The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (which is usually shortened to just the UK or United Kingdom) is a political union made of up of four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. England, Scotland and Wales share the island of Great Britain, which lies just off the northwest coast of continental Europe. The fourth country, Northern Ireland, is a portion of another island, which is split between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, an independent country, in the south. The UK also has overseas territories such as Bermuda and Gibraltar.

Why UK

10 Reasons to Study in the UK

1. High quality education

UK universities have an impressive international reputation and rank among the best in the world – did you know that four of the global top ten are in the UK? Research carried out by UK universities also impacts our lives every day, and is internationally renowned for its excellence. By studying in the UK, you’ll be immersing yourself in centuries of high quality academia.

2. International students are welcomed

The UK has a long history of welcoming international students to study at its universities, and those who decide to study in the UK will be rubbing shoulders with some of the brightest minds from all corners of the globe.

You will get the chance to mix, meet and interact with over 200,000 international students from all over the world, learning more about different walks of life in a place of contrasts and culture.

3. Variety of courses

UK’s course search showcases the wide variety of courses available for international students to choose from, whatever your age, ability or interest. If you wish to study subjects such as business, alongside hospitality and tourism in a dual honours degree, you can!

4. High standards of teaching

UK universities are inspected regularly by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education to ensure that they maintain the high standards of learning which are expected. As a student you will get the opportunity to be taught by the world’s leading academics and to be creative and develop skills sets and confidence.

5. Shorter courses

Most undergraduate courses in the UK take three years to complete, and shorter courses means a quicker graduation and less money spent on things such as tuition and living expenses. Two-year degrees are an increasingly popular option, whilst most Two-year degrees last just one year.

6. Scholarships and funding

All UK universities have multiple scholarship opportunities for students each academic year. Whether you have outstanding academic achievement or need that extra support to get through the academic year, universities will try their best to support you via funding (if eligible).

7. The UK is an interesting place to live

With a mix of cosmopolitan cities and countryside villages, the UK is full of historical landmarks, famous music festivals, widely varied cuisine and amazing events to keep you entertained throughout the duration of your studies.

8. Work while you study

International students who study a full-time undergraduate or postgraduate degree course at a recognised university are allowed to work part-time during term for up to 20 hours a week and full-time during the holidays.

9. High rate of employability

Employers want high quality graduates who have specific skill sets, including effective, critical, and creative thinking skills. UK education is recognised by employers, universities and governments worldwide. Academic standards are of high prestige and the education will provide you with a solid foundation to boost your potential for having a higher salary and finding exactly what job you want.

10. Develop excellent language skills

The English language is of crucial importance in today’s global business arena. Employers want people with a grasp on English and there is no better way for you to learn English than to learn it in the country of its origin. You can immerse yourself and learn to live, work, and think in the English language, enhancing your employment prospects.

Interesting Facts About UK

The United Kingdom, popularly known as Great Britain, or simply as the UK, is one of the most Influential, powerful, and richest countries in the world. It is an amazing piece of land that is rich in history and facts, some of which are yet to be discovered. From the natural beauty to the people, technological advancement, sports, no one can ever have enough of the UK. To learn more about Britain including some of the surprising and interesting facts about the UK, here are some of the fun facts about the country.

• Although the UK is a large country covering about 93,600 square miles, nowhere in it is more than 75 miles from the sea.
• The British drink over 163 million cups of tea daily, about 20 times the number of cups consumed by Americans.
• Although Britain has been involved in many wars lasting decades, it has also been involved in the shortest war. The Anglo-Zanzibar War fought in 1896 lasted only 38 minutes.
• The UK has the highest rate of obesity in the world with almost 25% of the British adults being obese.
• The accent of the UK changes noticeably every 25 miles.
• In the UK, it is illegal for anyone to die in the Houses of Parliament.
• The Queen, Elizabeth II, has visited over 115 countries despite not having a passport.
• In the UK, you can rent mourners to fill your funeral. The service is referred to as “Rent a Mourner” service.
• York, Northern England is not only the most haunted city in the UK but also in the world. The city has recorded more than 500 cases of ghostly encounters.
• The UK has the shortest scheduled flight in the world. The flight connecting the tiny islands of Westray and Papa Westray lasts only two minutes.
• Soccer got its start in England when a skull of a Danish warrior was unearthed by Anglo-Saxon farm workers. They kicked the skull around to show their anger and amuse themselves. The early soccer was known as “Kick Dane’s head.”
• One can be jailed for life if they placed a postage stamp with the Queen’s head upside down. That is considered as treason.
• The UK was the first country to allow for the creation of babies using DNA of three people
• Almost 25% of all women in the UK were named Mary in 1811.
• The US eggs are illegal in the UK because they are washed. and the British eggs are illegal in the US because they are not washed.
• More than 3,000 people in the UK were hospitalized in 1999 for tripping over a laundry basket.
• Over 6,000 people are hurt or die in Britain annually for tripping over their trousers or falling downstairs while putting them on.
• The British Navy used Britney Spear’s songs to scare away the Somali pirates along the coast of Africa.
• Queen Victoria survived about seven assassination attempts
• The UK has the third-highest rate of heart attack in Europe. It ranks just below Ireland and Finland.
• Kate Middleton is a cousin to the first president of the US, George Washington, and American World War II hero, General George Petton.
• London has the highest number of languages (300) than any other country in the world
• Of all countries that celebrate Independence Day, 58 are independent of the UK, the highest by any country.
• The most common cause of death for men less than 50 years old in the UK is suicide.
• The average age for a first kiss in the UK is 15.
• The 16th-century law in the UK forbade wife beating after 2100 hrs, simply because the noise disturbed people’s sleep.
• Death penalty was outlawed in the UK following the wrongful execution of a man for killing his wife and daughter in 1950.
• Children over 5 years old can ingest alcohol at their home or on private property in the UK.
• In the UK, the Queen sends personalized birthday cards to those celebrating their 100th birthday every year.
• Windsor Castle in Berkshire is the oldest royal residence in the world.

