Studying abroad is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will give you many fond memories to look back on, as well as increasing your employability (among many other benefits).

However, it’s no secret that it can also be very daunting, especially if your chosen study destination’s quite different to your home nation, meaning that you’ll likely experience some culture shock as you settle in.

We spoke to Russian student Andrey Kirsanov about his study abroad experience in Australia, as well as its experience taking part in an internship with Hyundai in South Korea. Andrey previously studied both his bachelor and master’s degrees in Russia, but decided to study his PhD in aerospace engineering in Australia. He now works for the major helicopter design and manufacturing company Russian Helicopters.

Read on to find out what Andrey had to say about studying abroad in Australia, and how it’s helped his career to progress.

Hi Andrey! Why did you choose Australia for your PhD?

After returning from an internship in South Korea and completing my master’s degree at Moscow Polytechnic University (formerly the Moscow Automechanical Institute), I had a plan to continue my studies. I’d been invited to do a postgraduate course at the University of Ulsan in South Korea, and while South Korea was one of the top countries for postgraduate studies in my list, I experienced some language and cultural difficulties that made me consider other countries.

Australia had it all: one of the highest ranked universities, English-speaking people, a multicultural society, warm climate, and amazing nature.

Which Australian university did you study at? Why did you choose that university?

After researching different universities and courses, I discovered a School of Engineering and Information Technology within the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Being ranked as one of the top universities in Australia and worldwide, it also had an Aerospace Engineering research group that was of particular interest to me. In 2012 I was awarded a prestigious University International Postgraduate Award for study toward a Doctor of Philosophy at UNSW in Canberra. This campus is located on the military base of the Defence Force Academy and the Department of Defence sponsors many research projects.

Did you experience any culture shock when you moved to Australia?

Australia is a multicultural country that combines cultural traditions from all over the world. From the first days, Australia made me feel very welcome. However, in the beginning, I sometimes experienced difficulties understanding some Australian English words and accents. There are some words, especially slang ones, that you would never hear anywhere else. It was frustrating at times, but the more I lived there the more I learned about Australia’s unique language.

How should Russian students prepare for studying in Australia? What can they expect when they first arrive?

I would recommend future students work a lot on their English language, particularly academic as studying involves learning a large amount of information. Reading and analyzing scientific papers in your interest’s field would be definitely helpful as well. When students first arrive, they are usually granted with an establishment grant, covering some expenses on their settlement. Their university’s student unit will make sure that they get all the required support before starting their course.

Would you recommend studying in Australia to other Russian students?

I would definitely recommend choosing Australia as a place to gain a high standard of education. While studying in Australia, I kept collaborating with my alma-mater Moscow Polytechnic University on sharing my experience of studying abroad. This helped two of my fellow students to be accepted for the postgraduate course at the University of New South Wales.

What was the highlight of your experience in Australia, either during or after your studies?

It is very hard to name only one highlight of my experience in Australia as my whole journey, which began in 2012, was full of amazing adventures - starting from the university’s campus, located on a military base where you could see military helicopters landing right in front of your office, continuing with state-of-art research facilities and conferences where you could meet Bill Gates, and ending with unforgettable trips to the coast during weekends.

Do you have any insider tips for Russian students, based on your experience of studying in Australia?

Australia is a very progressive country which gives one many possibilities for growth. However, students should prepare for the higher cost of living compared to Russia. Normally, the scholarship provided by university allows for a decent living, but it might be not quite enough if you come to Australia with your family.

How easy was the process of staying in Australia to find work after your studies?

Australia’s job market provides a wide range of jobs for both university graduates and mid to high-level professionals. While education is essential for most employers, work experience is equally important for finding a good work. In addition, job seekers must prepare to get a permanent visa before they can apply to open positions in Australia. Having a world-class education and previous work experience in the aerospace industry allowed me to get a position in Thales – one of the largest aerospace corporations in the world and main contractor for the Australian Defence Force.

How did your Australian postgraduate degree help lead to you becoming a Project Portfolio Manager at Russian Helicopters?

