hannahb91

Hi, I graduate in December, US university, with an Econ degree. I spent last semester in London, Regent's U, loved London, want to go back like Now.

It seems that graduate school in the UK would let me stay and work afterwards for at least awhile. Anyone have suggestions for graduate programs in Economics? Or other experience along those lines? My U. advisor isn't real super knowledgeable.

Applications start in October, and I'm taking the GRE. Will try LSE I guess.

Thanks for any hints!

Tulips

There's a site called UKPASS to help you look for graduate courses. LSE, as you say; hard to get into.
UCL? King's College? There's also CASS business school, which I believe is more focused on finance and the City.

If you're willing to look at other European options; Rotterdam Erasmus has English Language degrees and is very good in Economics and Business. And a lot less expensive than London.

hannahb91

Tulips, thank you!

flanneruk

"It seems that graduate school in the UK would let me stay and work afterwards for at least awhile. "

It's the job of the Border Agency to decide who gets work permits. Though academics believe they ought to be allowed to decide who's allowed to work here, they've no more convinced the government of that preposterous idea than any other unaccountable group of lobbyists.

Partly because over 400 million foreigners have an automatic right to work here, our laws on work permits for non-Europeans are complicated - and in the case of recent graduates, highly controversial (see http://www.educationuk.org/global/articles/work-visas/)

www.educationuk.org/ is a reasonable site to get basic data on British graduate courses.

janisj

Here is the correct link from flanner's post

http://www.educationuk.org/global/articles/work-visas/

(that trailing parentheses bites every time)

flanneruk

Hint taken

hannahb91

Yes, thank you, janisj. That does make it better.

Shoot, flanner! That's helpful but discouraging. I guess it makes sense, with the 400 million, but surely some of them like it better where they already are. Appreciate it very much!

stokebailey

Hi, Flanner. I love your combination of concise prose, excellent information, and cantankerous hyperbole.

Recent graduates with certain kinds of job offers are eligible to apply for a three year UK work permit. Not all that preposterous, unless everyone who applies gets the immediate raspberry. Or seriously does that mean No Non-EU Need Apply? By "controversial" do you mean like UKIP type controversy?

Such a policy in the US would not seem unreasonable. Tons of our professionals are foreign born. Finding a grad Teaching Assistant whose English you can understand is a challenge in universities. Of course, we have more elbow room than you do.

nytraveler

Yes, but in the US the incomprehensible teaching assistants are students with a masters working on their PhDs. So employed WHILE students.

And yes, I was a victim of a couple - they seem to focus on math and similar - when the students don;t know if the problem is them or the lack of English, But one of my suitemates was a math major - and told me in 5 minutes of the second class to transfer - the guy couldn't explain what he meant in English.

eastave

The top places in London for Economics (at least for the PhD market) are UCL and LSE. For any program, ask what recent graduates are doing.

Nonconformist

"Recent graduates with certain kinds of job offers are eligible to apply for a three year UK work permit."

Do you have a link to that, Stokebailey? It was my understanding that a graduating student could apply for a work visa, but they had to meet the same conditions as someone applying from outside the country (pay, employer registered sponsor, and no EU person able to do it) and I thought it was five years rather than three.

There is a special Graduate Entrepreneur Scheme for graduates who want to set up their own business, but again, not for three years, and they're cracking down on alleged abuses of the system: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/c...-on-visa-abuse

Christina

It's described in that above link janis posted, it's the first paragraph under what kind of visa can I apply for, ie,

> they give a link to the licensed sponsor registry

flanneruk

"Recent graduates with certain kinds of job offers are eligible to apply for a three year UK work permit. Not all that preposterous, unless everyone who applies gets the immediate raspberry. Or seriously does that mean No Non-EU Need Apply? By "controversial" do you mean like UKIP type controversy? "

Christina explains: there's a quota on non-EU citizens.

The controversy is that the Tory government has promised to cut immigration (before Americans get on their high horse, there are six times more people per square mile of Britain than there are in America), and that the businesses who supported the Tories are now whingeing that they can't function if they haven't got unrestricted access to the world's brightest people.

Academics similarly whinge that they can't get the world's brightest students if they can't guarantee a job here.

UKIP policy on this is relatively straightforward - and remarkably logical (something you really can't say for most of its other policies): it just wants the government to do what it promised.

Since we can't control the unrestricted access to jobs here of all other EU countries' citizens (and the other 27 countries seem determined to destroy all the jobs in their own countries - presumably why the Fodors Hollande clique are so gung ho about him: Paris is so much more fun when all the local PhDs have to act as tour guides), EU immigration is soaring - and creating lots of pro-UKIP sentiment.

But the illogicality in all this comes from the (substantial) pro-immigration lobby that supported the Tories. From the FT to the Economist to the Murdoch press: they all pushed for Cameron, and are now belly-aching because they can't recruit all the American interns they want - as that the Tories made clear they weren't going to be allowed to.

hannahb91

Hi, nonconformist. I was going by the same info that Christina posted, which does seem to apply to UK bachelor or master's grads. Thank you, Christina.

Yes, flanner, and thank you. I understand about a quota and that there isn't room for everyone. I'm afraid I didn't pay enough attention to UK politics when I was studying there this spring. US is in the middle of immigration controversy that I don't understand much better!

I think England is plenty attractive to students from all over, even without visa advantage.

hannahb91

Oh, and thank you too, eastave, for that!