Kent Student 101 (Season 2025 Episode 6)

KentOnline / KMTV

This week, the students on KMTV's Year In Television course are looking at International students . The team look at traveling around the world to study.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to Kent Student 101, live here on KMTV. I'm Tyler and this is a show

00:23for students, by students. Each week we'll be exploring different facets of student life

00:28across Kent with a range of topics and segments. This week we are taking a look at studying

00:34abroad. As a student, many universities offer the students opportunities to take a year

00:39out and study in another country. Additionally, many students come from all over the world

00:44to study in the UK. Earlier this week, I went down to the University of Kent to speak to

00:49an advisor and I caught up with a friend who is currently in South Korea. Studying abroad

00:54gives students a huge range of benefits for their future, but many don't know their course

00:58offers these opportunities or even learn too late. We came to the University of Kent

01:04to talk to Katie Robery, a studying abroad assistant, to talk about the benefits of studying

01:08internationally with their partner universities and how stage one students can get involved.

01:13So at Kent we offer the traditional year abroad as part of many degree courses here at Kent.

01:19So lots of courses have the opportunity to study abroad for a year at one of our partner

01:24universities, which is an amazing opportunity. Most students do apply for that as part of

01:28their UCAS application, so as part of the application to Kent they can apply for a four-year

01:33degree. Alternatively, if they don't, if they get to Kent in stage one and they realise

01:37there's a year abroad, they can add it during their first year. They just need to talk to

01:41their school and get that added on to their course. Having something like this on your

01:45CV really does make you stand out, whether that's a year abroad or perhaps a shorter

01:49term summer abroad opportunity, which we also offer at Kent. And so having something

01:54like that on your CV, number one, sets you to the top of the pile of job applications.

02:00Number two, personally, it's a really amazing opportunity to step outside of your comfort

02:06zone and to stretch yourself to move somewhere across the world and set up again and to settle

02:13in, adapt. It's a really amazing thing to do, to help with your confidence, your adaptability,

02:19resilience, all of that. I also sat down with Caitlin Burgess, a university student currently

02:25studying abroad in Korea, to talk about her experience as an international student. My

02:29study abroad is a bit different to a standard study abroad, as it's compulsory to my course.

02:37I found out about it through, obviously, open days and stuff when I was looking at university

02:42On the whole, it has been insane. It has definitely completely changed my life in general, I think.

02:52I'm a completely different person for it in a brilliant way. I think my biggest thing

02:58would be just do your research way more than you think you need to. And I would see if your

03:05university has previously done study abroads and to this specific university as well that you want

03:11to go through, I would say see if they can get you in contact with someone who has been there and

03:16been through it. Hopefully this has helped offer any advice for students out there looking to study

03:21abroad. Tyler Choate-Perryham, KNTV. Hopefully that was some helpful information for anyone looking

03:27to study abroad, but now let's take a break, take a breath and join Kate for today's Bottles Book Club.

03:33Hi Kate, so what have you brought with us today? So I'm actually super excited today because I get

03:39to talk about one of my favourite authors of all time and that is David Nicholls.

03:42And he's most well known for writing the novel One Day, which has had a movie adaptation and

03:47just recently a TV adaptation for Netflix. And I have brought in one of his lesser known titles

03:56today, however, which is The Understudy. Brilliant. So tell us a bit about it.

04:00Well, The Understudy is a hilarious, almost satirical take on the traditional underdog story.

04:05And we follow Steve McQueen as his life just goes from bad to worse as a failed stage actor living

04:10in London. And he unintentionally gets himself into an incredibly complicated situation after

04:15he gets a job as an understudy and befriends the local police. And then he goes on to become

04:21after he gets a job as an understudy and befriends the lead in the play,

04:26while simultaneously falling in love with the actor's wife.

04:29You've always got to love the underdogs. I know, absolutely.

04:32So why did you enjoy this one so much? I think it always, always comes down to the

04:37writing. And Nicholls is so brilliant at constructing the most realistically hopeless

04:42characters and in a way that doesn't make them feel like characters of themselves.

04:48It's slow to start, like a lot of his work, just because it's more sort of slice of life-esque.

04:53But that is to slowly build up and build up and create well-rounded and nuanced characters

04:59to construct a hilarious payoff with a really, really solid narrative.

05:04Oh, lovely. Thank you so much for today, Kate.

05:13Another really good recommendation today from Kate. Next up, let's see what our

05:17resident student, Sam, has to say about international studying.

05:27Hello and welcome to Sam Says. This is the part of the show where I talk to you about

05:31student experiences. As a student for almost four years, I've got lots of advice to give out.

05:36So I'm going to talk you through my experiences to give you some advice.

