The FINANCIAL — The United Kingdom, the United States of America, Malta, Spain, Germany, Ukraine, France, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania, Poland, and the Czech Republic are but a small list of the countries that students from Georgia can depart to for summer courses to study, travel and even encounter work opportunities.
Last year on average 400-500 students travelled to these countries.
The price for different programmes in foreign countries varies from 600 GEL to 7,000 GEL per month, with different terms and conditions. The internship and summer programmes usually start from June. However, registration starts 2-3 months before.
Different travel and study programmes are offered by companies such as UK Bridge, AIESEC, British World, Fortuna Travel, Golden Bridge, DAAD and Anglo Georgia all over the world.
Most internship programmes provide opportunities to enhance knowledge of English, in which case students should apply to several of the following programs:
AIESEC offers a Development Internship programme for a short term period of up to three months.
“This programme is usually with NGOs, internships usually relate to a wide variety of issues in community development. It is focused more on culture: encouraging friendships between nations and providing a general education including presentation skills, communication skills and cultural awareness,” says Levan Pavlenishvili, AIESEC Local Committee Vice President Outgoing Exchange.
The participation fee for the development internship is 600 GEL, which includes accommodation and meals for the whole period of the programme (if students turn out to be living far from their working place they will receive free transportation). AIESEC doesn’t cover travel and visa costs for the programme.
Fortuna Travel LTD offers language courses plus excursions and other interesting activities. The fees vary, but include fee of courses, accommodation, meal and other activities defined by the programme. The fee does not include price of tickets, insurance costs and visa.
UK Bridge offers intensive English courses, exam preparation courses together with courses from specific spheres such as Marketing, Management, Finance, Photography, Art and Design.
The price for programmes is approximately 3,500 USD, and includes accommodation and English lessons. Moreover, air ticket price is 500 EUR and Visa – 200 GEL.
British World offers a General English Course which includes a 1 month intensive course, accommodation, trips to London, two meals a day, Ticket price, reservation fee + Service, Visa and insurance fee – 6,000 GEL for one month. London is the most expensive area to get a full package programme in. Business Administration course + semi intensive specialized English course for TOEFL, IELTS, Cambridge ESOL, etc. which includes everything costs 7,000 GEL for one month.
Anglo-Georgia provides English courses including some social activities, providing a better education which helps in improving writing, reading and speaking skills. The price starts from 180 GBP per week and only includes a tuition fee which makes the student more flexible in scheduling. Accommodation, ticket and visa costs are not included in the price.
For those students who want to enhance their knowledge of German, DAAD provides a brilliant opportunity. The participants choose for themselves which language courses they would like to attend in German Universities. The minimum time period for a course is 3-4 weeks and the courses are all held in German.
What is special about DAAD courses is that the participants are financed by DAAD. Each student is paid 650 EUR for living, 200 EUR for the language course and 600 EUR for the flight, In total a grant scholarship includes 1,450 EUR. The students are required to have a basic level of the German language (B1) so as to participate in group activities and for communication purposes.
“Besides our scholarship programmes, DAAD is financing study trips for more than 25 students from different Georgian universities within the frame of cooperation between Georgian and German universities. We are also offering seminars for students from South Caucasus countries. Last summer we had several seminars in Georgia and one in Moldova (with students from Georgia and Abkhazia),” says Gebhard Reul, Head of DAAD Information Centre Tbilisi.
GoldenrBridge gives opportunities to students to work and travel in the USA.
Students can work for up to 4 months (with another month to travel) during their Summer university break (from June to September) under the J1 visa category. After the programme is complete, students are obligated to return to Georgia. The price for the programme is 1,390 USD.
The Work and Travel Programme in the USA provides visa sponsorship, placement in a seasonal job at resort and vacation destinations throughout the US, as well as housing assistance and ongoing personal support to make this dream a reality for thousands of participants.
Moreover, Golden Bridge has 3 month English language courses in London and Cambridge, costing 1,323 GBP including tuition fee and visa support, and a Career Development Programme in the UK (study and work) costing 1,675 GBP, including tuition fee, placement fee and visa support.
Companies say that the most popular countries for students are the UK and USA. However, representatives say that students can encounter problems in getting visas.
“Students from Georgia are discriminated against and cannot easily get visas from the USA and Canada Council. However students of the Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia do not have problems in getting visas for programmes such as Summer Work/Travel USA and Summer Work/Travel Canada,” Says Vladimir Podolski, the General Manager of RedStar.
“The problems regarding visas mainly come from the foreign country’s councils that have doubts and require certain strict bureaucratic procedures which in turn create problems for students. We are expecting the procedures for acquiring a visa to be much easier in the future which will increase the number of students,” says Nora Buchukuri, the Director of Fortuna Travel LTD.
Nutsa Kuridze, the Director of UK Bridge, told the FINANCIAL that there are often problems in getting long-term visas, for Bachelor and Magister programmes. For short-term programmes visas are given more easily.
The prices for visas to the UK are: for a prospective student applicant – 67 GBP, and for the dependant of a student applicant – 145 GBP.
For the USA there are 3 types of visas for students, and visa applicants are required to pay a non-refundable application fee of 131 USD.
Academic studies (F visa): For people who want to study or conduct research at an accredited US college or university.
Academic studies as an Exchange Visitor (J visa): for people who will be participating in an exchange visitor programme in the United States. The “J” visa is the primary visa for educational and cultural exchange programmes.
Non-academic or Vocational Studies (M visa): for people who want to study or train at a non- academic institution in the US.
The visa price for Shengen countries is 60 EUR.
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