Thinking of moving to another country - to study

syncview

syncview

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Lahore, Pakistan.
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Suzuki Alto...yayyy!
So.. I have been thinking for the past few days about this. I want to get into mechanical engineering which has no future in Pakistan - and to top the cake, Pakistan doesn't give me any opportunity to earn something enough that could fund my studies.

My preferred countries would be like Canada, US, Germany and England - since I have relatives there. But I don't really care where I end up, I just want to be something - which is not possible in Pakistan, here it is like either I earn or either I study.

I need you guys inputs on this
 
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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has a excellent engineering program, mechanical and others. I would suggest you look into some lists of U.S. engineering universities, but also if they give scholarships to foreign students. Its a tough pill to swallow to pay U.S. tuition with exchange rates from some countries, so it might not be feasible to go without a scholarship secured. Graduate studies such as Ph.D are almost always compensated as you do work and produce research for the department, but undergraduate studies rarely are unless you are a truly brilliant student.
 
Basically, you're going to get a good education in any of those countries, and in a number of others besides. I would try to decide about A) how you would finance your studies in these countries, and B) whether you will be happy living in the local culture for a few years.

If you have relatives in England then that might not be a bad bet. It can be tough living in a foreign country when you don't know anyone and need to find your way around the rules and bureaucracy (yes Germany, I'm looking at you!). I don't know what the current situation is with foreign students and the new fees being levied on students. I think all foreign students have to/had to pay the full fees. But wait! There is help available! I guess you already know about the British Council? They paid for everything for some guys I met from Botswana who studied Civil Engineering (no, not what you want to do, but the principle is there). http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-funding-your-studies.htm is a good starting point. Whether you want to study engineering in a country that thinks engineering is filthy word is another question. By all reports, Britain is pretty anti-immigration and "Oh my god! Muslim! Terrorist!" at the moment, but maybe people who currently live there can give you more accurate info on that.

Swiss Universitities are really cheap, in comparison, and some courses are taught in English (you need to prove you are capable in the tuition language in addition to the usual course requirements). Have a look at http://www.uzh.ch/index_en.html for example. The Swiss have some very good engineering companies still, and, like Germany, prefer to keep their engineering "local" rather than send the jobs overseas (whether that's something you're concerned with one way or the other, I don't know). The east (German speaking) of the country is pretty racist and anti-foreigner with the exception, to some extent, of the big cities. I understand the west (French speaking) is much more liberal. The South doesn't have many Universities, so you can probably ignore that.
 
RaptorJesus said:
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has a excellent engineering program, mechanical and others. I would suggest you look into some lists of U.S. engineering universities, but also if they give scholarships to foreign students. Its a tough pill to swallow to pay U.S. tuition with exchange rates from some countries, so it might not be feasible to go without a scholarship secured. Graduate studies such as Ph.D are almost always compensated as you do work and produce research for the department, but undergraduate studies rarely are unless you are a truly brilliant student.
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Thanks mate - damn that university is expensive!


NoNeedForAChestWig said:
Basically, you're going to get a good education in any of those countries, and in a number of others besides. I would try to decide about A) how you would finance your studies in these countries, and B) whether you will be happy living in the local culture for a few years.

If you have relatives in England then that might not be a bad bet. It can be tough living in a foreign country when you don't know anyone and need to find your way around the rules and bureaucracy (yes Germany, I'm looking at you!). I don't know what the current situation is with foreign students and the new fees being levied on students. I think all foreign students have to/had to pay the full fees. But wait! There is help available! I guess you already know about the British Council? They paid for everything for some guys I met from Botswana who studied Civil Engineering (no, not what you want to do, but the principle is there). http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-funding-your-studies.htm is a good starting point. Whether you want to study engineering in a country that thinks engineering is filthy word is another question. By all reports, Britain is pretty anti-immigration and "Oh my god! Muslim! Terrorist!" at the moment, but maybe people who currently live there can give you more accurate info on that.

Swiss Universitities are really cheap, in comparison, and some courses are taught in English (you need to prove you are capable in the tuition language in addition to the usual course requirements). Have a look at http://www.uzh.ch/index_en.html for example. The Swiss have some very good engineering companies still, and, like Germany, prefer to keep their engineering "local" rather than send the jobs overseas (whether that's something you're concerned with one way or the other, I don't know). The east (German speaking) of the country is pretty racist and anti-foreigner with the exception, to some extent, of the big cities. I understand the west (French speaking) is much more liberal. The South doesn't have many Universities, so you can probably ignore that.
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Thanks mate!

