An Overview Universities in the UK

All Students have to apply through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service known as UCAS. The scheme covers over 50,000 programmes of study in over 330 member institutions.

A short guide to higher education in the UK is available on the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) website, and the British Council also produces some useful information for international students on its website www.educationuk.org

The UK has a long history of welcoming international students to study in its universities and colleges. In the UK there are 1.8 million full-time and part-time students in higher education, with over 300,000 international students, with numbers increasing annually. Useful general information, including contact details for universities and colleges, is available from the UCAS website

There are people at each university and college who are there to help while you are in the UK. Many organise a programme of events before you start your course to welcome you. Social and cultural activities are run for international students throughout the year. Universities and colleges also provide a variety of clubs and societies. Information about the subject provision offered by all universities and colleges within the UCAS scheme is available on www.ucas.co.uk

Before applying you need to think through the following:

The admissions tutor for each course you have applied for (a maximum of 5 courses in total) will look at your UCAS application form, and particularly your personal statement, to make sure that you can meet the entry requirements by the time you start your course. The requirements may include academic and professional qualifications, such as exam passes in stated subjects and particular grades. They may also include specified work experience or even financial or medical conditions.

You may be qualified by the time you fill in your application form or in the process of gaining the qualifications. In the latter case, Universities will most often give you a conditional offer.

You can apply for entry with credit (to start a course at year two, three or four), but you must have the university's agreement that it will consider you for this before you fill in a UCAS application form.

UK qualifications are accepted and highly regarded throughout the world. However, you should check that employers and professional organisations in your country (or the country where you want to work) will accept the course and qualification you have chosen and the course content covers the areas of the subject that you want to study and that you need in order to follow your chosen career.

Make sure that you have answers to all the questions that are important to you before you choose where to live and the college or university at which you want to study.

You will be asked for certificates showing that you have passed all the exams that you need for entry to your course and also certificates of your qualifications in English; you will need either the originals or certified photocopies.

• a valid passport
• a letter from the institution that confirms you have been accepted unconditionally for a full-time course
• evidence that you have enough money to pay for your course.

Your application through UCAS offers some significant advantages for international students:

Regarding part-time work as a student – check out this website.

If you are British but live outside the UK or you are an EU national you may be able to get a student loan and other help with your fees. If you would like to know more about the financial support that you might be able to get, you should contact the Student Support Division of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) at the address/telephone number below:

Student Support Division

Tel: +44 (0) 0845 077577

If you are a an EU student You should contact the EU Customer Services Team ad the DfES Higher Education Branch at the telephone number below for general information about fees:

Mowden Hall, Staindrop Road, Darlington DL3 9BG

Telephone: +44 (0) 141 243 3570

You must apply online. To do so, you will need to go to www.ucas.co.uk You can then register and have access to the appropriate online application form.

Your school, college or local British Council office can help you with your application form. You can also contact UCAS or the admissions tutors for the courses you have chosen at anytime for help. The UCAS website has all the information you should require to make an application.

The reference on your application form should be completed by someone who knows you well enough to write about you but is not a member of your family, a relative or a friend. It needs to be a full written reference talking largely about your academic merits. If you are at school or college, or you have left recently, you should ask your head teacher, principal, teacher or tutor. If you are a mature student ask a responsible person who knows you to be your referee, such as a senior colleague in employment or voluntary work.

Students from EU countries

UCAS should have received your application form by 15 January, for entry in the same year. The closing date for applications to Oxford and Cambridge, and for applications to medicine, dentistry and veterinary science/medicine is usually mid-October the prior year, for entry in the next year. Forms received after these dates will be treated as late. Any application forms received after the end of June will go through the Clearing process.

Students from outside the EU

If you are a student of any nationality applying from a non-EU country, UCAS will process your application and send copies to the universities and colleges you have chosen.

If you think that you may be assessed as a 'home' student (UK or EU) for fee purposes, you should have applied by mid-January, exactly the same as if you were applying from an EU country.

If you are a student from a non-EU country wishing to apply to one choice only, and you already have the necessary qualifications, you may apply at any time in the applications cycle, although early applications to top universities are encouraged. However, before completing an application form you should contact UCAS or your chosen university or college for advice.

Any applications received after the end of June will go through the Clearing process. UCAS run a special service called Clearing in August and September. This allows students to find a suitable place on courses which are not yet full.

There are special rules for Art & Design courses and students for these must seek advice. Although the application process is also through UCAS there are crucial differences and deadlines.

Your completed application form is sent to each of the universities and colleges that you list, who will make a decision after carefully considering your application. UCAS will send you information on how they process your application and tells you what you need to do at each stage.

The universities and colleges decide whether or not to offer you a place and then send their decisions to UCAS who will then tell you and ask you to accept or decline the offers you have received and will inform the universities and colleges what you have decided.

Dr. Barbara Schaetti, who has done extensive research on TCK identity development, explains that, particularly upon repatriation, TCKs “wake up to the fact that they are different from others.” She calls this an “encounter experience.” If they understand that it is their international experiences that make them different they can come to grips and be comfortable with their differences.

Transition Cycle

Every first year college student is making the transition to a new life stage as an independent adult, but global nomads and foreign students have the cultural adjustment to make as well for even the home country culture can be foreign to TCKs in many respects. Understanding what takes place in each of the stages not only prepares them but helps them to appreciate that it is normal and temporary.

Involvement Stage– this is life as the TCK knows it. She is involved in the community, has friends, roles, responsibilities, and feels a sense of belonging.

Leaving Stage – begins the moment she is aware of an upcoming change. For the college-bound TCK this could be from the time she is making college visits to application time or to the decision time. There is a separating and distancing from roles, responsibilities and relationships. There are mixed emotions – sadness mixed with anticipation.

Transition Stage – starts the moment TCKs arrive in their new environs. This stage is characterised by utter chaos. Everything is new and different. There are no routines or structures in place.

Entering Stage – begins the moment the TCK either consciously or unconsciously decides she is going to settle in and become a part of this new place. Feelings of vulnerability, self-doubt, anxiety, and ambiguity may still be hanging on from the transition stage, but she is committed to sticking it out and making it work.

The high mobility lifestyle of a global nomad means there is a lot of separation and loss. When we lose people, things and places that are important to us we need to grieve over them. Allowing grief to run its course is considered ‘good grief.’ When TCKs can put a name on their loss, spend time with it, and mourn over it, they can come to closure and move forward. Being intentional with their good-byes helps confront the losses.

Relationships

The most common complaint of TCKs at college is feeling like they don’t belong, don’t fit in, can’t connect with their peers. There are many reasons for these disconnects – having no point of reference for one another, lack of shared experiences, they build their relationships completely differently - but they need to find commonalities. They can be reminded that they are all going through the first year experience together.

The Good News

Not every TCK is going to have a difficult time making the adjustment to college/university. In fact, because they are used to change they often tend to fare better than many of their domestic peers. But for those who are not prepared, it can be difficult to recover from the unexpected challenges. Advance preparation can significantly ease the adjustment process and allow these wonderfully gifted students to use their international experiences to make the most of the college years and beyond.

*Suggested reading on TCK identity development can be found in Raising Global Nomads, by Robin Pascoe.

The Global Nomad’s Guide to University Transition is a guide book to help students who have been living outside their “passport” countries understand what takes place in re-entry and/or transition and gives them the tools and strategies they need to not only survive but to thrive in the adjustment.