My combined experience gained in international organizations such as Thales Australia as well as my PhD in aerospace engineering have surely given me an opportunity to integrate my knowledge into the Russian aerospace industry. Being a Project Portfolio Manager at Russian Helicopters, I aspire to help progress the Russian aerospace industry into being world leaders.

And finally, what did you gain from your internship with Hyundai in South Korea?

My internship with Hyundai gave me a lot of both professional and personal development. With great support from our mentors, I gained theoretical as well as practical knowledge about automotive engineering, got a chance to get a hands-on experience of the Hyundai plant, and of course, made many valuable contacts and friends.

This program was a stepping-stone in my career, which allowed me to discover a world of possibilities.

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The first ever edition of the QS Japan University Rankings has now been released, and sees 75 Japanese universities rank among the best in the nation. The universities are ranked based on a methodology of 11 key indicators, which include: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio (which assesses the proportion of full-time academic staff members employed per student enrolled), and more.

If you’re considering studying abroad in Japan, read on for a detailed look into the core academic attributes of the country’s top 10 universities, as presented in the QS Japan University Rankings 2019.

10. Keio University

As Japan’s very first private institution for higher education, Keio University was established by Yukichi Fukuzawa in 1858 in Edo (now Tokyo) as a school for Western studies. It’s currently ranked 10^th in the Japan university ranking 2019, and 198^th in the world, according to the QS World University Rankings® 2019.

With over 300 partner institutions overseas, Keio is home to world-class teaching facilities and a wide range of academic programs at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. It achieves its highest score for its employer reputation, followed by the international research network indicator, which assesses an institution’s international research collaborations, and academic reputation.

9. Waseda University

Waseda University is based at the heart of the modern but traditional Japanese capital, Tokyo. This year sees it rank 208^th in the world university rankings and ninth in the Japan ranking.

With a near perfect score for its employer reputation, the university already boasts seven prime ministers and a myriad of other leaders within a wide range of career sectors amongst its alumni. As Japan’s most diverse campus (with 5,000 international students from 100 countries), it also scores the highest in the top 10 for the indicator measuring each institution’s percentage of international students.

8. Kyushu University

With a history tracing back to 1903, Kyushu University is the fourth-oldest university in Japan and as one of the largest contributors to higher education in the country, currently ranks at joint 126^th in the world.

Standing at eighth place in the QS Japan University Rankings, Kyushu University achieves its highest score for the indicator which measures international research network, followed by faculty/student ratio, and employer reputation.

Throughout history, the university has boasted an alumni of highly-regarded figures, which include Japanese engineer and JAXA astronaut, Koichi Wakata; and well-known Japanese manga artist, Masashi Kishimoto (creator of Naruto), among many others.

7. Hokkaido University

Founded in 1876 as Sapporo Agricultural College, Hokkaido University was, in its beginnings, Japan’s first institute of higher education to award bachelor’s degrees. It’s a member of the Imperial Universities, a group that comprises some of the nation’s most prestigious universities, and were founded by the Empire of Japan.

Currently ranking at joint 128^th in the world and seventh in the Japan ranking, Hokkaido University achieves very high scores across most of the 10 indicators, particularly those which measure international research network, faculty/student ratio, and staff with PhD.

6. Nagoya University

Nagoya University is one of the leading seven Imperial Universities, and was first established in 1939. Over the decades, the university has achieved some of the highest standards in research and accounts for almost one third of Japan’s Nobel Laureates in science.

Ranked 111^th in the world and as the nation’s sixth most prestigious institution for higher education, Nagoya University receives the second-highest score in the top 10 for the faculty/student ratio indicator, and a near-perfect score for the indicator used to assess international research network – which is no surprise, given the university’s enduring excellence in research.

5. Tohoku University

As the nation’s third Imperial University and one of the National Seven Universities, Tohoku University is currently ranked 77^th in the world university rankings, and was Japan’s first university to admit females and international students.

Ranked fifth in Japan, the university receives excellent scores across most of the 10 indicators, with near perfect scores for those used to assess faculty/student ratio and international research network – the latter reflecting its innovative achievements in technological inventions, including fiber optics and the perpendicular magnetic recording, to name a couple.

