4 things to consider as you seek to enroll in a foreign university.

Increasingly, many employers are stating that an undergraduate degree is the absolute minimum requirement that job seekers should have when applying for jobs. Since Kenyan universities cannot absorb all the students seeking university education, some students are choosing to enroll in universities abroad. Here’s what you need to know on whether to enroll in a Kenyan university or an abroad university.

1. If you get a full scholarship.

Enrolling in foreign colleges is expensive, and you will need to fork out a lot of money. Some universities charge as much as $50,000 –kshs.4 million per year. Unless you have a full scholarship, you will find life very hard. In addition, there are room and board expenses that will drive your expenses up. However, if you get a full scholarship and free ticket rider, then by all accounts, do take up the opportunity. Minus a scholarship,

then make sure that you have a sponsor, or your family has enough money to last you throughout the four years. Otherwise, if you hope to work on menial jobs as a form of raising your school fees, chances are high that you will not only end up underpaid, tired, and burnt-out, but that you will also perform poorly in class, and eventually dropout of college altogether.

2. If the skills you will learn are transferable.

This means that if the skills you will gain are transferable, then select a university abroad. To put it simply, there are some courses that are marketable in developed countries, but one will not have much use for them here. Unless you are planning on staying abroad for good, then consider enrolling in courses whose skills can be easily transferred to any part of the world you will choose to work.

3. If you want more exposure.

Since universities in the developed countries have more facilities than Kenyan ones, you will be naturally more exposed than your Kenyan counterparts. However, be cautious in that not all universities abroad offer top quality education. Just as there are some backstreet colleges in Kenya offering substandard education, so too are some abroad universities. Try to find out the ranking of the university you seek to enroll in, and most importantly, enquire if it is duly registered by the country’s educational authorities.

4. Some courses are postgraduate level courses.

If you plan to enroll in universities in the US, know that Medicine and Law are considered postgraduate level courses. In medicine for instance, you will have to enroll hopefully in a biological related degree for four years, then work out a few years, and then apply straight to medical school proper for another three or four years. This means that a degree in medicine would take you seven or eight years. The same applies to Law; you will hopefully apply for a humanities or social science degree for four years, then sit out for a few years, before applying to Law School for another three or four years.

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