School of Law

Prepare for year abroad

Now for the preparation! But before you get started, remember the important proviso regarding your second year studies: you need to show the School of Law that you are academically sound (and thus likely to succeed in studies abroad).

The experience of ‘study abroad’ will allow you to explore and to experience a different university system and legal system.  Just as the country and its culture will differ from Scotland’s, so too will learning, teaching and assessment. You must expect – and seek to benefit from – different ways of doing things. Your aptitude for adaptability will grow. All of this is an integral part of the ‘study abroad’ experience. This, though, also reflects the fact that there are certain matters over which the University of Glasgow has little (if any) immediate control: the quality of your accommodation, the level of ‘bureaucracy’, the cost of living abroad, the standard of teaching, assessment practices, and the like are for you to deal with. Some of these will pose a challenge – but this is part of the fun in coping (and hundreds of others have managed). Do not procrastinate. You are now responsible for starting to plan your period of study abroad.

The success of Glasgow’s ‘study abroad’ programme is largely based upon student-to-student support. You have already received much assistance in selection of institution from other students; in turn, you will have already agreed (in your acceptance form) to assist subsequent generations of students.  You will thus be expected to provide us, for example, with honest feedback on your period of study abroad, to help ‘buddy’ incoming students from your ‘host’ university, and to provide guidance and information to other Glasgow students in the future. Your name and e-mail will thus be made available (unless you expressly tell us that you do not want this to occur) to other students taking part (or wishing to do so) in ‘study abroad’ opportunities. The information provided by countless other students is now available to you, and this is a significant source of assistance as you make your plans. You will, in turn, be adding to this accumulation of fact, opinion and value judgment.

There is also much additional assistance available just now in the form of students from the ‘host’ university currently studying in Glasgow.  In addition, Glasgow students still studying overseas will be prepared to advise you (and may even be able to suggest accommodation possibilities for you). But do your own homework first as far as possible: research the institution via its webpage, read reports from past Glasgow students on selected courses on the website, and get hold of basic information on flights, transport to/from the airport, insurance requirements for matriculation, etc.

Preparation checklist