High quality, relatively low costs
In Europe, especially continental Europe, universities are heavily subsidized by their national governments. In Germany and Scandinavia for instance, most Master’s programs are totally free of charge. In the recent publication of the Times Higher Education Supplement (http://www.thes.co.uk/), 36 of the top 100 universities in the world are located in Europe. Masters Portal has researched the tuition fees in those top 100 universities. In continental Europe, the tuition fee was on average about 1/4th of the tuition fee of the universities in the USA (based on 07/02/2009 exchange rates)
Great diversity in Culture, History and Languages
The Acropolis in Athens, Greece; Scottish Highlands; The hart of Roman culture in Ancient Rome; The most Nordic city in the world; Paris, the city of love; High Tech Architecture in Rotterdam, Europe offers a great multicultural environment with unlimited possibilities to explore and learn. And while national borders in Europe are evading, it is very easy and cheap for students to travel. This is also a great possibility to get your high school French, German or Spanish from an awkward tourist level to a working professional level.
International Environment
The European citizens consider themselves citizens of the world and are generally very open to foreigners. In Higher Education, internationalization has been promoted for the last decades. This has resulted in a number of joint programs offered by universities of different countries. Also, every university hosts a large number of international students.
Schengen Countries
In June 1985, seven European Union countries signed a treaty to end internal border checkpoints and controls. More countries have joined the treaty over the past years. Since 12 December 2008, there are 25 Schengen countries, all in Europe. The student can visit in any of the following countries once he/she gets a schengen visa without having to apply again.
AT – Austria
BE – Belgium
CZ – Czech Republic
DK – Denmark
EE – Estonia
FI – Finland
FR – France
DE – Germany
GR – Greece
HU – Hungary
IS – Iceland
IT – Italy
LV – Latvia
LT – Lithuania
LU – Luxembourg
MT – Malta
NL – Netherlands
NO – Norway
PL – Poland
PT – Portugal
SK – Slovakia
SI – Slovenia
ES – Spain
SE – Sweden
CH – Switzerland