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Find opportunities that are right for you to continue your education outside your home country.
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© 2025 Freedom Degree
Freedom Degree, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. © 2025 | Powered by Strapi
Mar 20, 2025
Your chance to see the advantages of Slovak education
Hi, my name is Misha, I am a front-end developer (almost full-stack developer). I study applied computer science in Slovakia, at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra. What do we study? It includes a lot of things: programming theory, logic and other theoretical disciplines, but also applied knowledge. We get actual development experience in different languages. I'm in my second year now. We've already studied Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, C programming language (which I don't really like). We also have Java being taught, which I haven't taken yet but plan to next year. I enjoy doing it, the university has even exceeded my expectations.
About studying in Russia and other countries
I did not want to study in Russia because the quality of education is poor and it costs a giant amount of money. Secondly, I have never liked in my whole life what happens in Russian politics. I had the experience of studying in Russia and like many people, it was not very positive. You are just shoved into university by your parents, more as a defense against the army. I studied at a pedagogical university, almost didn't go there and dropped out in my last year. Basically, I don't regret it, because I wouldn't have needed that diploma.
In general, the first foreign country where I started studying was the Czech Republic. Both in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia there are laws that allow you to study at universities for free, but in the national language. It is not favorable to study in English, as it turns out. As a result, I studied at the Czech language courses at Charles University to enter the main program at the university. They cost quite a lot, I saved up for them for a long time, but it was worth it.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get a foothold in the Czech Republic for various reasons. At that time I still wanted to study design, but then I changed my mind. Now I can say that I had a rather poor understanding of the specifics of teaching design in the Czech Republic. I then decided to go back to programming to study it more intensively.
I cope with financial issues myself, organizations did not help me, and there is no need. I have a full-time job, and sometimes I also have time for freelancing. I study for free in Slovakia. I even received a scholarship for academic excellence last academic year! Pretty symbolic, like 400 euros a year, but still nice. My expectations from studying in Slovakia have been met. I am not studying at a university in the capital, it is not a maximum workload, but it is to my advantage because I am working.
I like the style of teaching at the university. There are a lot of young teachers with whom you can find a common language and socialize outside the university, and even go to bars after classes. What you need to understand about my field - knowledge here gets outdated quickly. But we are given the freshest possible knowledge at the university, especially in the field of web development. I absolutely love the teachers and the content of the courses. I've improved a lot in my work only thanks to the university.
About living and working in Slovakia
In Slovakia, the main difficulties were with the residence permit. I applied from Serbia, where I had lived for some time. It was extremely difficult, because you cannot apply from Russia, and in Serbia I managed to get an appointment by a lucky miracle. It was extremely long, I was constantly calling and writing to the consulate, reminding them about my case. Every time I was told that there were no places to apply: “wait your turn, wait your turn, wait your turn". In the end, it happened so that I arrived for my studies only in November, when it is already in full swing, when students are already taking their assessments. I got into academic trouble, but still I'm studying at my university precisely because they decided to wait for me. Other universities didn't really meet my needs. Now I am retaking the exams that I didn't have time to take properly back then.
The process of obtaining a residence permit in Slovakia is very complicated, but I like the country very much. For me, the main advantage here is the relatively low cost of living, much lower than in western Europe. I could not afford to live in Germany or Austria. In Slovakia, even if a student does not work, the places in the dormitory cost 60-70 euros a month, which is absolutely realistic to afford, and students can officially work another 20 hours a week. In addition, the country is favorably located, right in the center of Europe. From the western part of the country, Vienna can be reached in about an hour. It is easy to get to Prague, Budapest, Warsaw.
There is relatively low competition in the labor market here, because many locals, on the contrary, leave for countries with a higher standard of living. Everyone is valued here if you are a good specialist. It is easier to find a job and housing here - there are no queues to view an apartment, as there are in Western Europe. I also find it quite easy to make connections at university, to find company for a trip to a museum or a movie. People are open, they make contact. What else can I say? It is safe here, the air is clean, the food is tasty, and the drinking water is from the tap.
About disadvantages
Of the disadvantages, I can single out two main ones. The first is the economy, and the second is politics. As for the economy, it is one of the worst in the EU. Slovaks like to look at Poland, saying how everything is growing and developing rapidly there, new IT companies appearing, and so on. And it has to be said that apartment prices are quite high, if you compare them with salaries, and in Bratislava they are quite astronomical.
About politics: it is very turbulent, the government changes frequently, there are early dissolutions of parliament and so on. People often vote for some conspiracy theorists and disinformers, and then the other political groups go to rallies, trying to oppose their country's slide into authoritarianism. In neighboring Austria, there are also very disturbing trends.
About life's plans
The main plan is to finish my education. I'm currently in the second year of my bachelor's program. The third one will be the last one, which means that I should graduate in a year and a half. After that I plan to move either to Bratislava or Košice (it is the second largest city in Slovakia), to continue my studies in my Master's program. Universities and education there are of higher quality, well, and in general, the cities are larger, in them personally I am more interested. Then, perhaps, I will go for a PhD, in Slovakia there are good conditions and it will be possible to get a more solid scholarship, in addition to free education. In general, I want to stay in Slovakia, build up a lot of life experience to get a permanent residence permit and then citizenship. I want such a stable, calm and measured life. I hope that everything will work out for me.