Planning your studies abroad

Planning your studies is like planning your life. Some may say it may or may not coincide. But the best you can do is to make a wise decision to follow your aspiration in the career you choose. This lets you be the best you can be in any realms of activities for a better future for yourself.

Planning your studies is more or less like doing a SWOT analysis on yourself and your circumstances. This always helps you make the best and optimum solutions in life. For the same we would like to enumerate a few points to be considered while choosing a career and a wise decision to pursue your education abroad.

• Get to know yourself and the education structure you need:

  The best way to make a wise decision in choosing education abroad, is to analyze one self and then look for the best options. By doing so, you get a clear picture on what exactly your priorities are going to be, budget, aspirations, understanding if your existing education would match with your future academic decisions, your career goals etc.

• Set your goals and expectations right with education abroad:

  Mostly people pursue foreign educations with the hopes of landing in a high flying global career, the moment they graduate. But in reality that is not the situation and of course the blood, sweat and tears you shed for the education pays off but the circumstances in which they pay off needs to be highly evaluated. This can depend on the university one may choose, specialization, host country, its current regulations etc.

• Knowing what you need to learn:

  Once you are in a position to comprehend the above factors, one always needs to decide what to learn, their specializations and the schedule within which they want to complete such studies etc. There are always flexible options for the students to make the best choices either through the consultants or the university admission team. This will enable them to choose a right platform, like whether they want to choose a pathway course, or a direct academic course, an internship or an exchange program, distant education program, one year graduation program etc.

• Gearing up for the best:

  Once these factors are considered, the candidate gets to decide the best optimum solution for their education abroad. For the same they need to come up with a detailed plan of action along with a personal study plan that projects a structure for setting the routines, jobs and education while pursuing and living abroad. This can be called as PSP in short.

• Forging ahead with priorities:

  With international educations, you are always in a challenging situation, where things may work and may not. The advice is to be geared up and take things as they come. Especially in case of education you have the option to be in the moment, enjoy the serene nature of an exotic place while keeping your priorities and education commitments in the radar. This kind of consistency can always lead to a successful completion of a chosen course and pave your way for a bright career.

Determine your goals and select the best option

Determining your exact requirement with foreign education is a prime key to unlock a rewarding career based on your interests and aspirations. For the same you need to take time, consider your priorities, set your long term and short term goals, choose the best options available, be the best you can be and learn. The international educations are always based on the preset goals of the candidates. This can vary with students, their background, budget, aspirations, motives and their skill sets.

Setting goals and consistent monitoring is always an essential factor that helps you in achieving your objectives or targets. Such goals provide you an opportunity to measure your progress and strategize the moves accordingly. The foreign education goals set by the candidates can majorly vary from enhanced cross cultural skills, core learning within an exotic environment and socializing. At times, highly matured candidates focus on objectives like global understanding and will be motivated to learn more about the various international businesses you can come across during your career.

Such goal based learning for international education can help the candidate in earning different outcomes which includes:

• Specific learning in one discipline
• Exposure to an exotic culture and their education system
• Language proficiency
• Practical research techniques
• Development of international contacts with relevance to one’s choices
• Complete autonomy and independence
• Confidence
• Practical knowledge
• Flexibility
• Awareness of global issues
• Inter cultural competence
• Interest in NGO’s and other community services
• Awareness of one’s own values and culture

Financing your studies

Financing you education abroad can be a tedious task if not planned well. For the same, as a student you need to highly prioritize on academic and non academic expenses. Create a budget and enhance the numbers with limits that your future wallet might be able to cash out. But also there are other extensive methods and options by which student can fund for their higher education’s abroad. Though the student may be able to rationalize such expenses as an investment for the future, still finding the money for education abroad could get a little tricky and difficult at times.

• Scholarships:

  This can be categorized as free money. Its literally free, since such funds for educations abroad availed by the students doesn’t have to be paid back. Scholarships are likely to be re instated every academic year by the concerned association or party. All students need to do, is to meet the set credentials stipulated for such scholarships and apply at least 12 months prior to such education services. The concerned board or people will go through such credentials and applications to ensure if the student is qualified for their scholarship and soon the same will be issued in case of the later.

• Education Grants:

  Certain universities provide student grants for educations which is also not repayable. Such grants are mostly issued by the governments of the host country. Under education grants, at times the student might have to enter into a contract with the host government to work with them for a few years after the studies in their relevant field of education.

• Education loans or student aids:

  This is what mostly students follow for financial assistance. For the students, they can easily avail education loan under certain repayment and guarantee stipulations from any reputed banks or financial institutions. This kind of financing is the quickest form of funding for education abroad and will always have an affordable repayment option after the student educations.

• Fellowships and assistantships:

  Under this scheme, a graduate student, who may be eligible under certain criteria’s for a fellowship can undertake a specialization in certain field of study or a research with a particular university abroad. Student wouldn’t have to suffer any financial burden for such educations abroad.

• Forging ahead with priorities:

  With international educations, you are always in a challenging situation, where things may work and may not. The advice is to be geared up and take things as they come. Especially in case of education you have the option to be in the moment, enjoy the serene nature of an exotic place while keeping your priorities and education commitments in the radar. This kind of consistency can always lead to a successful completion of a chosen course and pave your way for a bright career.

Apply and complete the post acceptance requirements

With proper guidance from a consultant or an agent with a university, the application process to get the admission for a student to pursue their higher education abroad can be a walk in the park. But generally, taking care of the application process at the earliest is the best way to be on the safer side. This way, it enables you to attain the acceptance letter sooner and will help you get enough time to gear up for your travel.

As soon as you get a note of acceptance from the university, give a pat on your back, you are in. Now comes the hasty part where in all the essential travel documents and etiquettes needs to be lined up. It’s going to be a wild ride doing all this stuff together, but in the end it will all be quiet worth it.

The post acceptance process starts by having a valid passport, student visa, insurance, tickets, booking accommodations, availing student loans etc. For the essential details with relevance to a specific country, you must go through the government website of the chosen country to get more and detailed info. Also student needs to ensure that the admission letter is issued in accordance to a date where the student have sufficient room to process the visa and get it stamped in the passport.

Even the university admission offices can also help you go through various travel documents and the other necessities to be compiled, without any hiccups.

Complete Pre departure checklist and Post travel Requirements

Students gearing up to travel abroad for education, be it the first time or second, the essential pre departure check list needs to be followed to ensure that you end up safe and secured before you start a life time adventure with your career, education, dreams and aspirations.

• Passport
• Visa/Entry docs
• Travel arrangements : Flights, trains etc- 3 months prior to the journey
• Copy of your records with originals
• Complete online application and signed copy of the program contract.
• Fill out health screening docs
• Attend general orientation for pre departure
• Travel and stay back insurance during the course
• Financial aid
• Accommodation bookings details
• Reference contacts in the host country
• Pick up arrangements while at the airport to the accommodation.