05:40This week, we're talking about studying abroad. Whether you're going abroad or come and study

05:45in Kent, it can be a really hectic and stressful experience. So I've got lots of tips and tricks

05:49that can help you become more acquainted with new surroundings and become much more comfortable in

05:54your new environment. Let's get into it. The first piece of advice I'd give you when looking to study

05:59abroad is do lots of research into the place you're going to. For example, if you're coming

06:03here to Kent, do lots of research and look into what Kent's like and if you think you'd like it

06:07here. If you're choosing to study abroad, you can have a variety of different places that you could

06:12go to. So make sure to make a pros and cons list on the different places to make sure you choose a

06:15place that's right for you. A final thing I'd say about choosing a year abroad is just honestly,

06:20make the most of it. Going abroad into a new place can teach you so much. You can make new friends,

06:26learn about a new culture and honestly, can be so much good in developing you as a person.

06:31Thank you for watching this week's episode of Sam Says. We've been talking about year abroad,

06:36how to apply, how to make the most of it and just how to use it to the best of your ability.

06:41I'll see you next week. Goodbye.

06:51Now, as mentioned before, there are many different opportunities for students to study abroad

06:56and some choose to take a year to study in a different country whilst others travel from the

07:00UK to the UK, sorry, from a variety of different places. But now I'm joined by Amy Farmer, a Kent

07:06based student from Germany who chose to do university in the UK and is taking this year

07:11to study abroad. Hi Amy. Hi, how are you? I'm good. So why don't we start with you telling

07:20me a bit about yourself? Okay, so I'm half English and half Japanese, but I grew up my

07:27whole life in Germany and right now I'm studying French and Spanish at the University of Kent.

07:33Okay, so chat to us a bit about why you chose to study in the UK.

07:40Well, it's because I'm half English, but I've never lived in the UK before.

07:46So I really wanted to see what it was like. I wanted to make English friends

07:50and I was just sort of over Germany at that point. I wanted to see something new.

07:56What are the main differences between studying in the UK versus Germany?

08:00Big difference that I've noticed is that there's not really a thing called societies in Germany.

08:05So I think that's a massive plus for the UK because you can meet people who are not just

08:11on your course, but also study other things who are in the year above or below you. Whereas in

08:17Germany, it's a bit more typical that you only hang out with people who study the same thing as

08:21you and are sort of the same, not age, but you're at the same pace in your course.

08:27So now that you've been in the UK, do you still think you would have chosen to study here and

08:32why would you? I think I would still choose to study in the UK just because I've loved my

08:42experience ever since. The only big difference I would say is the fact that it's tuition free

08:51in Germany. So that definitely made it very appealing to go there. But at the end of the day,

08:56I just thought studying in the UK was just so appealing and so much more exciting. So I'm

09:05definitely happy that I chose to study in the UK. So now, as a language student,

09:11you've also studied in France and how was that? Yeah, exactly. I went to a language school in

09:18Montpellier. Yeah, exactly. So I just spent last semester studying in Montpellier and it was the

09:24best experience I've ever done. It was such nice warm weather. I've made really, really good

09:29friends with Germans, Italians, Polish people, of course, French people as well. And it was

09:36so unforgettable. Completely different to the UK, but in such a good way.

09:43In such a good way. What made you choose France?

09:49Well, the University of Kent has many partner universities in France, but also in Canada.

09:55And I thought it would be so cool to go and study in Canada as well. But I know plenty of French

10:00people who said you will not learn real French if you go to Canada. It's obviously Canadian French.

10:06So I think I chose wisely when I decided to go to France in the end.

10:11And what was the preparation like for you to go study abroad?

10:16To be honest, it is quite a lot. You have to sort out accommodation,

10:21visas, probably the biggest difficult thing that you have to prepare for, and then also flights or

10:28trains, depending on how you want to travel to France. But yeah, those are the three big things

10:34that you need to prepare. And are you going anywhere else? And if yes, what's that like?

10:41Yeah, I am also doing a semester abroad in Lima in Peru. I'm actually flying next Monday.

10:48And the preparation process, I guess, is quite similar. You also have to do accommodation

10:53and visa, of course. However, you enter Peru as a tourist and change immigration status

11:01to student while you're there. And as for accommodation, that was also a little bit

11:06different because you are sort of more on your own when it comes to searching for accommodation.

11:14You just get in contact with a host family or private people who let out houses to students.

11:20It's not really done by the university, but that was so uncomplicated and so easy to do.

11:27Well, thank you very much for joining us, Amy. And you've been watching Kent Student 101 live

11:33on KMTV. There's more news made just for Kent throughout the evening. And don't forget,

11:38you can always keep up to date with the latest news across your country by logging

11:42on to KMTV.co.uk. We'll see you next week for Student 101.

Category

Transcript

Recommended