Compass
The guide
2
The countries, in full
The places students actually argue about: what only each one gives you, what it genuinely costs, what admissions weighs — and who should go somewhere else instead.
19 countries. Each page states what it costs you before what it gives you, and names who should go somewhere else instead.
Showing: Every field
- KazakhstanCentral Asia — Almaty, Astana, and the system most readers of this guide are already insideThe option a guide like this usually refuses to write about: staying, paying a fraction of the cost, and leaving later with a degree already in hand.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside
- UzbekistanCentral Asia — Tashkent, and the region's fastest-growing set of foreign branch campusesThe region's fastest-changing system: foreign universities have opened campuses here, so a British or Korean degree can now be taken without leaving.Money, admissions, and 1 city inside
- GeorgiaThe Caucasus — Tbilisi, and a system built around English-taught medicineThe most accessible route in this region into an English-taught medical degree, at a cost no European medical school comes close to.Money, admissions, and 1 city inside
- United StatesNorth America — Boston, New York, the Bay Area and 50 states of variationOdds modelledThe deepest research funding and the widest aid on earth, wrapped in the highest sticker price and the least predictable visa.Money, admissions, and 4 cities inside
- United KingdomEurope — London, and strong universities spread across the countryThe fastest route to a respected degree: three focused years, one subject, decided almost entirely on academics.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside
- Hong KongAsia — a city-state on China's south coastOdds modelledEnglish-taught, globally ranked universities inside Asia's financial capital, with scholarships that actually reach international students.Money, admissions, and 1 city inside
- SingaporeSoutheast Asia — a city-state at the tip of the Malay PeninsulaAsia's most orderly place to study: English-speaking, safe, research-heavy — and it expects something back.Money, admissions, and 1 city inside
- GermanyCentral Europe — Berlin, Munich, and a dense network of public universitiesThe cheapest serious degree in the developed world: public universities charge no tuition, including for international students.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside
- ItalySouthern Europe — Milan, Turin, Bologna, Rome and dozens of ancient universitiesOdds modelledThe cheapest realistic route into Western Europe for a family without money — tuition scales to income, and regional scholarships pay you to study.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside
- NetherlandsNorthwestern Europe — Amsterdam, Delft, Eindhoven, RotterdamThe easiest English-speaking landing in continental Europe: hundreds of English bachelor's degrees and a country that already runs in English.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside
- CanadaNorth America — Toronto, Waterloo, Vancouver, MontrealNorth America with a visible path to staying: study, then work, then permanent residence, on published rules.Money, admissions, and 3 cities inside
- South KoreaEast Asia — Seoul and the industrial belt around itOdds modelledA full government scholarship that pays for a language year, tuition and living costs — aimed squarely at students from countries like ours.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside
- United Arab EmiratesThe Gulf — Dubai and Abu Dhabi, three hours from Central AsiaOdds modelledWestern universities' campuses and a tax-free job market, close to home — with residence tied to your employer.Money, admissions, and 1 city inside
- SwitzerlandCentral Europe — Zurich, Lausanne, GenevaWorld-class research at low tuition, gated by the hardest admission and the highest cost of living in Europe.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside
- PolandCentral Europe — Warsaw, Kraków and a large network of public universitiesThe best ratio of cost to opportunity in the European Union for a student from this region: an EU degree, a familiar culture and a short trip home.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside
- TürkiyeBetween Europe and Asia — Istanbul, Ankara, and a scholarship programme aimed at this regionA fully funded degree at a strong technical university, in a language family half of our readers already know, an hour and a half from home.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside
- ChinaEast Asia — Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and a scholarship system aimed squarely at this regionThe largest funded-study offer directed at Central Asia anywhere, inside the research and manufacturing system most likely to shape the next twenty years.Money, admissions, and 3 cities inside
- JapanEast Asia — Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, where national universities charge everyone the same feesFar cheaper than its reputation, with government scholarships that cover everything — and a job market that does not open without the language.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside
- IndiaSouth Asia — Bangalore, Hyderabad, and a technology sector that hires globallyEnglish-language technology and pharmaceutical education at the lowest cost on this list, inside the industry that supplies much of the world's software work.Money, admissions, and 2 cities inside