Planning to study abroad? Here’s 5 things to add to your checklist

ladies smiling outside with one pointing ahead

As the school year reaches its end, high school students and those aiming for a master's degree are getting ready to engage in the demanding application procedure for a program at a university abroad. Pursuing education overseas is highly desired by many individuals, as it expands their personal and professional perspectives and fosters comprehensive development.

Notably, the UAE places significant emphasis on sending students abroad for studies, with reports suggesting an approximate annual count of . At the same time,KSA has introduced the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Scholarship Program for certain qualitative majors at leading international universities to support its Vision 2030.

1. Choose your university:

The first step is to narrow down the best universities for your program of choice. Essential factors to consider include the cost of living, tuition fees, career opportunities in the country, including your overall safety and well-being. When it comes to the MENA region, popular destinations for study-abroad aspirants are the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. These countries serve as gateways for personal and professional growth.

2. Shortlist what you need to apply:

The next stage involves verifying the requirements of the application process for your chosen program and university. Most academic institutions typically request academic transcripts, identification documents, a personal essay, letters of recommendation, and proof of English proficiency. If English isn't your native language, demonstrating your ability to read, write, speak, and understand English is essential to comprehend course materials and to obtain your student visa.

To fulfill this requirement, you will need to register for and successfully complete an English-language proficiency test such as the PTE Academic. The PTE offers various preparation options, including Scored Practice Tests, PTE Academic Question Banks, the Official Guide to PTE Academic, and the PTE Academic English Booster. These resources provide comprehensive information and practical advice for each exam section, simplifying your preparation process.

3. Find out if you're eligible to work

Just because you've been granted a visa to live in a country doesn't mean you have the right to work full-time. Many student visas put a cap on how many hours people can work.

For example, in Australia, students can work up to 40 hours every two weeks during the school term. You'll likely have permission to work full-time if you're not on a student visa. However, many countries require you to apply for a social insurance number – or something similar – before you can.

4. Create a budget

Before moving to a new country, you should have some savings. In some cases, depending on your visa type and the country you're moving to, you might be required to show proof of savings with your visa application.

Day-to-day living costs may also be more expensive abroad, and it could take you longer than anticipated to find a job – so it's important to have money put away to help you settle in. Many governments offer cost-of-living calculators online, which can be an excellent resource for new immigrants.

When you arrive, you'll also need to open a bank account. This can often be done online. Some banks even have accounts specifically designed for newcomers and offer credit cards to help build credit history.

5. Check if your test scores are accepted by the university/country:

Verify that your chosen school accepts the language test you plan to take to avoid spending money on an incompatible test. For example, the computer-based PTE Academic test is recognized by 3,000 academic institutions worldwide, including countries such as Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, and more. Furthermore, it is approved by the UK, Australia, and New Zealand governments for all types of visas. PTE UKVI for example, is a home office-approved Secure English Language Test (SELT) for all visas that require a four-skill language test and is recognized by 99% of UK universities and colleges.

The PTE Academic employs an AI-based scoring system, ensuring 100% impartiality so only the candidate's responses influence the scores. Test-takers have the flexibility to select a convenient test slot, which can be scheduled as little as 24 hours in advance. Multiple test centers across MENA exist, most notably in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam in KSA; Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Doha in Qatar. Moreover, the test can be taken from the comfort of one's home. PTE Academic delivers results within 36 hours on average, enabling test-takers to make well-informed decisions about their next steps.

Millions of people around the globe aspire to move abroad to study or work as a stepping stone in their lives. Being able to speak English helps to make a real connection with people as it is the most commonly spoken language in the world, with over across the globe. The more proficient you are, the better you can express yourself. If you want to add value to your college applications, jobs or enhance your skills, taking an English language proficiency test can go a long way.

Check the English-language proficiency test off your list today:

More blogs from ɫèAV

  • A woman reading outside with a book

    Three ways English students can learn to read at home

    By Kate Fitzpatrick
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    Read more at home if you want to learn English faster: three ways to get into the habit

    I can hear parents, ELT learners and teachers all over the world thinking to themselves: We know it helps if English students learn to read for pleasure at home, but how are we supposed to find the time? Who is buying these materials? What if a parent doesn’t speak English themselves?

    That’s the beauty of reading at home, also called extensive reading: it’s completely autonomous and parents can be as involved as much or little as they like. There’s more good news as it’s never been cheaper to assemble a selection of extensive readers for your children or students, meaning that cost is no longer so much of a barrier to reading at home.

