nl/Images/8731_tcm7-411.pdf,
and then you will get a monthly reimbursement of (102,29 =) 82,71. This will cover it all,
since a monthly pass will cost you 60 on average.
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Important to include is the price of your ticket. The smartest thing to do is to book a non
retour ticket as soon as you know the dates of the beginning of the school year. The cheapest
way to go is to fly to one of the smaller airports in London, for example London Stansted. From
here, you can ask your host family to pick you up, and if youre staying in an apartment, you
can take the subway to anywhere in the United Kingdom. A nonretour ticket from Eindhoven
Airport to London Stansted will cost you 20
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. This way, you can always decide to go home
once a year on a date you can pick for yourself. If you visit home only once, the total amount of
money spent on tickets is 80.

A PLACE TO STAY
When you study in the UK, you of course need your own room: its impossible and too
expensive to live in a hotel room for a year. You can of course book a dorm room on the
campus, because universities usually have special homes for international students, but thats
usually quite expensive as well. You can ask for the prices at your universitys accommodation
office. They can also give you some advice on finding your own apartment. Since it would be
logical that you cant afford to buy it, youll have to rent it. This will still be expensive, so it
would be wise to get a roommate (or two) to split the costs. You can flyer in your university or
you can look for one online on sites like http://www.okroommate.com/united_kingdom/ .
Considering traveling a bit longer is cheaper than getting an apartment in the city center, you
should look for an apartment on the outskirts of town. An apartment with three bedrooms
outside of the center will cost you 912.59 per month. You also need to take in account the
basic utilities (electricity, heating, water, garbage) which will add another 297 and internet
which will cost you another 19,07 per month. Supposing you only use your phone to
WhatsApp and Skype (which are free services), you wont have a phone bill. If you get three
roommates, you will have to pay 409,55 per month.
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That makes 4914,60 per year.
The smartest thing to do is to look for a host family you can live with for the duration of one
year. It will feel like home, theyll make sure you eat healthy and its cheap: actually, it wont

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http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=United+Kingdom
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www.chaser.nl
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http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=United+Kingdom
cost you a thing (although you can offer to pay a small amount of money as a compensation).
Also, you wont have to move your own furniture from the Netherlands to the UK (which is
very expensive) and you wont have to buy new furniture which you can throw away after one
year. The only downside is that you might have to travel a little longer, but this shouldnt be a
problem, since you can bring the money you would get in the Netherlands for using an OV to
the UK. A Dutch organization you can trust will be able to find you a nice family is AFS.
Whats so good about it is that its not very big and therefore much more personal. For more
information, see www.AFS.nl .

PRICE OF LIVING
Now that youve established yourself, you have to think about other monthly expenses. Food is
one of them: if you live in a host family, its free. If you live in your apartment, you can split it
between you and your roommates. On http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-
living/country_result.jsp?country=United+Kingdom you can find prices of a lot of standard
products and you will find that they cost the same as they do in the Netherlands. Thus, when
you split the costs, food will cost you more or less 100 per month, so 1200 per year. On the
site of Numbeo you can also find the prices of pieces of clothes by brands youngster like (think
of Levis, Nike, Zara etc.). I saw that they cost even less than they do in the Netherlands. Now
the climate in the UK is very similar to the Dutch climate, so you wont have to get a new
wardrobe, so youll probably spent 90 per month on clothing, which makes 1080 a year. Next
to that, youll also go out or go see a movie with friends, or buy yourself a treat. All of this
pocket money combined will cost you 100 a month, so another 1200 a year.

INTERNSHIP
You can also do an internship in the UK: getting some working experience instead of going to
school. If its part of your study, you have to fill in this form:
http://www.eaie.org/home/archive/emploi/form1.html . To calculate the costs, you have to
subtract the college fees and materials for your study, and it will then only cost you 8474.60.

CONCLUSION
If you add all of the numbers underlined in yellow, a year of studying in the UK will cost
23,574.60 for undergraduates and 27,474.60 for postgraduates. A yearlong internship will
cost you 8487.60. You will then still have to subtract any possible grants, scholarships and
funding and money you might earn whilst working in the UK or that youre (grand)parents
have saved for you. Also, keep in mind that there are many variations, which I already
mentioned in the different subheadings and that this number is strongly defined by your
college fee.
To conclude: it was a lot of work to find out what a year like this costs, but it was also fun and
useful, since Im seriously considering studying abroad myself. I hope you like what I made!

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