UK Uni study as ‘home’ student

[Chibalass]

Just a few more comments from a parent looking at uni for kids in a few years,

Re: UK Uni study as ‘home’ student
by captainspoke » Tue Feb 11, 2025 5:37 pm

Another way would be for her to go to uni here, and then do a year abroad. Most schools have exchange programs of some kind (depends on major), so just another option. National uni have partnerships with many leading school around the world, and tho you have to qualify, if accepted you continue to pay tuition here, and tuition there is waived (tho you still need to pay for living expenses, travel, and so on).

The `internationalisation at home` approach is really more comprehensive than before in Japan. As others have written, those English programs in Japan are well planned and internationally open, with lots of connections overseas for a year abroad. Look for the course lists to see range of topics and see how many students are in each program :

Meanwhile in the UK, so much cost-cutting is affecting the student experience hughely:

Cardiff University plans to cut 400 jobs and axe courses
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0k5n0k101lo

Edinburgh University warns staff over funds gap
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd648x1dww8o

[northSaver]

Another consideration - a bit too obvious maybe - is if your daughter actually wants to study abroad. My own children tried hard to get into government universities that offered excellent chances to study abroad in the UK and elsewhere, but in the end neither of them took that option. They were quite happy carrying on what they were doing in their new cities with their new friends. What a wasted opportunity, we thought. I wonder if they'll regret it in the future? Hard to say.

[Tkydon]

Meanwhile in the UK, so much cost-cutting is affecting the student experience hughely:

Cardiff University plans to cut 400 jobs and axe courses
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0k5n0k101lo

Edinburgh University warns staff over funds gap
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd648x1dww8o

Yeah, they just can't get enough international students at the moment, with the state of the post-COVID world economy, to subsidize the local students from UK-Resident tax-paying families

And now they are being run by private for-profit organisations, they are forced to trim their budgets.

I heard the Asian Studies (Japanese) Department at The University of Sheffield will also be impacted by the cuts...

[BrianC]

You could consider other options... This is from 20+ years ago, but my son was born in England, and moved to Japan at age 7, so 2 years in English primary, then the rest in Japanese state schools. He was more or less bilingual, and was keen to go to university in the UK, which we looked at. The cost was a big factor, and in the end he went to Auckland University at what we assessed as around half the cost. The feedback we got was pretty partial, but he seems to have had a good time, and stayed working in New Zealand for around 10 years in total. And if you are really bilingual there are lots of well-paid jobs in Tokyo, particularly assuming you can do other things as well.

[tokyojoe]

Thank you all for your replies and suggestions. Very helpful. As I suspected, I won’t meet any of the standard criteria and I imagine the only UK Unis that might consider my daughter’s case would be the less popular/successful ones. She’s never lived in the UK at any point, never mind studying there. Moving to the UK to establish 3yrs of residency isn’t really an option either. My wife and I have jobs and commitments here and send our daughter to boarding school would be costly and likely too late now.

I looked into this a few years back and from what I can recall attending a boarding school wouldn't get you 'home student' status, I
seem to remember that such a case was explicitly listed as a case that wouldn't get you home status. I seem to recall
the impression that if instead the child was just attending a regular school (e.g. a comprehensive) then the chances were much better,
although I found it hard to find some hard and fast rules. Supposing this was true, one option may be for the child to go
and live with e.g. grandparents for three years attending the local school. This has its own drawbacks of course in terms of
it reducing the family time you will spend together etc. However I found it hard to see any other ways around it if the whole family
cannot move to the UK.

The university fees in the UK even for home students are much higher than the National universities here, but are probably
worth it if you are attending one of the many UK universities in the world's top 50 rankings in terms of opening doors in the future.
As has been stated though, if this is not possible, moving abroad to take a graduate course is another reasonable strategy if the
student is interested in pursuing further studies.

Just to throw a slightly wild final comment out there. I personally think that it is also necessary to consider whether going to university
is necessarily always the best option. There are a number of professions that require a high level of technical knowledge / qualifications
that can only be obtained through university study, and it is also possible to make a case that if the child doesn't have any idea what they want to
do career-wise then going to uni for 3~4 years might be a good way to give them thinking time. But if the child already has some ideas
of what they may want to do, and that something does not require / value a university degree then I think that the child may as well
head off and make a start rather than going to university just for the sake of it...

[RetireJapan]

I personally think that it is also necessary to consider whether going to university
is necessarily always the best option.

Completely agree, especially now. Going into a trade (programming/building/engineering etc.) probably doesn't require uni and is likely to provide a more stable/well paid career in this age of AI.

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

I personally think that it is also necessary to consider whether going to university
is necessarily always the best option.

Completely agree, especially now. Going into a trade (programming/building/engineering etc.) probably doesn't require uni and is likely to provide a more stable/well paid career in this age of AI.

Definitely recommend taking up an apprenticeship in the UK- not left with £50,000 of debt at the age of 22 year old and how many phychologists do we really need in the UK…

[adamu]

Worth mentioning it's much easier to get a work visa in Japan if you have a degree, though.

[TunaSki]

From what I’ve read, ... she must’ve been resident in the UK for at least 3yrs prior to starting Uni. Is there any way around that?

I was in the same situation back in 2002 as I lived in Romania, which was not in the EU, which was the requirement back then (it now is in the EU, and the UK is not, but that's a different story).

In case 20 year old info is useful... At the time the "home" status was decided case by case by each university. I wrote to each of them explaining my situation and the one I eventually attended (Edinburgh) accepted my explanation. However, I was born in the UK, a native speaker, and lived there until I was 12 and was abroad "temporarily" due to my parents work. Your situation sounds a lot less likely to be accepted, but you could at least try.

Universities get a bit of freedom for deciding on home fees.

It’s the SLC which are the heavily strict ones (that only
Applies to people who want to utilize the student loan though)

[Wales4rugbyWC23]

From what I’ve read, ... she must’ve been resident in the UK for at least 3yrs prior to starting Uni. Is there any way around that?

I was in the same situation back in 2002 as I lived in Romania, which was not in the EU, which was the requirement back then (it now is in the EU, and the UK is not, but that's a different story).

In case 20 year old info is useful... At the time the "home" status was decided case by case by each university. I wrote to each of them explaining my situation and the one I eventually attended (Edinburgh) accepted my explanation. However, I was born in the UK, a native speaker, and lived there until I was 12 and was abroad "temporarily" due to my parents work. Your situation sounds a lot less likely to be accepted, but you could at least try.

Universities get a bit of freedom for deciding on home fees.

It’s the SLC which are the heavily strict ones (that only
Applies to people who want to utilize the student loan though)

I am not sure if you can apply for student loans if you are not paying 'home' university fees.