    Is extensive reading really that critical to learning English?

    Stephen D. Krashen’s [1]offers a marvellous summary and critique of extensive reading studies around the world, concluding that:

    "When [second language learners] read for pleasure, they can continue to improve in their second language without classes, without teachers, without study and even without people to converse with.’"(Krashen 1993 p. 84)

    Philip Prowse’s excellent article, “What is the secret of extensive reading?”[2]agrees with Krashen’s conclusion.

    Prowse goes into more detail about efficacy studies at primary, secondary and adult levels. This body of evidence finds that reading for pleasure improves results in grammar, writing, speaking and fluency, as well as comprehension and vocabulary – both alongside and instead of traditional textbooks.

    So, we know it works. As with so many education-related things, the question is how to implement them. Christine Nuttall talks about the virtuous circle of reading – once a learner begins to enjoy reading, they are more likely to read more and benefit more from it, so they learn to read more, and so on.

    The reverse is also true. The questions then follow: how do we motivate our Instakids to read at home in English, if they won’t read in their first language? How do we carve out time between travel, work, school and homework? Here are three ways you can form the habit of reading at home:

    1. Learners need access to extensive reading material at home to use it

    Krashen establishes this common-sense fact based on five studies from 1983 to 2003.[2]It can be a reading app, an online library subscription or a pile of readers in the corner – whatever it is, it has to be the right level for the student and it has to be a topic they’re interested in, or they’ll never learn to read for pleasure.

    Negative reading habits can happen simply because there isn’t much available to the learner: Worthy and McCool studied 11 sixth-graders in 1998 who "hated to read", and found a direct correlation between those students and the lack of reading material at home.[3] Thankfully, we now have more options than we used to:

    For extensive reading online, the Extensive Reading Foundation offers good-quality, free materials, in audio and print, at its .These text resources and audiobooks tend to be quite basic and the stories are largely classics. You can choose by level and genre, and there is also a publisher directory.

    • You can purchase full ɫèAV English Readers and other publishers’ Kindle editions on the Kindle store, iBookstore and Google Play, and read them on an e-reader, phone or tablet using the Kindle app. These are finely-graded, contemporary, relevant e-books with titles like , , , , , , and .
    • An e-book library subscription can be a cost-effective way to get access to a lot of e-books online through your browser. is a Japanese-run online library which offers hundreds of full-text graded readers, from reputable publishers, and charges about $19 per year.
    • For print readers, cost can be an issue. If you can't buy readers at your local bookshop from a publisher like ɫèAV, you can buy first- or second-hand readers cheaply from Amazon or the Book Depository, or you can ask your school to let you know when they’re upgrading their readers library, as you may be able to take some of the older books home.

    2.Make the most of the commute or the school run

    The key here is routine – give it a try and see if it works for you. Reading doesn’t just happen on a page. Today’s English learners have multiple ways to read for pleasure on their various devices as well as in print, all of which are well-adapted for reading and listening on the train/on the bus/in the car/on foot.

    I listen to podcasts on my commute by train and, to this day, I know my times tables thanks to a tape my mother used to play in the car on the way to primary school.

    • Download a podcast or audiobook. Ideally, an English learner would both read and listen, but one or the other is better than nothing. Audible.com has plenty of English extensive readers in audiobook format, and a year’s membership is $10 per month, or you can buy individual audiobooks. There are classic extensive reading podcasts available on iTunes for $4.99 each.
    • Never underestimate your public library.is an online service that finds your local library for you, wherever you are in the world. You can also search by title and see which libraries carry that particular book. Just think: you could create an instant, extensive reading library at your home for free that changes every month.

    3. Consider the power of rewards

    You can reward your child or reward yourself for building a reading habit. Remember, we are talking about starting a virtuous circle: persuading a learner to begin a new habit of reading in English for pleasure. Reward mechanisms can be very effective.

    This idea should be explored on a case-by-case basis – it depends on what you or your child responds to best. In my opinion, starting a reading habit is well worth a glass of wine, a chocolate treat, or an extra half-hour playing video games.

    References

    [1]Krashen, Stephen D. (2004),p57

    [2] Prowse, Philip: “”

    [3] Worthy, J. and McKool, S. (1996): “” in Ibid, p61