4. Tokyo Institute of Technology

Image credit: Dick Thomas Johnson (Flickr)

With two of its campuses located in Japan’s clean and vibrant capital, and the third situated in Yokohama just 30 minutes away by train, the Tokyo Institute of Technology is one of the world’s leading research universities for practical science and engineering education, currently ranking 58^th in the world.

It comes fourth in this year’s Japan rankings, achieving near-perfect scores for six of the 10 indicators, and scoring the highest in the top 10 for the papers per faculty indicator, a measure of research productivity, and the staff with PhD indicator, (joint with Kyoto University).

3. Osaka University

Ranked as the third top university in Japan is Osaka University, which also currently holds 67^th place in the global ranking. Having originated in 1724, the university is the country’s sixth oldest university and according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018, ranks amid the top 50 universities in the world for dentistry, chemical engineering, physics and astronomy, and natural sciences.

In this year’s Japan university ranking, Osaka University receives excellent scores across most of the indicators, and thanks to its top-notch reputation for research, achieves the second-highest score in the top 10 for both its international research network and academic reputation.

2. Kyoto University

Famed for having educated world-class researchers and 13 Nobel Prize laureates, Kyoto University is one of the world’s leading institutes overall, currently ranking 35^th in the world university rankings.

As the second-best university in Japan this year, the institution’s array of notable alumni is highly reflected through its near-perfect score for employer reputation, as well as its perfect scores – and the highest in the top 10 – for its academic reputation and for the indicator used to measure international research network (both joint with the University of Tokyo).

1. The University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo currently ranks 23^rd in the world, and was the first imperial university. It was established in 1887 and is globally renowned for its prestigious level of academia, having proudly educated an array of successful and notable alumni, including 15 of Japan’s 62 prime ministers and five astronauts.

As the number-one ranked university in Japan, it achieves impressively high scores across most of the 10 indicators, scoring the highest in the whole ranking for academic reputation, employer reputation, and international research network.

The first ever edition of the QS South Korea University Rankings, part of our new rankings by location series, sees 50 universities in South Korea highlighted among the best in the country. Each institution was ranked based on 11 indicators, including academic and employer reputation, Staff with a PhD, citations per faculty and more.

Read on as we count down to reveal the 10 highest-ranked universities in South Korea, and read more about studying in South Korea with our guide.

10. Sogang University

Image credit: Portland Seminary (Flickr)

Ranked 10^th in South Korea and joint 435^th in the QS World University Rankings 2019®, Sogang University is one of the leading research and liberal arts universities in South Korea, established in 1960 by the Society of Jesus. Located in capital city Seoul, Sogang gets its highest score in the South Korea rankings for the employer reputation category.  As well as almost a third of courses at its graduate school being taught in English, Sogang offers numerous scholarships to both currently enrolled and new international students.

9. Ewha Womans University

Ewha Womans University, as its name suggests, is a private women’s university, also located in Seoul, which is ranked ninth in the country and joint 319^th in the world according to the latest rankings. Established in 1886 by a Methodist missionary, the use of ‘Womans’ in Ewha’s name carries special meaning, as it’s meant to emphasize the high respect the university has for the uniqueness and individuality of each student. Ewha is now the largest women’s university in the world, with 22,600 students enrolled.

8. Kyung Hee University

Ranked eighth in South Korea and joint 264^th in the world, Kyung Hee University achieves perfect scores for both of the indicators measuring its proportions of inbound and outbound exchange students, and it also gets a very high score for the international students indicator, showing that internationization is certainly one of Kyung Hee’s strengths. Considered one of the most prestigious private universities in the country, Kyung Hee also featured in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018 as a top-150 university for hospitality, development studies, modern languages and linguistics.

7. Hanyang University

Hanyang University, also located in Seoul, is ranked seventh in the South Korea ranking and joint 151^st in the world university rankings. As well as its main campus in Seoul, Hanyang also operates the ‘ERICA’ (Education Research Industry Cluster at Ansan) campus in Ansan in the Gyeonggi-Do province. Home to nine colleges and 42 departments, the ERICA campus is recognized as a leading school for industry cooperation, employability and start-up support.

Hanyang was ranked among the world’s best for 28 fields in the latest subject rankings, including the top 100 for civil engineering, architecture, business, chemistry, materials sciences. sports-related subjects and pharmacy.

