Study abroad

Career & Education

Oliver Štoffa reports about his mind-moving experiences during his exchange semester in Sarajevo.

“But seriously, why did you guys come to study here? Even my grandma couldn’t believe that…” was the question followed by a horse-laugh of my two Bosnian classmates, interrupting work on our school assignment for a good few minutes. This burst of emotions left me thinking, although I had to get used to clarifying this conundrum as a daily routine during my exchange semester in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the autumn 2014.

After spending one awesome Erasmus semester in Finland, I could not simply sit still without trying to find my way to another international experience. Although the range of possibilities was pretty wide, nothing seemed more attractive and challenging than the beauty, temperament and chaos of Western Balkans – the labels I had in my mind before and during my stay, and I could use them without big adjustments even today. My patience-testing quest for classes held in English turned out to be a fine filter resulting in a single choice – Faculty of Economics at University of Sarajevo. Here comes my first advice for potential followers: It is never too early to start researching about course offers. Yet it doesn’t give you any guarantee that during the first month of your stay you won’t be coming back from your faculty unsure about courses you can take. For some of my friends it turned out to be quite frustrating, because they weren’t even sure whether they could participate in their exchange programmes.

My first encounters with the city, its people and culture were well guided by my awesome Bosnian flatmate, who made it hard for me to imagine a better start of the exchange. Instantly submerged into joys and troubles of local life, I learned very soon what makes people fall in love with Sarajevo, and, on the other hand, what makes many want to leave.

Already before my arrival, he had been a great help for us to find a common accommodation – a cosy apartment near the very centre of the city. In general, it is relatively easy to find a decent place to live for any time period, sometimes with the only obstacle being the language barrier. With student dorms rumoured not to be in the best shape and with rather strict curfew, most exchange students opt for private apartments.

The first two weeks before the semester began were dedicated to our orientation consisting of miscellaneous trips and activities arranged by Erasmus Student Network (ESN) Sarajevo. Together with an intensive Bosnian language course it formed a rather tight schedule with a strong team-building effect, as the total count of exchange students was not more than twenty. The fledgling branch of ESN seemingly having more members than that certainly had a tough role entertaining our small, rather untypical ‘Erasmus cohort’. Sadly, after the very intensive start only few of them had spare time for their realization within ESN and besides one or two short trips, our contact with them was limited to hanging out at dinner parties or bars. Yet, to my knowledge, they have been making certain progress in balancing their workforce and activities.

The less can be more, and so it was with our ESN caretakers. Some have become closely connected to us, as it in general goes easily with warm and welcoming personalities of locals in Bosnia.

What people also treasure about the ambience of the local culture is the relaxed lifestyle based on abundance of coffee and cigarettes, where probably the only legitimate reason to hurry somewhere is warm burek (pastry stuffed with beef) or its variants with cheese, potatoes, etc. I am not sure, if I ever met anyone who wouldn’t love these gems of local cuisine, unless calories set priorities.

So what keeps locals fit enjoying dangerously tasty greasy pastries while sports are not really a part of daily grind? “We have a lot of stress with our authorities and all the bureaucracy, that’s where most of our energy goes to” I once heard somewhere.

Bosnian bureaucracy. That was a big pain also for us foreigners, as many of us agreed that we hadn’t seen it on such ridiculous levels anywhere else. Not to get lost in verified copies of verified documents needed for verification of copies of other verified documents proved to be sometimes quite challenging. On the other hand, the detailed requirements for residence permit made me feel confident that I did not bring HIV into Bosnia. Thank you, the ministry of foreign affairs.

When it all gets too frustrating, you just have a cigarette. No matter where you are. That is why, unfortunately, one must simply forget about tolerance for non-smokers.

I could discourse on pages describing the beauty of diverse nature of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Having my mountain bike with me, I was lucky to discover many marvels in the mountains literally surrounding the city. Besides that, most of the country situated in Dinaric Alps gives ideal opportunities for various trips, even if you are free only on weekends. The luckier ones will appreciate the proximity of other, normally only difficult accessible Balkan countries.

Although I can’t say that this experience makes me want to spend my life in Sarajevo, I do believe that only few places in Europe offer such an interesting and diverse exchange semester. And such good burek.

