A lot of higher education is about getting some life experience – getting live away from home, to learn things you never knew about but were always interested in, and to meet new people and forge the strongest of friendships. It’s a lot of money, but it’s these kinds of experiences that make university priceless.
However universities aren’t exclusive to America, and there are plenty of European universities that can offer all this too. If you consider pursuing a higher education at Universities in Europe then this will mean that you also get to experience a whole new way of life, to meet people from a different culture, and to explore a new area. There is no life experience quite like living abroad, and going to Universities in Europe allows you to do this and to get an education that will be universally recognized at the same time. There are some truly prestigious universities in Europe and any of them will help you to land the career of your dreams while becoming a more well rounded individual.
There are some differences however been universities in Europe and those in the US. For instance European universities do not require students to take general education subjects as a rule, and rather they will stick to the subject they major in (though another difference is that students from universities in Europe do not use the word ‘major’). However European universities as a rule also have a less flexible curriculum.
For those who want an American education but in Europe there are some American universities situated actually in Europe. These include: Webster University Vienna in Austrai, Boston University Brussels in Belgium, American University in Paris in France, Jacobs University Bremen in Germany, American College Dublin in Ireland, American Intercontinental University in the UK and many more.
However if you want to study at authentic universities in Europe, or if you just want to look around them (universities such as Oxford can be highly beautiful to explore) then there are many, many more options. According to the Times Higher Education University Rankings (2010) the top ten universities in Europe are: The University of Cambridge in the UK, University of Oxford in the UK, Imperial College London in the UK, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in Switzerland, University College London in the UK, Ecole Polytechnique in France, University of Edinburgh in the UK, Ecole Normale Superieure Paris in France, University of Göttingen in Germany, Karolinska Institute in Sweden and École Polytechnique Federale of Lausanne in Switzerland.
