University of Durham 2019-2020 PREPARATION exchange application process I originally applied for the University of Edinburgh and put Durham as me second choice. The documents needed were the same for both and fairly straightforward. At first there seem to be many requirements but they are clearly set out on the UU site and the international office is also helpful in answering any questions. It is important to keep an eye on all the deadlines and the emails telling you the requirements. counselling & support at Utrecht University The international office at the UU is very helpful, both in person and via email when you have any questions or struggles regarding the exchange process. They reply quickly and friendly and help make the process less stressful. academic preparation I did not have any academic preparation before coming to Durham. I did go in my fourth year which meant that I had already finished all my courses at the UU and therefore felt adequately prepared to follow courses at Durham University. language preparation I did not have any language preparation. At the UU there are a few courses that were taught in English and I had no trouble with studying in English for those courses so I did not feel I needed any more preparation. My level of English was pretty good, as is that of most Dutch students. There were many internaitonal students whose English was at a very basic level and they managed fine. The professors and students are very understanding of international students possibly struggling with English so you do not need to worry about this. finances England is definitely more expensive than the Netherlands, but Durham does not have the same prices as for example London. Durham is more like a town or really small city and therefore prices are not too bad. Housing is however generally more expensive in Durham than it is in the Netherlands, especially if you want to be in a location that is not too far away from the campus and city centre. When doing many of the activities and travelling around a lot you may find that the loans and grant may not be enough so you do need to keep an eye on that. (interrupted) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD welcome & orientation programme The Durham Students' Union (DSU) organises some events for internationals the week before the academic commitments start. This week is also freshers week, which is organised by the colleges. Durham has 16 (soon 17) colleges and you will get allocated to one as an Erasmus student. I would really recommend attending this week and going to activities from both your college as for international students. This is a good way to meet Erasmus students and other students at Durham. study programme (content and organisational issues) In Durham you follow 6 (or more, depending on the ECTS for the module) modules throughout the entire year. You can choose some modules before coming to Durham and will get a provisional acceptance or rejection on whether you can take these modules. This was a bit confusing and one module of mine got rejected with the message that Erasmus students could not take these, but a couple of other Erasmus students did get this module accepted. When you are in Durham you can meet up with the department and sort out your modules with them and make sure that none of them overlap, so you do not need to worry to much about this before arriving in Durham. Just make sure you know which modules you want to follow before going to your deparment meetings. academic quality of education activities The quality of education is very high at Durham. It is the university that people who did not get into Oxford or Cambridge go to (this is a stereotype of the Durham students, but actually true for a lot of them). This means that education is taken very serious by most student which creates an atmosphere where the students work very hard and are very motivated. I took 4 third year law modules and 2 first year psychology modules. In both of these departments the professors were knowledgeable and passionate about their subject. They also provided extra reading and information on extra talks if you wanted to learn more about certain specific subjects. transfer of credits Due to the coronavirus the grading is taking longer than it would usually take. I finished my last exam on June fourth and grading will hopefully be done halfway through July. This means that I do not yet know if my credits will be transferred. You just need to make sure you follow enough modules and that you end up with 60 ECTS that should be transferrable. CORONAVIRUS CONSEQUENCES support guidance of host university Durham University sent a lot of updates by email at the start of the pandemic. They gave all the information they could on what the consequences would be for our final lectures and what would happen to our exams. In information about exams and mitigating circumstances they did however forget about Eramus students and did not mention how the coronavirus would impact our grades. I left Durham at the end of March but international and Erasmus students that styaed in Durham were in contact with the University and were supported by them. support guidance of home university The international office at the UU sent out emails halfway through March contacting all students on exchange advising them to return home and asking to let them know whether we had returned home. It was nice to be in contact with the international office and to have them keep an eye on where all the students currently were staying and making sure everyone was okay. online offer and quality of digital courses At Durham University the second term ends 20 March, which happened to be around the same time the UK started the lockdown. The UK did not lockdown until very late which meant that I was able to follow almost all my courses till the end of second term. A couple of the final lectures did not happen in person but were put online and were of the same quality as the normal lectures would be. the final, third, term at Durham University consists mostly of studying for and making exams. I had a couple of revision lectures that were given online and were very well done with them being given live with the possibility of asking questions. Afterwards they were uploaded so that people in different timezones could watch them if they could not do so live. suggestions/tips on digital exchange I was lucky to have been able to get almost all of my lectures in person. The professors kept us updates on whether we would have lectures and when they were given online would send reminders on the online lectures happening. It took Durham University a long time to decide on how they were gonna do their exams which was a bit annoying and stressful, especially for international students who did not know if they would be able to return to Durham after going home to their family. CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain Yes! I would absolutely recommend Durham to others! The university is internationally high ranking so you will receive good education and the student life is amazing. The collegiate system means that there is so much to do and everyone is involved. There are tons of societies and if you don't find any at your college, the DSU has even more. The city is small and historic, which I really enjoyed; you'll run into people you know all the time and it feels very cozy. Even though it is a small city there is tons to do: from the worst nightclub in Europe to the most beautiful nature to hike around. do you have any additional advice or comments? Try out as many possible activities and societies as you can during freshers week. Most societies organise taster sessions that you can sign up for during freshers week, which means that you can try out societies for free! Get involved in a sport society as well, as that is a big thing here: no one has classes Wednesday afternoon because that time is reserved for sports. 2018-2019 PREPARATION exchange application process The exchange application process can seem a bit extensive at first, but if you keep reading and checking your emails carefully you won't miss out on any specific deadlines for the application process. After having completed all the required documents at Utrecht University, you will then soon receive emails from the International Office at Durham University, who are very willing to help you in case of any difficulties. I have sent them several emails during my application process, and their replies have been very useful. counselling & support at Utrecht University If you struggle with anything before your period abrod, contacting the International Office at UU is extremely helpful and will very often reply to you quickly after your initial message. Especially around important deadlines, you can contact them at any moment and they will come back to you very soon. academic preparation I have had no academic preparation before going to Durham University, and this turned out to be just fine. Albeit you might feel somewhat anxious in the beginning as you are unsure about the academic level abroad, you don’t have to worry. language preparation Similar to academic preparation, I have had no language preparation before going to the UK.