MicroEDU and the Application Process
The support provided by MicroEDU I found to be very positive. Of course, there are sometimes ambiguities and a little waiting time, but the advisors always know who you are and also ask exactly if information is missing. The application process regarding the University of Roehampton is quite simple but paper-heavy. Nevertheless, I found it nice that you not only sat in front of a screen and clicked on fields, but could actually fill out an application by hand. You will quickly receive feedback if documents are missing or incorrect – and also with regard to the application status. During the whole time MicroEDU gets in touch sporadically and asks about your own well-being and any questions you may have – a really great service, for which I am very grateful! Visit existingcountries.com to get information about vocational training in Germany.
The University of Roehampton
A campus university in south London with lots of green spaces and small cafes, shops and sitting areas. The university has set itself the task of growing vegetables and co. And only selling its own products in a unicafé. For the otherwise quite “generous” England when it comes to environmental protection and Co. , a real sensation. The buildings are all named by name and there are maps hanging everywhere so that you can quickly find your way around. The university can be easily reached from almost anywhere by long-distance bus, underground or train, followed by a short bus ride. There is also free parking in the street (which is quickly occupied depending on the time of day) or you can buy a day parking permit for a few pounds (there are only a small number of them here too!). The library has long opening hours and offers great service and great facilities. Online access to archives and journals is also much easier and more numerous than in Germany. This is the right address for research. There are various group work rooms in the library itself – but it is usually normal to be able to talk, eat and drink in the other areas as well.
The “Children’s Literature” course
Qualitatively as well as quantitatively, you get a completely different kind of education here. The lecturers and coordinators for this department are incredibly nice, enthusiastic and helpful. Right from the start you feel super comfortable and you can come to them with any question. The introduction is not as detailed and clear as you know it from the very detailed planned time in Germany, but since there are only about 15 people in my course and the overall atmosphere is much more personal and familiar, you still find yourself very quickly.
There are only two-hour seminars in the master’s course that are characterized by group discussions – that is, you sit in a circle of chairs or tables and talk freely about the topics. Even if it doesn’t seem like much at first, only having two or three courses per week, the further workload is very time-consuming – and since you can’t “hide” in the seminars, it is also strongly recommended that you really talk about the topics – and rework, otherwise you can quickly get into embarrassing situations.
The course is divided into trimesters (autumn, spring, summer) – with a full-time student taking three courses in autumn, two in spring (one of which is not a course, but an individual preparation for the master’s thesis) and in summer only the Must write a master’s thesis. In autumn as in spring there is a compulsory course and then two to three further courses from which you can freely choose. What is special about the course at the University of Roehampton is that you can take a course in creative writing for children’s and young people’s books and even do your master’s thesis creatively if you meet certain criteria.
Costs
Studying in England is of course associated with much higher costs than in Germany. In London in particular, it is almost impossible to find affordable, reasonable accommodation to get – and the student residences do not actually offer an affordable solution for this. Since I went to England with my partner and he is doing his PhD in Southampton, we decided to move there. I commute from there to London twice a week (111 km) and am cheaper and just as time-consuming as most of my fellow students who live in a kind of closet in a suburb of London and still travel around an hour and a half. But if I had moved to England alone, I would certainly have preferred the option of living on campus: the student accommodation is clean, you are on site and you don’t have to spend hours on expensive public transport and you don’t have to deal with things like electricity providers and Co. beat around. Accommodation offices that help you find an apartment in the Greater London area.
I had to buy a lot of books for my course in particular – but here too there are various solutions to save money: Libraries, libraries, used copies from the Internet. However, since we work very intensively with the books and content, I prefer to paint something and that’s why I bought them.
