The Biggest 'What If...?'

Everywhere you go you hear people say, “What if no one recognizes the name / quality of a university abroad?”  The fear of getting a degree abroad that will not serve your career aspirations at home, is so very real.  The unknown is often that way.  However, as experts in this area, we are here to open your eyes to a world of top-tier, international higher education that will take you far beyond your competition, both at home and abroad. 

You are right to wonder what the implications of getting a degree from the USA, France, or Sweden may be when you want to have a career in the UK or Singapore, for instance.  However, the types of places we are discussing are the Oxford, Imperial, and NTU of other countries—they are not just universities, they are internationally respected universities.  So do some serious research first. 

American university degrees, in particular, have excellent appeal to Employers the world over.  With over 4,000 accredited universities (Private, Public, and Liberal Arts Colleges) to choose from your chances of getting into a top university are much greater than with the 300+ accredited universities in the UK or Germany.  You have everything to gain by expanding your application pool.

Accreditation, itself, is very important.  If the universities which appeal to you are not recognized by the country in question’s higher education authority, or an internationally recognized higher education authority, then they are not worth your time or money.

We often think of the university’s appeal to others as well.  What will happen when people other than yourself look up your chosen university in relationship to the UK, for example?  It’s great to be motivated by global networks, but the actual strings tying those networks together need to link your international universities of choice with more local networks in order to give you more social capital at home.

A simple exercise worth trying is to go to Google your universities and see what you find.  For example, when I searched for connections between my Swedish graduate school and the UK, loads of interesting things came up.  I merely typed the following: “Gothenburg University and the UK”.  Some of the most interesting connections I discovered were numerous collaborative Master’s Programs in several fields between Gothenburg University and Warwick and Sussex Universities, top 10-20 ranked schools in the UK respectively (according to The Guardian).

I also did an in-country search to see how the Swedes rate and discuss the quality of the education at Gothenburg University.  I found out that it’s a top five university, with the largest student body in Sweden, and that it has enormous international networks which include other top universities and businesses, particularly in North America, Europe, and East Asia.  Sweden has one of the most innovative and cutting-edge education systems in the world, and that positive perception will, in turn, benefit me.

For comparisons’ sake, I also looked up my other graduate school from the USA, the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), to see how it was ranked.  I looked at an American ranking scheme, the U.S. News and World Report Best Colleges and Universities, and a UK ranking scheme, The Times Higher Education World University Rankings.  

The Times said UCSB was 67th best university in the world—out of tens of thousands of universities—whereas it was the 39th best research university in the USA (out of 4,000+ universities) or 13th best Public University in the USA according to U.S. News.  Every ranking system agreed that the University of California system was the best public university system in the USA.  But what does this all really mean? 

Rankings only offer small, numerical values based on sometimes esoteric criteria, to quantify the weight of degrees in the higher education market. This is slowly changing to include non-numerical criteria such as quality of life, diversity of subjects taught, and so on.  In essence, though, other people—those judging you against your peers and themselves—will want to know how your university stacks up to those they are more familiar with in the UK, so the ratings serve you best went you are at the top.  

Regardless of rankings and prestige some future employers and peers will sometimes ask you point blank: “What university did you go to again?  Sorry, never heard of it.  Is it really any good—why didn’t you go to a local/national university?”  We are preparing you to answer those questions, steering you towards top-notch universities and liberal arts colleges that will challenge you to think and learn globally. 

Leave less adventurous people to pontificate about “What if?”—you have an international destiny to develop.