Where can EU citizen study computer science tuition-free? | Hacker News Reader

Where can EU citizen study computer science tuition-free?

12 pointsmasivs11 comments

I'm very close to finishing high school and am wondering where can i study computer science, electronics or similar field in EU countries tuition-free?

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Nordic universities are all tuition-free for EU students. The main problem as a foreigner would be the language. For masters-level study there are many English programs, but for the bachelors level, there are fewer. There are, nevertheless, several of them.

Two examples:

* Roskilde University: http://www.ruc.dk/en/education/full-degree-undergraduate/int...

* Kristianstad University: http://www.hkr.se/en/study-at-hkr/programmes-and-courses/bac...

Also Aarhus University, Denmark (http://cs.au.dk/). If I remember correctly, one of the reasons Google chose to have the V8 JavaScript engine developed in Aarhus was the fact that the CS department there is really good.

They do have a good CS program, but all their bachelor's programs are in Danish, as far as I can tell. For example, the CS bachelor's says Danish in the right sidebar: http://bachelor.au.dk/en/computer-science/cpage/introduction...

Their CS Masters is in English: http://kandidat.au.dk/en/computer-science/

That might not be a problem, but it typically takes at least a year or so for foreign students to gain a level of Danish sufficient to enter a Danish-language program, and you'd need a way to support yourself in the interim.

Both of the swiss federal technology institutes are very good and almost free (about 500 euros per semester) but life in Switzerland can be quite expensive.

I believe Scotland gives free tuition to EU member countries.

For a Bachelors degree if you cant speak the language you can pretty much forget it since as far as I know the UK,Ireland,Scotland all have high US-like tuition costs.

If you can speak the language pretty well, i.e. conversations are no problem and you can read books without difficulty then you can take your pick: Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France or Spain are all basically free (some minor costs but nothing compared to us schools).

What id recommend if you need to learn the language, is go to the country for 3-6 months, take language courses so you can learn the language, and then start studying there.

EDIT: At least in Germany (im guessing its like this in other countries), you have to pass a C1 level language course to be able to study (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Re...)

Two corrections: Scotland has near-zero tuition fees, and the Nordic countries + Switzerland have (some) English-language bachelor's programs.

incorrect

[1] tuition in UK&Ireland is nowhere near US levels. Plus in Ireland at least the fees can be paid for by the state if you meet income criteria

[2] many continental unis have courses instructed in english without any language requirements. Milan Polytechnic is changing all of its courses to english soon (this year or next).

In order to qualify for free tuition, there are a number of other factors to consider besides citizenship.A perios of residency in the specific member state will probably be required first

Spain is cheaper than other countries like Sweden or Denmark, think here the fees for study one year is about 1000 euros but the cost of living is lowest.

But in Spain the computer science work sucks at 95%.

The Internet.

Germany

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