For me personally, it was clear from the start that I would like to spend my semester in a country where English is my mother tongue and is therefore also spoken outside of the university. Because I am convinced that you can improve your language skills most if you are constantly “forced” to communicate in this language. MicroEDU has made the selection a lot clearer, as my German university as a “free mover ” did not set any limits. With the right information (description, location, fees, requirements, course catalogs), I quickly made the decision to go to York St John University in England. Above all, existing experience reports helped me a lot.
From then on, MicroEDU acted as a constant contact and mediation partner during the entire application process, which made the process much easier for me. First, I was sent an application package, which I then filled out and forwarded to the partner school. Since the courses had to be chosen immediately, almost everything was already done. Only a DAAD language certificate still had to be taken care of, which I could easily hand in later. I received this during a voluntary English course at my home university.
Accommodation
It was immediately clear to me that I would like to be accommodated in a student dormitory for the first time during my stay abroad, for the following reasons: On the one hand, you can immediately make friends and make first contacts and, on the other hand, you no longer have to worry about looking for an apartment, when one has arrived. So I was able to submit an application for a place in the student dormitory with my application. As an international student you can choose between “The Grange” and “Limes Court”. Both dormitories have their advantages and disadvantages and a recommendation can hardly be made. Speaking for the grange:
some kitchens completely refurbished recently
Wireless Internet access
very large, therefore a bit restless, but more contact options
However, I chose the Limes because of the following points:
more modern and a bit “newer” furnished
two bathrooms for five residents of a house (only one in the Grange)
very large kitchen
a bit quieter because it is smaller
Education
From day one I was enthusiastic about the way the university looked. Old and new buildings have merged in an extremely charismatic mix on a clearly laid out university site (approx. 5500 students).
Furthermore, organizational support has been exemplary since arrival. You always had a contact person and knew at all times who to turn to if you had any questions. This was also noticeable when I wanted to swap another module at the end of the orientation week, which worked out smoothly for me. Since I had written more than the three necessary modules to be taken in the Learning Agreement of the German university, an exchange within these modules was possible without contact to Germany and I took the following courses (with exams) during my time:
Marketing and Operations Management (Level 1)
Individual report (3000 words)
Oral Group Presentation
Financial Reporting and Analysis (Level 2)
Multiple choice test (1.5 hours)
Case Study (2000 words)
Strategic Corporate Finance (Level 3)
Case Study (2500 words)
Workshop (2500 words)
According to Act-test-centers, the examination results show that studying in England is very different from studying in Germany(at least compared to my university). The focus here is much more on individual learning with writing homework than on the exams. In addition, all modules consisted of just one lecture and a two-hour interactive seminar per week. Depending on the choice of module, you have to prepare more or less a lot for the seminars in addition to the homework. However, since you only take three modules during the semester, attendance at the university is very limited and the housework is easy to do. With the choice of course, however, you can strongly influence your workload. That’s how I got to know international students who had around 20,000 words to write.
Everyday life and free time
With almost 200,000 inhabitants, York is not one of the largest cities in the country, but certainly one of the most beautiful by far. Only recently York was voted the most visited and most beautiful city in England and I can only confirm this. York is known for its historic buildings, narrow streets and the Minster, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe. York also offers typical English pubs, tea rooms, bars and restaurants enough so that it is often difficult to make a decision. Apart from London, we recommend trips to Scotland (Edinburgh / Glasgow), the Lake District, Manchester / Liverpool and Birmingham. But the small coastal town of Scarborough 50 km away or the larger Newcastle are also worth a visit.
Cost of living
As in any of the countries where English is the mother tongue, studying in England is very expensive. For the university alone (tuition fees + student dormitory) at York St John University, approx. € 7,500. At least you can tell that the students benefit from the high tuition fees, which is worth a lot. In addition to well- equipped lecture halls and seminar rooms, the library is in a super modern condition, which makes working a lot easier. In the entire library there are many public computers for individual work as well as large LED screens to which private laptops can be connected for group work. The same conditions can also be found in the main building of the university.
From my personal experience, in addition to the tuition fees, there are individual expenses, which for me amounted to around 500-600 € per month, but which also allow for a few small trips, shopping trips and visits to restaurants / bars.
Conclusion
One of the negative general impressions is that the “Limes” dormitory was a long way away and you always had to walk about 15-20 minutes to the university and downtown. If you want to prevent this, it is advisable to choose the accommodation “Grange”, which is closer to the city center, or to buy a used bike (“Recycle York”), which I did and have not regretted. A negative aspect of the course was that group work turned out to be very difficult. English students in particular have in some cases downright refused to work with international students or had a completely different (negative) work attitude.
Since the positive impressions predominate, I will briefly highlight the largest ones in relation to the actual study. On the one hand, I have had very good experience with MicroEDU, which has greatly simplified the entire decision-making and application process for me. On the other hand, the support from the university here in England was simply great. There were a number of drop-in sessions at all times with questions about upcoming homework or other things to do with studying. Furthermore, you could book any number of tutorials with each of your professors. The courses themselves were generally all quite interesting, well structured, and easy to follow.
