The best-value European countries to head to for high-quality education are Italy, Germany and Finland, according to currency and travel money expert FairFX.
The company also looked at the top European universities, based on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018, and analysed their tuition fees and living cost to determine the most affordable and the most expensive.
The FairFX cost calculator has revealed that the average annual cost of going to university in the UK is more than £18,000, with average tuition fees at £9,234 and an average living cost of £9,526. Some European universities can offer degrees at a fraction of the price – in fact, some of them do not charge tuition fees at all.
The most affordable countries to study in Europe
| Rank | Country | Average tuition Fee | Average living costs | Average total |
| 1 | Italy | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| 2 | Germany* | £396 | £7,113 | £7,519 |
| 3 | Finland* | £93 | £7,858 | £7,951 |
| 4 | Sweden | £0 | £8,052 | £8,052 |
| 5 | Austria | £35 | £8,921 | £8,957 |
| 6 | Belgium | £811 | £8,782 | £9,593 |
| 7 | Luxembourg | £740 | £9,975 | £10,715 |
| 8 | Spain | £1,934 | £9,060 | £10,994 |
| 9 | Netherlands | £1,854 | £9,659 | £11,514 |
| 10 | Norway | £140 | £11,465 | £11,604 |
*No tuition fees, just semester fees/student union fees
The company then analysed which universities in Europe would be the most affordable and institutions in Italy and Germany dominated the list. Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Italy took the top two spots by providing free tuition and covering living costs for the few able to secure a place. No UK universities made this list.
At the moment it is unclear what impact Brexit will have on how much university students from the UK will have to pay for tuition fees and how much students coming from the EU will have to pay in the UK after 2019.
FairFX’s 2018 Top 10 best value European universities to study
| Value rank 2018 | World University Rank 2018 | University | Country | Tuition fees | Living Costs | Total |
| =1 | 184 | Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa | Italy | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| =1 | =155 | Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna | Italy | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| 3 | =155 | TU Dresden | Germany | £477 | £5,085 | £5,561 |
| 4 | 88 | Free University of Berlin | Germany | £576 | £6,009 | £6,585 |
| 5 | =113 | University of Göttingen | Germany | £678 | £6,009 | £6,687 |
| 6 | =165 | University of Würzburg | Germany | £230 | £6,471 | £6,701 |
| 7 | 79 | RWTH Aachen University | Germany | £475 | £6,240 | £6,716 |
| 8 | 45 | Heidelberg University | Germany | £414 | £6,471 | £6,885 |
| 9 | 125 | University of Mannheim | Germany | £290 | £6,702 | £6,992 |
| 10 | 82 | University of Freiburg | Germany | £287 | £6,933 | £7,220 |
However UK universities took nine out of 10 places in the table for the most expensive universities to study in Europe. University College London topped the list costing £24,353 a year. Four of the universities were located in London. École Polytechnique in France was the only university outside of the UK to make this list.
FairFX’s 2018 most expensive universities to study in Europe
| Most expensive rank 2018 | World University Rank 2018 | University | Country | Tuition fee | Average living costs | Total |
| 1 | 16 | University College London | United Kingdom | £9,250 | £15,103 | £24,353 |
| 2 | =143 | University of St Andrews | United Kingdom | £9,250 | £12,720 | £21,970 |
| 3 | =141 | University of Birmingham | United Kingdom | £9,250 | £12,180 | £21,430 |
| 4 | 8 | Imperial College London | United Kingdom | £9,250 | £11,190 | £20,440 |
| 5 | 1 | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | £9,250 | £11,129 | £20,379 |
| = 6 | 36 | King’s College London | United Kingdom | £9,250 | £11,000 | £20,250 |
| = 6 | 76 | University of Bristol | United Kingdom | £9,250 | £11,000 | £20,250 |
| 8 | 115 | École Polytechnique | France | £11,094 | £8,782 | £19,876 |
| 9 | 121 | Queen Mary University of London | United Kingdom | £9,250 | £10,500 | £19,750 |
| 10 | =126 | University of Southampton | United Kingdom | £9,250 | £9,953 | £19,203 |
Read more: Best universities in Europe
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