*Today's rate (23.04/2016)
£1= 5,60 zł = 160 yen
Costs and bursaries:
England: (Norwich)
Course costs: up to £9000/year but you can use student finance so you don't have to pay straight away or in some cases at all
Books: max £100/ academic year
Life: I don't go out partying every week but maybe every two weeks and really enjoy nights out in pubs. I usually spend £650/month=> £320ish on accommodation and the rest is everything I earn at my part time jobs (yes, I'm a saving failure) so around £330.
Transportation around the city: bus pass for a year is £100 but I also use my bike which helps me with saving time
Trains: there is a student discount for holders of a special card you need to buy first and then you get 1/3 off from the original price but it's still quite expensive. *(cheap and time consuming alternative=>buses!)
Nights out and alcohol: let's not talk about it... one proper night out for me is £20-30
Student finance: I came to England straight from Poland so no maintenance loan but there is NSP bursary for some foreign students: £3000/year.
Poland: (Warsaw/Katowice)
Course costs: really? None.
Books: many students just copy them from the library but if someone would want to buy them new probably between 200-700zł
Life: everything's cheaper than in England (yay!) so you would spend 1000ish zł/month plus 1000ish zł on social life and food. Between 2000-2500zl/month (Warsaw) and around 1000-1500zł in other places.
Transportation around the city: there are bus passes so probably no more than 800zl/year
Trains: I don't know why I like them so much. In Poland UG students before their 26th birthday get a fabulous discount of 51%! The prices are not very high even without the discount.
Nights out and alcohol: alcohol is way cheaper than in England and a full on night out should cost around 50 zł but can be more...
Scholarships: if you're a good student or have a disability you can receive up to 800ish zł/month.
Japan: (Tokyo)
Course costs: £3000/year for ordinary students or if it's a year abroad from England then £1500ish covered by student finance, thank god.
Books: 4000yen-10000yen
Life: for accommodation I pay 72,000yen/ month, travelling is 40,000yen, social life and food etc are 40,000yen/month which is 152,000yen/month (!) you have to remember that I'm always broke because I travel too much and am generally too carefree. If I wasn't spending so much money on it, I could live like a boss ( very cheap food).
Transportation around the city: some people have bikes, I use the metro which is 200yen/ ride or more but if you live within walking distance from campus then you just made a deal of your life!
Trains: so expensive! Students do get a small discount but to be able to get it you have to print a mysterious piece of paper on campus and take it with you to the ticket office *(cheapish and slightly hellish alternative: night buses!)
Nights out and alcohol: they are secret money black holes. Don't get fooled! I usually spend up to 5,000yen/night (club with everything) but nights out on which I can only spend 2,000 yen exist too.
Scholarships: some people receive JASSO scholarship which is around £300/month but it's only for the lucky guys (not me).
Found this in a library once...
Part time jobs and students:
England: I think at least 50% of students have one. You can earn between £5-10 depending on what kind of job you have. I usually work 8-12 hours/ week at one job that pays around £8/h and 2-4h/week at another one which pays £7/h that leaves me with £316-350/month.
Poland: Not that many students have jobs but from what my friends have told me they usually pay between 6-15zl/hour. If you teach languages or help people with studies then you don't have regular hours but can earn a bit more (20-30zl/h).
Japan: Most students have part time jobs to have some more money for parties etc. I've mostly had language teaching jobs so far but recently started working at Mos burger (Japanese Macdonalds xD). Because of the new job my finances slightly changed but I usually work 4h/week in a language cafe 900yen/h and 10-15h at MOS which is also 900yen/h That should leave me with around 40.000 yen/month.
Dressed up for a job interview xD
England: We always complain that there are not enough contact hours. Usually 3 modules/ term with a lot of self studying to do so officially its 10 hours but you end up spending way more time on the assignments. Soooo much homework for the language classes. Less little marked things to do so its not great when you fail and it's easier to do so. Mostly essay based. Interesting grading system with pass from 40% and the best grade starting from 70%+ which seems very difficult to achieve. You should attend class but what matters most is the final assignment. You get to meet your lecturers on more informal basis which is quite nice. There are less students in each class (9-20) so you can get to know them pretty well and it makes the class discussions more interesting. Everyone has a personal advisor that they can meet if they want to talk about something related to their studies/welfare etc. When it comes to picking modules, depending on your course sometimes you get to pick some from a list of 30ish. However, I wasn't very impressed with the list of choices for my final year. Also taking a PE class is not an option.