 

Career & EducationPolitics & The World

As David Cameron got re-elected last month, he had no choice but to give in to pressure from UKIP: in 2017, or maybe even earlier, the British population will vote on the membership of Britain in the EU. In case of a ‘Brexit’, this referendum would have major consequences; not only for businesses, farmers and travellers, but also for students. If Britain backs out of the European Union, many study abroad benefits will be lost; for British students as well as those from other EU countries. Following is an overview of how lucky we are exactly – and what a huge setback a ‘Brexit‘ would be for ambitious students who want to broaden their horizon.

EU students studying in the UK – the luring appeal of ‘Oxbridge’

The United Kingdom offers many top-notch universities. The THE World University Rankings put the University of Oxford in 3rd place, Cambridge in 5th and Imperial College London in 9th. In contrast, the first non-UK EU universities on this list are the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (13th) and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (19th). This makes the United Kingdom a popular destination for international students; in 2013/2014, 125,300 EU students were studying in the UK.

Many students are profiting from Article 18 of the TFEU, which says that all member states are prohibited to discriminate on the basis of nationality within the EU. This means that any EU student pays the same tuition fees as the resident students of this country. This may seem obvious, but it actually isn’t: right now, UK and EU students pay £9,000 for one year of studying in Oxford or Cambridge; for non-EU students, this could be up to £30,000/year! Therefore, the tuition fees of EU students studying in the UK could increase significantly if the British universities are no longer bound by this non-discriminatory clause.

Other than this, chances are that the UK will also withdraw from the Schengen Treaty, which allows free movement of people and goods within the EU. In practice, this means that after a ‘Brexit’ students would have to get a ‘Tier 4 student visa’ in order to be able to study in the UK. Besides the £322 visa itself, you will also have to pay a ‘healthcare surcharge’, which, currently, for a US national is £525. There are also several eligibility requirements, such as sufficient knowledge of the English language and a guaranteed certificate of enrolment – plus,  students hvs to prove that they are able to sustain themselves and pay for their university and their stay. Free movement of people makes for a great opportunity, and taking this away is costly for students and makes for a lot of red tape.

UK students going to a EU country – cheap and fun

But not only do EU students enjoy the UK; ‘the continent’ is also a promising world of different cultures and a vibrant student life for English students. In 2013/2014, 10,414 UK students were studying in continental Europe. One of the most appealing aspects is the significantly lower tuition fees of most universities. In the Netherlands, most programmes cost around £1,500/year, and in Denmark and Sweden it costs absolutely nothing. This provides a great opportunity for the less wealthy students or those who do not want to be carrying the burden of staggering student loans. However, the same rule applies as for the UK tuition fees; without the non-discriminatory clause, English students will likely pay the same fees as non-EU/EEA residents, which usually lies at around €10,000. This rise in tuition fees will increase the burden on UK students to study abroad and the number of outgoing students will decline. At the same time, they will also have to acquire a visa from the country they want to study in, leading to the same complications that EU students run into when applying to study in the UK in a post-EU Britain.

Even larger benefits are derived from the Erasmus programme, which allows EU students to study abroad within the EU. UK students profit from this budget as well, with 14,651 English participants in 2012/2013. This programme as a whole would be taken away.

Why does this matter?

From the look of it, for students the most important impact will be in the study abroad-section. However, this is very important, since an increasing number of students study abroad for a certain period of time and the benefits of this are huge. Study abroad students are twice as likely to land a job within 12 months, their starting salaries are 25% higher (on average), 80% of study abroad students reported that they felt they were better able to adapt to different work environments, and 59% of employers said having studied abroad would be a valuable asset for an individual in their later career within an organization. These are all reasons why studying abroad should be encouraged, and one of the major sponsors in this field is the EU. Losing this support would mean decreasing chances for students to go abroad.

For EU students, this is a shame; but after all, they could still go to Paris, Berlin, Rome or Warsaw. UK students, however, would struggle with the increased difficulty of organizing this experience in all European countries. Thus, the home students would be disadvantaged most. There is only one thing to do: English students, vote pro-Europe!

 

Louise Bicknese, *1996, is a first-year student at University College Maastricht with a dream to become a journalist and a special interest in the European Union.

 

Image by Kosala Bandara.