Europe's higher education area offers an enormous choice for anyone interested in a master's semester abroad. Thanks to a master's system introduced across the board, it has also become completely easy to complete your master's semester abroad in Europe, for example.

Pros and cons

Master's semester abroad

An overview of the benefits of a master's semester abroad:

  • high returns on education
  • international network
  • perfect foreign language skills
  • more opportunities to specialize compared to those in Austria or Germany
  • international profile on your resume
  • getting to know a different culture, i.e. intercultural competence

The drawbacks would be:

  • language problems
  • difficulty meeting the academic requirements in each country
  • possibly financial difficulties, for example high tuition fees
  • difficulty adapting interculturally
  • adjusting from your own lifestyle

So which countries would be especially attractive for your master's studies? Where do you have the best career and job prospects after graduating? Where do you find suitable programs for your own field? As always, a lot here is relative!

There is no ONE specific country that offers an ideal education for every master's applicant. Which countries and universities you choose clearly depends on your personal priorities. Are you willing to invest extra money in the program for high-quality teaching and good career prospects? Is the international reputation of your degree important? Do you want to finish your master's as quickly as possible and then start your career, or do you want to use your time to specialize or gain more practical experience?

Higher education will pay off!

Master's semester abroad

As a rule: in many respects, it's good to invest money and time in a higher academic degree. That applies for your whole life! A good degree usually means a higher income as well as better chances of advancement.
If you complete a master's semester abroad, you can also collect further benefits for your resume. By building an international network, you can also open up new career opportunities, including in various other countries. More pluses: depending on where you study, you can perfect your foreign language skills during a master's semester abroad. This impresses many potential employers later on.

Financing options

If you're interested in countries with high living costs or tuition fees, you should definitely look into scholarships before giving up out of financial need. One possible first stop would be the "DAAD" ("Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst," the German Academic Exchange Service), which has a comprehensive scholarship database with offers for many countries and fields of study. For quite a few programs, you don't need exceptional grades at all, as long as the motivation is there.

The Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German Academic Scholarship Foundation) and the many church- and party-affiliated foundations in Germany also offer supplementary funding for stays abroad. Some also have specific study abroad programs. The criteria differ from foundation to foundation, but good grades and social engagement are expected almost everywhere.
Foreign universities, too, often have scholarship programs for international students. Many of them, however, are merit-based, so you have to expect stiff competition.