Studying in Europe

Studying in Europe is a great experience for many reasons: country-specific ones such as Italian ice-cream and Belgian beers that create the perfect environment for successful university studies, but also because of the overarching framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). This means in practice that crossing borders during or after your studies is less troublesome than doing so in most other regions of the world due to the harmonisation of academic degrees within the EHEA. 48 countries from all over Europe form the EHEA – 27 of them being part of the European Union (EU). Across these countries, many aspects of academic studies were made more comparable. For instance, the Bologna Process set off the introduction of a three-tiered degree system, i.e. the bachelor, master and doctoral degree system in the participating countries for most subjects. The ECTS, short for European Credit Transfer System, makes the allocation, accumulation, mutual recognition and transfer of credits students receive for participating in study courses/modules and passing exams throughout their studies easier and more transparent. 

Europe’s diversity of cultures and languages provides the perfect backdrop to studying there. And who hasn’t heard of ERASMUS+? Erasmus+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. With a budget of over 26 million Euros for 2021-2027, it nearly doubles its previous budget period. 27 European Union Member States and 7 non-EU members act as programme countries with over 20 further countries also taking part in the programme.   

For further information on Erasmus+, read our blog post, or visit the European Commission’s website here. 

U-Multirank’s 2021 edition includes 725 universities and colleges from the European Union. Compared globally, EU universities perform strongest in research, international orientation and regional engagement, with more than 50% of all EU universities performing above average in each category.  

For more detailed information on the performance of EU universities and colleges, see our EU Report below. To see how individual countries in the EU perform, visit their respective ‘Study in’ pages.