UK EDUCATION SYSTEM

The Compulsory Education in UK

Key Stage 1

This stage includes pupils at the primary school aged 5 to 7 years old. Basically, during the key stage 1, kids are introduced to some of the most basic knowledge on subjects like the English language, Mathematics, History, Physical Education, Geography, History and Music. During the first year of this stage, the structure of the curriculum contains the Phonic screening, a short assessment of kids’ ability to decode and understand phonics properly. Typically, the student will speak loudly to his teacher a list of 40 words. At the end of this stage (same as in each of them), these pupils will sit for an examination aiming to measure their development in English, Maths and Science.

Key Stage 2

Between 7 to 11 years pupils will be in the second Key Stage of the compulsory education. Now the curriculum aims to move them further in gaining a bit more knowledge on core subjects. At the end of this stage, they will be tested in the following subjects

• English reading
• English grammar, punctuation and spelling
• Mathematics
• Science

In English and Mathematics, the testing will be done through national assessment tests, while the teacher will independently assess the level of improvement of each student in Science.

Key Stage 3

Pupils aged 11 to 14 are in the third stage of compulsory education. To a certain degree, this period of their education is very important because only a few years later they will sit for the GCSE national qualification. The curriculum during this stage of education will also contain new subjects at which students are supposed to get some basic knowledge before moving any further in the upcoming stages of education. The subjects learned in Key Stage 3 are English, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, Art and Design, Music, Physical Education, Modern Foreign Languages, Design and Technology and Computing. At the end of the Key Stage 3, some students may take their GCSE or other national qualifications.

Key Stage 4

The final stage of the compulsory education, the Key Stage 4 lasts from the age of 14 to 16. This is the most common period of time for students to undertake the national assessment tests that will lead them to take a GCSE or other national qualifications.

The compulsory national curriculum at this stage contains the “core” and “foundation” subjects.

These are the “core” subjects taught at the Key Stage 4:

• English
• Mathematics
• Science

And these are the “foundation” subjects taught at the Key Stage 4:

• Computing
• Physical Education
• Citizenship

Additionally, schools in UK are obliged to offer one of the following subjects during this stage of education

• Arts
• Design and Technology
• Humanities
• Modern Foreign Languages

The Higher Education System in the United Kingdom

In particular, the UK higher education is valued all over the world for its renowned standards and quality. Its higher education’s prestige it also emanates from its graduates’ work afterward. Many eminent people in many different areas whose work reached global recognition came out of British universities. Some of these universities and other higher education providers are ranked at the top among universities in the world. The UK capital city, London, not by accident, is considered to be the world’s capital city of higher education. With its four universities being ranked in the world’s top ten, London has the highest number of top worldwide ranked universities per city.

By definition, the UK higher education is the level of education that follows the secondary school at the hierarchy of educational system in the UK. When the high school is over, Britons have to sit in a standard examination, which makes them eligible or not to continue their education in the higher level of education.

In the UK education system in contrast to the US higher education, there is a difference between college and university. While in the US there is no distinction between college and university with most of the people referring to a higher education provider as a college, in the UK this is not the case. Here, a college is a Further Education institution which prepares its students to earn degrees, while a university is licensed HE institution so, at the end of it, students will gain a degree.

Studying in the UK as an International Student

If you’re an international student, you must point out that not all higher education providers in the UK are referred to as a university. This issue is regulated by law. As this official regulation states, a higher education institution can be labeled as a university under these circumstances:

• If it gets an approval by the Privy Council under Further and Higher Education Act 1992
• If it gets an approval under the provisions of the Companies Act 2006.

