During my studies in business and communication I spent all time possible abroad, feeling that this gave me a peace and better motivation to learn than I would have done at a cramped student library or my tiny apartment back home.
As a Norwegian student (in 2017*) you will receive 103 950NOK/almost 15 000EUR as a full time student from the government, where only 60% would have to be paid back, and 40% will be given as a scholarship. When living in Norway, this is regarded as a minimum, but if you go to India or Thailand, this would be enough to stay at a guest house by the beach, drink freshly made juices and write your papers on a calm, quiet, stress free setting.
Today, with the rise of so called MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), learning away from home has become much easier. Instead of having to show up for compulsory lectures, delivering hand ins in a paper format and showing up for exams, it is possible to study at your own pace and finish high quality university courses completely online.
So far I have only tried the course IKT i læring MOOC* which requires a whole lot of studying but has been rewarding in the sense that it provides quality lectures from YouTube, lecturers slides through Present-It and a comment fields for other students to review your work throughout the course. At the end it is possible to sign up as a student of NTNU and get 15 credits if you pass.
Big universities such as Stanford, Princeton and Harward have already created free and open online courses for their studies and I believe this is the future of learning. MOOCs can create a more equal world by being available for people in with all kinds of social statuses, it provides flexible learning and is something I can recommend testing out.
*Based on the rates provided by the Norwegian Education Fund, Lånekassen, January 2017: https://www.lanekassen.no/nb-NO/Stipend-og-lan/Utland/Hvor-mye/Basisstotte/
* Program description about the course “IKT i læring/ICT for learning”: https://www.ntnu.no/videre/ikt-i-laering