Finding the Best Countries for a Masters in Europe

With historic universities and low (or free!) tuition fees, the European mainland is a very attractive option for international students.

There are lots of countries to choose from though, so how do you find the best European Masters in the subject you want to study? One approach is to look at university rankings. But what if you want to find the best countries as well as the top universities? That can actually be a very sensible approach.

For example, Switzerland's ETH Zurich is ranked tenth in the world for Engineering. That makes it one of the best universities in the world for this subject. But is Switzerland the 'best country' in Europe for an Engineering Masters? Not necessarily: Germany, the Netherlands and France all have more top universities.

This blog helps identify different European 'hotspots' by looking at how many universities each country has included in the Times Higher Education subject rankings*. It can also help you spot countries with universities that 'punch above their weight' as top options for a Masters.

Take a look and see what we've revealed for your subject!

Medical courses really benefit from facilities and researchers working at the cutting edge of current practice (sometimes quite literally). This helps explain why Sweden's Karolinska Institute - a renowned medical research centre with its own teaching hospital - tops the rankings for European universities.

But that doesn't necessarily make Sweden the best European destination for Medicine and Healthcare. In fact, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium all have more top 150 universities.

On the other hand, Spain's University of Barcelona is also a top 100 institution for Medicine, even though Spain itself doesn't have as many ranked universities for Clinical (or Pre-Clinical) Medicine and Healthcare. Perhaps that's something to bear in mind if rankings aren't the only thing you're thinking about for your Masters abroad (Barcelona is quite a bit warmer and sunnier than Stockholm).

We're seeing a trend developing here, as Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden are in the 'top five' countries for Life Sciences, just as they did for Medicine. This makes sense for these quite closely related fields, but it also proves that we can reveal regions of expertise by using rankings in this way.

We can also spot a few more surprising Life Science hotspots, with internationally recognised universities in Austria and Finland. Maybe 'hotspots' wasn't the right term to use there. Still, worth a look if you're thinking about a European Masters in Biology, Ecology and similar subjects.

With a strong research base in Applied Science, Engineering and Technology, it's not surprising to see Germany topping the ranking for Physical Sciences. That said, there are interesting options elsewhere. Netherlands and France are also strong contenders, with six ranked universities each.

Yes, Germany is still top (we're learning something about European league tables here) but the Netherlands comes out ahead on individual university rankings.

Fittingly, one of the top European institutions for this subject is the University of Vienna, whose ex-students include one Sigmund Freud. Of course, Freud founded the discipline of Psychoanalysis, not modern Psychology, but still, it's a nice connection.

Arts & Humanities are a trickier field to compare internationally. Different countries will focus on and specialise in their own Literature, History and Philosophy and will usually be the best places for you to do so as a student.

As a result, this table may tell you more about the emphasis different countries place on Arts & Humanities. For example, Spain obviously punches above its weight here, relative to other subjects. But then Spain did invent the novel.

You can also use the results here to spot countries like Switzerland and the Netherlands which have a strong cosmopolitan tradition and are likely to offer more comparative or international programmes.

Education is another subject that can be taught quite specifically in different countries, but this table can still reveal countries like Ireland and Belgium which specialise in this area (despite having relatively small university systems).

More generally, studying abroad at a top institution like the University of Helsinki or University of Tübingen could be a great way to gain insight into different educational systems and pedagogical approaches.

Germany comes top again but the Netherlands isn't far behind, being well established as international centres for legal education, practice and process. It makes sense to find its universities doing so well in global rankings.

The Netherlands is top for Social Sciences, perhaps reflecting the benefits of the country's open, cosmopolitan outlook for fields such as Political Science, Jurisprudence and Psychology. Switzerland is also an attractive option here (for similar reasons).

Elsewhere it's worth noticing that Germany, Sweden and France are also home to top 50 institutions - something worth bearing in mind when considering that all of these are very affordable options for postgraduate study.

It's a little-known fact that Europe 'invented' the modern business school, with ESCP Europe being founded in Paris in 1819.

Today many of the world's top 'triple accredited' MBA programmes are found at European universities and France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands all have multiple highly-ranked institutions. Countries like Spain also offer strong alternative options so you've got plenty of great universities to choose from if you're thinking about an MBA in Europe.

It's probably no surprise that Germany takes the lead again for Engineering and Technology subjects. However, other countries also do well in this table - represented by their own specialist technical universities (a category of institution that is much more common in continental Europe than in the UK).

It's probably no surprise that Germany takes the lead again for Computer Science. However, other countries also do well in this table including Switzerland, France and Belgium.

It's interesting to 'pivot' rankings in this way and see what emerges when we look at countries as well as universities. Hopefully this has given you a few ideas for your Masters. Remember that you can search for courses or learn more about different European study abroad destinations here on FindAMasters. You can also check out our overall guide to postgraduate rankings, which includes a full comparison of the different league tables.

*We've used the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject for the tables in this post, counting the number of universities each country has in the top 150 and listing their highest-ranked university.

You may also like...