Studying in London - part 1

I have been waiting to write about what it's like to study and live in London, and about the UK education system as a whole. I have been educated in Canada, which runs a university education system pretty much the same as its American counterparts. I will be writing from an international student's viewpoint.

It's difficult to really find a starting point to this discussion. But let's first consider the "study" experience in the UK. The UK education system is pretty much the same as any high-school or grade-school system. Assuming that you went to a school in the UK/Asia, most schools tend to follow the British system. So if you went to a UK university to do your Undergrad from a british school, you would probably have a smooth transition. I say this, since I had a really bad transition when i moved from a british-like highschool to a canadian university (or an American university for the matter). At first I had no idea what "assignments" were. And it took me some time to realize that they carried so much weight. However, the british system does not emphasize that much on assignments. Exams carry a whole lot more weight, though the trend is changing. I have written final exams, here in the UK, that weighed 70%. So I made sure I was in good health on the day of that exam.

Another important difference is the way british universities have tutorials. Canadian universities tend to have tutorials which are like mini-lectures, where a TA comes and solves problems on the board. Here in the UK, less emphasis is placed on tutorial sessions. Computer science programs have "lab hours" where a TAs walk around the Lab to help students, who are solving a given-problem, given to by their lecturer.

The quality of student also varies. I would say Canada has one of the best university regulatory systems in the world. Most of canada's universities are decent, with some universities competing with the world's best. However, this is not the case in the UK/US. Universities in the UK/US range from the most to the least competitive. There are all kinds. The least-competitive universities provide a haven for two types of students - students with bad grades, and students who cannot afford the luxury of a good education. In the UK, education is very expensive and not always can deserving students get a deserving education. I have met very good students, with good grades, who go to low-profile universities.

This is, however, not the case in canada. Students with good grades usually end up in good universities, since the tuition fees does not vary as much. For example, in the UK, Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and LSE all have tuition fees higher than 15000 pounds a year, whereas London Metropolitan University charges only 7000 pounds a year.