<p>My son is trying to choose from a number of study abroad options for spring 2010. He is planning to take engineering courses so needs it to be in English. His current university has about 6500 students and he is from a small town, so would prefer to stay w/ some of the smaller options (though they all seem huge to us!). One of the things we are unclear about is housing, most say students live off-campus and it’s unclear how you go about locating this housing. Also we are concerned about the actual availability of courses, in other words, if there is room for students from abroad in specific courses.</p>
<p>The schools he is considering are:University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, Universities of Sussex, Warwick, Durham, Leeds, Bristol, Lancaster, Birmingham.</p>
<p>Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>
The answer to this question is entirely dependent on the university, the length of time of study and also on whether you son will be taking part in a program organised by his US school or directly enrolling at a UK university. I suggest you contact the universites themselves about this. In general all first year undergraduates are offered university owned accommodation (this does not mean “on campus” as most UK universities do not have a campus as such but are scattered throughout a down) and I would be amazed if a foreign student was not offered this, as foreign students are usually a priority. However, I know some places will not offer rooms for less than 1 academic year. </p>
<p>In the vast majority of cases a foreign student would be treated like a new first year and allocated housing (you don’t usually have to do anything), but to be sure you will have to check with the specific universities.</p>
<p>
Again, no-one will know this apart from the specific universities involved. I don’t even know how many people were on the undergraduate course I attended, never mind how many there are attending engineering courses at other universities. There isn’t a nationally applied standard or anything.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I highly recommend
<a href=“http://www”>www</a>. the student room .co .uk
a UK board like this one. Remove the spaces for the link to work.</p>
<p>Huge
Glasgow - but never been there myself.
Birmingham (vast city. Second largest in the UK after London)
Leeds (3rd largest city after London and Birmingham)</p>
<p>Campus
Warwick
Lancaster - my sister went here. Nice but the wettest place on earth!</p>
<p>Both of these are concrete campuses isolated in the middle of countryside. Nowhere really near either Lancaster or Warwick really. All you can see are sheep. Both are small and quiet. It you like walking/hiking (in the rain) Lancaster is your place. If you have seen “Miss Potter” with Renee Zellwegger you will have seen the place. Lake District national park in the north-west of England.
Warwick is near Stratforf-upon-Avon of Shakespeare fame and in the centre of England.</p>
<p>Tiny
Durham - I think the university is quite big but the city itself is tiny, and beautiful. Very few visitors ever go there and yet it’s magnificent. The university is like Oxford and Cambridge in that it’s made up of small residential colleges. One of these (University college) is a 900 year old castle (dungeons and battlements - the real deal). If it’s not good for the mind, it’s at least good for the soul.</p>
<p>Don’t know about Edinburgh or Bristol universities. Both are very nice cities to visit. I’ve been to Bristol for one day for a job interview but it didn’t seem bad. There are lots of posts about Edinburgh if you search this board.</p>
<p>I know where the county of Sussex is but had no idea where uni of Sussex was until I googled it. It’s in Brighton on the south coast. This is also quite a nice place but VERY lively (and well-known as the gay capital of England).</p>
<p>Note that most UK cities have more than one university. As I understand it, there were once two tiers of colleges at bit like the US community college system. Then the 2 year ones were ungraded to 3 year ones sometime in the 1990s. The modern universities are usually better for vocational subjects and are often called “Town X Univeristy” where X=Polytechnic, metropolitan or someone’s name. eg Oxford Brookes University, Manchester Metropolitan university. There are maybe 10 or more of these in London, and many in big cities like Leeds and Birmingham as well. So make sure it really is Uni of Leeds you are investigating, rather than Leeds Metropolitan. They may have different poilcies on housing and different courses.</p>
<p>Son is in Scotland now, studying at University of Stirling. Absolutely loves it. There are so many study abroad kids from all over. Everyone has been extremely friendly. Study abroad housing is on campus. (His “dorm” is really a flat with 6 bedrooms, guys and girls from all over.) The transportation to Glasgow and Edinburgh is great.</p>
<p>He has been surprised at how inexpensive food is (to buy and cook, not restaurants.)</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard/read, Glasgow is an industrial city. I would opt for Edinburgh. Seems like a great city. </p>
<p>You can look back on this site for postings by Casespartan as he is there now. He is living off campus. You can ask PM him about housing and the school.</p>