Poland: More small tasks with exams at the end but varies. Pass from 60%, 90% is still doable. Exams require reading books and memorising a lot. You have more modules not exactly related to your main course and can only pick a few, the rest is obligatory. When picking subjects, you can try for different groups so it's easier to balance out your timetable. Just like in England there are lectures and seminars in smaller groups. Learning a foreign language is obligatory which I think is pretty good and PE classes seem to be obligatory on most UG courses. Also more contact hours than in England which is 15-25/week. Depending on the lecturer, the grade might depend on many things but still less scattered than Japan.
Japan: Many little things matter, even class presence, homework, little tests etc, pass from 60% which is a "C". They have so many students sometimes I doubt they check everything. More contact hours 15-24h depending on what you choose to take. This year I'm doing a liberal studies course so I have a number of credits I have to take from both Japanese and English modules but I can pick whatever. The module list is very long and varied - classes related to brain and cognition; politics; history; maths. Sleeping in class is not an offence. I've heard some people snore next to me and no one paid any attention to them. I get 9-10,5h of Japanese/ week. Sometimes it's too much because the lecturers don't know what to do with the remaining time but I really enjoy those as we get clear explanations of grammar points and more varied exercises. The lecturers are not concentrating on you that much so it's less stressful. Little tests every class are not very difficult if you studied so it feels like you're rewarded for revising each class and learning new vocabulary.
Japanese class
Campuses and equipment:
England: Every classroom at my uni has a computer and a projector + white board / flatscreen tv and a mic. The rooms are heated and in a good state. The campus looks very sixties and is surrounded by many green surfaces. The main library is not the biggest but quite modern, easy to govern and in general it's my favourite library out of the ones I've been to. Some divisions have their own special computer rooms and libraries. Main library open 24/7 you just need your campus card to enter the building. There's a bigger shop with food and even some home equipment, coffee shops, places to eat lunch but not very cheap, a bank, laundrette, two pubs( cheaper than in the city centre) and a clubbing space ( usually 2-3 club nights/ week).
Poland: There is a main campus with a library and coffee shop but classes tend to be in different buildings, sometimes further apart from each other. The library in Warsaw is well equipped but not as modern as the one at my uni in England. The classrooms seem to be in different states depending on the building in which you have classes and sometimes the equipment doesn't exactly work (quite old).
Japan: A little shop in most of the buildings, one bigger shop with more food, pencils, merch etc, a bookshop, a coffee shop, one huge canteen, main library open till 10pm with a confusing system and annoying rules, little libraries on -1 of every building and studying spaces, computer rooms in random places (the floors vary from -2 to 9 lol). Taller buildings have both lifts and escalators.
View from my old dorm in England
Student life:
England: there are many societies and sports clubs to choose from. They usually meet around 1-3 times per week so you don't have to join just one. Personally, I've been a member of Japan soc, Polish soc and Table football soc. My university organises many events, talks, film screenings so there is always something to choose from.
Poland: the student organisations seem to be more structured and official. Sometimes they help with employability since their events are more related to your major. However, hobby related societies don't really exist which is sad but everyone's busy..studying? Drinking beer?
Japan: many clubs and societies but they require way more attention and time than their English counterparts. Some clubs want you to practice with them every day but more relaxed ones also exist. I get invitations to some talks and conferences through mail but less than in England. There's a huge university festival which lasts 3 days and is very impressive.
Cheerleaders' performance during the Waseda Festival
England: you should start looking for something in September before your last year because some internships are starting to accept applicants at that time. If you're not set on a particular job, finding a whatever one might not be very difficult but if you have something in mind then many people find something up to a year after graduation. Pay is usually best in England.
Poland: similar to England but slightly less chances of getting a well paid job. I have never researched it properly though.
Japan: you have to start looking for a job at the beginning of your last year at university. If you fail, it might be very difficult to find a job because you became "damaged goods". The pay at the beginning is neither great nor terrible. University name helps sometimes.
Special Sumo event on Waseda campus
Time for my little comparison chart!
Please remember that those are just my subjective opinions regarding my time at university!
Y-
amazing/ the best out of those three
¯-
the
second best option, nearly as good but not exactlt
N- maybe they’re all so outstanding it
was a difficult choice but it could also be no good
Categories:
|
Poland
|
England
|
Japan
|
Costs
|
Y
|
N
|
¯
|
Part time jobs
|
N
|
Y
|
¯
|
Academic side
|
Y
|
¯
|
N
|
Campus + equipment
|
N
|
Y
|
¯
|
Future prospects
|
N
|
Y
|
¯
|
* I had a small problem with deciding the order of the academic category here. I picked Poland because it's best value for money in terms of availability of subjects and contact hours. England is not worth as much but you do get most out of your time in class. On the other hand, the Japanese language teaching is the best but other classes are not challenging enough in terms of in class assignments.
I hope you enjoyed this post and see you!
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