I'm really looking forward to a European country but the bargains of the 'car' market of the US cannot be ignored specially when you are 'into' cars...lol :p
And you're pretty much right about Britain, the people I know who live there are of the same view. Of course there are exceptions but its a bit too much as they say.

I plan to finance using my savings here and work where ever I end up. And I like changes in cultures, makes life interesting.

Yes I know British Council, I've done O Level and Advanced Level - and while doing so I also worked. Then I got into full time jobs...
 
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Come to think of it, on my last trip to Canada (January 2010) I met some dude from Pakistan ice skating...I think he was studying engineering at University of Toronto.
 
Firecat said:
Come to think of it, on my last trip to Canada (January 2010) I met some dude from Pakistan ice skating...I think he was studying engineering at University of Toronto.
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Yeah, but he might be a resident or citizen. Half our population are immigrants, me included, and even some born here have roots elsewhere.
 
syncview said:
So.. I have been thinking for the past few days about this. I want to get into mechanical engineering which has no future in Pakistan - and to top the cake, Pakistan doesn't give me any opportunity to earn something enough that could fund my studies.

My preferred countries would be like Canada, US, Germany and England - since I have relatives there. But I don't really care where I end up, I just want to be something - which is not possible in Pakistan, here it is like either I earn or either I study.

I need you guys inputs on this
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Hello, I am a fellow Pakistani so I thought I'd provide some input.

I know it's not your preferred choice but have you considered studying in Dubai (UAE)?

I've done my BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering from Heriot-Watt University (Dubai Campus) and you get the exact same degree as the one in Edinburgh campus.
You also have the option to transfer to Edinburgh campus whenever you wish so keeps your options open.

Dubai is also much closer to PAK so perhaps it will be easier to visit family etc. and its easy to own good cars here too :p.

I know studying in Dubai isn't everyones cup of tea but just giving you food for thought!

http://www.hw.ac.uk/dubai.htm
 
I'm a Chinese guy born in Detroit, grew up in Singapore, and now in Adelaide for my last year in Automotive/Mechanical. The main things you need to consider, more than the universities rankings/qualities (which are of course important), are the finances and cultures of the countries you are going to. As for the car prices and etc, that's minor. USA, Europe in general, Australia have internationally recognised engineering courses that you're sure to find. Though I personally wouldn't go to USA any time soon.
 
If you're thinking of Canada, then the University of Toronto is definitely a good university to consider. It has an excellent Mechanical and Industrial Engineering program, and they're also quite a well recognized institution. Moreover, if you want to do some car-related work in this field, UofT has a very successful Formula SAE team, and I'm sure they could set you up with something to do there if you were to be accepted. As for the money issue, the provincial government here in Ontario provides student loans, although you do have to submit an application, and UofT has plenty of scholarship opportunities. My brother recently graduated from UofT with a bachelor's in Business Administration, and paid off nearly half of the tuition through scholarships. However, I don't know of the government's, nor university's, policy for giving money to immigrant students, but Canada is generally a very immigrant-friendly country, so I'd be rather surprised to see them refuse scholarships and/or student loans to immigrants.

University of Waterloo is also said to be a very good engineering school, although maybe not as well recognized as UofT. And just like UofT, they've got a pretty good Formula SAE team.
 
Aye waterloo is pretty good. I have a friend from Waterloo and he has nothing but good things to say about it.
 
If you want to try Texas, the University of Texas at Dallas has an excellent engineering school and a large international student population. The engineering school started as a place or Texas Instruments to get home grown engineers but has grown much beyond that scope. http://www.utdallas.edu/
 
Evel said:
If you're thinking of Canada, then the University of Toronto is definitely a good university to consider. It has an excellent Mechanical and Industrial Engineering program, and they're also quite a well recognized institution. Moreover, if you want to do some car-related work in this field, UofT has a very successful Formula SAE team, and I'm sure they could set you up with something to do there if you were to be accepted. As for the money issue, the provincial government here in Ontario provides student loans, although you do have to submit an application, and UofT has plenty of scholarship opportunities. My brother recently graduated from UofT with a bachelor's in Business Administration, and paid off nearly half of the tuition through scholarships. However, I don't know of the government's, nor university's, policy for giving money to immigrant students, but Canada is generally a very immigrant-friendly country, so I'd be rather surprised to see them refuse scholarships and/or student loans to immigrants.

University of Waterloo is also said to be a very good engineering school, although maybe not as well recognized as UofT. And just like UofT, they've got a pretty good Formula SAE team.
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I doubt the gov't gives loans to international students. As far as I know, to qualify for Ontario Student Assistance Program, you need to be either a resident or a citizen. Also, the fees for international students at any school in Toronto, U of T included are STEEP. Most of the time they're around double the ones for residents/citizens.
 
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