As an international student coming from countries other than the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, you must know that you’ll need a student visa to study in the UK. If you’re aged 16 and you’re a resident of one of these countries you can apply for a Tier 4 visa (General student), the official student visa in the UK. Prior to this, you want to make sure you’ll have money to finance your stay there during your studies. When applying for a visa you’ll need to show you have enough money to cover your course tuitions and other expenses.

Most undergraduate education in the UK education system (other than the University of Buckingham and BPP University College, both private institutions) is state-financed with some top-up fees to cover costs. Those who study in the UK know of the hierarchy within the universities. In the British school system, there is The Russell Group, which is a network of 24 British public research universities, contains some of the most prestigious universities in the country. This prestigious group includes universities such as the University of Birmingham, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and the University of York. All of these are well-known universities and many people, both citizens of the UK and international students, aspire to attend university at one of these schools.

The UK Education System Level of Courses

Based on the actual education regulations in the UK education system, the Higher Education comprises these levels of courses:

Postgraduate courses that lead to a Doctorate, a Master’s degree (Taught or Research), Postgraduate diplomas, postgraduate certificates of education (PGCE) and professional degrees. To enter this level, it is usually required to have a first degree (Bachelor).

Undergraduate courses which include a wide range of first degrees (Bachelor’s): honours and ordinary degrees, qualified teacher status, enhanced first degrees, intercalated degrees (first-degree students in specific study fields may interrupt their ongoing studies and spend a year studying a field related to their major study subject).

Other undergraduate courses: Foundation degrees, SVQ, NVQ, Higher National Diploma HND (or equivalent), NHC (or equivalent) etc.

An undergraduate course it usually takes 3 years to finish, while Scotland makes an exemption because it takes 4 years to finish an undergraduate course. The higher education in the UK education system is having an extended number of universities that are offering 4-year undergraduate courses, also known as “sandwich courses”. This program includes one year in a workplace, usually in your third year.

Some British universities offer fast-track programs where you can obtain a Master’s degree at the undergraduate level. By contrast to traditional undergraduate levels, students in these programs can attend an additional year of studying instead of taking a Bachelor degree and then admit to a Master program. Besides, it costs much less than usual 3-year undergraduate courses, it’s normally much intense because there are shorten holiday breaks and the schedule is heavy.

Some of the more prestigious universities in UK offer postgraduate degrees. If schools offer postgraduate degrees, they offer Master’s Degrees (typically one year, sometimes two years if your degree is research-based) and/or Doctorate degrees (three-year degrees). These are only available if you have obtained a bachelor’s degree at an accredited university (not necessarily one in England).

In the United Kingdom education system, most syllabi are set by the universities which are offering them and are not controlled by the government or certain British educational institution. The only exception to this is teacher education programs, which the government has a lot of say over. The British government has established the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) to maintain those standards. Most countries have specific regulations for their teachers, so this isn’t any different than studying teaching in your home country. Because of their strict regulations and high standards for teacher education programs, the UK is considered to have some of the best teacher education programs in the world.

Even though the syllabi are set by universities, the Office for Fair Access (OfFA) in the British school system, has a lot of say on the admission procedures of each university. This office was created so that everyone who wishes to attend university in UK has the ability to do so. They also promote fair access to higher education, even for those who are attending university as international students. Fair access also includes those of different cultures, different races, different nationalities, and those who have disabilities.

Student Visa Process

 System(PBS), the application is simplified further and one has to achieve 40 points to be eligible to acquire the Student Visa. The normal length of the visa will be the full length of the course plus 4-6 months depending upon the program length.

Six steps to apply for a UK Student Visa Application

1. Visit the websites to acquire information and make an online application.
2. On the appointment day, carry your appointment letter, passport, application pack and a valid travel document. Once the application is completed, an acknowledgement receipt will be issued.
3. Visa should be applied for three months prior to the departure date.
4. One should attend an appointment at the visa application centres to complete the application. All those applying for a UK Visa need to book an appointment before submission.
5. Students can receive the documents at the application centre either in person or via post.
6. Biometric information collection (fingerprints and photograph) should be enrolled at the application centre.

Documents required when applying for a UK Student Visa:

1. Original Passport and copy
2. One passport-sized photograph
3. UK visa application form
4. Proof of finance to cover all your living costs while in the UK
5. Accommodation proof
6. Travel itinerary in detail
7. Results of Tuberculosis test done
8. Biometric information
9. Originals of Academic Documents and/or work experience Certificate (as mentioned on the CAS Certificate)
10. Proof of paying the visa application fee
11. UK visa invitation letter