6. Pohang University of Science And Technology (POSTECH)

Ranked sixth among the top universities in South Korea and joint 83^rd in the world, Pohang University of Science And Technology (POSTECH) does particularly well in the indicators measuring research productivity and impact (papers per faculty and citations per paper). POSTECH’s 400-acre campus, located on the outskirts of the city of Pohang, was the first bilingual campus in South Korea and includes numerous state-of-the-art facilities such as the Tae-Joon Park Digital Library, a 25,000-square meter building with a collection of over 355,000 books.

5. Yonsei University

Yonsei University is ranked fifth in this year’s South Korea rankings and 107^th in the world, earning a perfect score for its proportion of inbound exchange students. Yonsei was established in 1885, making it one of the oldest universities in the country, and it now has around 38,569 students enrolled and its main campus in Seoul and secondary campus in Wonju, including 4,647 international students.

Looking at the most recent rankings by subject, Yonsei was placed in the global top 50 for three subjects: dentistry, hospitality & leisure management, and social policy & administration.

4. Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)

Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) is ranked fourth in the South Korea rankings and joint 100^th in the world, and is the oldest university in the country, with roots going back to 1398 when it was opened by royal decree during the Joseon Dynasty. SKKU boasts a longstanding collaboration with industry leader Samsung, and is currently in the process of implementing ‘Vision 2020’, a scheme aiming to, among other things, mean that SKKU will produce creative global leaders and world-class research to contribute to the good of the country and society.

SKKU is currently ranked in the global top 50 of the subject rankings for mechanical engineering, library & information management and materials sciences.

3. Korea University

Coming third in the South Korea location ranking and 86^th in the world, Korea University (KU) was founded in 1905 and currently has around 37,000 students enrolled on two campuses.  It was ranked number one in the country for its international research network, and also came second for its proportion of international students, with around 11 percent of students coming from outside the country.

Korea University currently ranks among the world’s best for 33 subjects, boasting positions in the global top 50 for accounting & finance, business & management, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, modern languages, politics and social policy & administration.

2. Seoul National University

Image credit: jgmarcelino (Flickr)

Ranked second in South Korea and 36^th in the world, Seoul National University (SNU) was founded in 1946 by the merging of 10 institutions, making it the first national university in the country. It achieved the highest scores in South Korea for the academic and employer reputation indicators, and also claims one of the country’s strongest alumni networks, with SNU graduates making up one in four of the CEOs of the top 100 South Korean companies. It also has an impressive portfolio of international partnerships, having partnered with 289 universities in 58 countries.

Seoul National University was featured among the best in the world for an impressive 41 subjects, including the top 20 for chemistry, mechanical engineering, pharmacy, sports-related subjects and more.

1. KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology

Concluding our look at the top universities in South Korea, KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, located in the research and technology hub of Daejeon, is the number one university in South Korea according to the new ranking, and was also placed 40^th in the world university rankings*. Established in 1971 as the nation’s first research-orientated science and technology institution, KAIST achieved some of its highest scores in the papers per faculty and citations per faculty member indicators. Although it’s mainly based within the Daedeok Innopolis, a cluster of high-tech research institutes, government agencies and venture businesses, KAIST also has a campus in capital city Seoul, which is home to its business school.

KAIST is internationally ranked for 13 subjects and achieves top-100 positions for each field, with particularly high scores for materials sciences, several branches of engineering, and computer science. 

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*Although KAIST is ranked lower than Seoul National University in the QS World University Rankings 2019®, it is ranked first in the QS South Korea University Rankings due to the differing methodologies used to compile the rankings. Find out more here.

We’ve already had a look at which university is the best in the world, but where is the best place to be a student? We went to Summer in the City and asked people to guess which city they think is the number one in the world for students, offering a winning combination of high quality universities, affordable costs of living, and easy access to job opportunities, along with everything else that makes a city great to live in. Will it be London, Paris, Tokyo, Melbourne or somewhere else entirely?

Let us know where your number one student city would be in the comments below or through our student survey, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more.

Video by Pavel Petrov for TopUniversities.com.