The 10 cheapest universities in Europe

FairFX has calculated the cheapest and most expensive universities in Europe in a post-Brexit landscape

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Seeta Bhardwa

Editor, THE Student

Published on January 11 2018

Last updated September 12 2023

Two Italian universities have been crowned the cheapest universities in Europe, according to new analysis by foreign exchange company FairFX.

Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Scuola Superiore Sant’ Anna have been named the cheapest for both EU and non-EU students because there are no tuition fees and the university covers living costs for all students.

The analysis by FairFX aims to highlight how Brexit could affect the cost of studying at European universities that were included in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018. It is based on tuition fees, living costs and currency rates.

European students seeking an education in Britain currently pay the same as British students, which will continue in the 2018/19 academic year. However, it is unclear whether they would be treated as international students post-Brexit. Non-EU students currently pay more than £30,000 a year to study in the UK on average.

For UK students looking to study in Europe, their fees will also depend on what is agreed in Brexit negotiations.

The top 10 cheapest EU universities 2018

Value Rank	THE World University Rank	University	Country	Tuition fees	Living costs	Total	How much more for non-EU students?
=1	184	Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa	Italy	£0	£0	£0	£0
=1	=155	Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna	Italy	£0	£0	£0	£0
3	=155	TU Dresden	Germany	£457	£4,869	£5,326	£0
4	88	Free University of Berlin	Germany	£552	£5,754	£6,306	£0
5	=113	University of Göttingen	Germany	£650	£5,754	£6,404	£0
6	=165	University of Würzburg	Germany	£220	£6,197	£6,417	£0
7	79	RWTH Aachen University	Germany	£455	£5,976	£6,431	£0
8	45	Heidelberg University	Germany	£396	£6,197	£6,593	£0
9	125	University of Mannheim	Germany	£277	£6,418	£6,696	£2,655
10	82	University of Freiburg	Germany	£274	£6,640	£6,914	£2,656

FairFX also revealed the most expensive universities for EU and non-EU students – and every single one of the top 10 was located in the UK. The cheapest UK university was the University of East Anglia, costing £16,279 per year.

The most expensive universities to study at in the EU (for EU students) 2018

Most expensive Rank	World University Rank	University name	Tuition fee	Average living costs	Total
1	16	UCL	£9,250	£15,103	£24,353
2	=143	University of St Andrews	£9,250	£12,720	£21,970
3	=141	University of Birmingham	£9,250	£12,180	£21,430
4	8	Imperial College London	£9,250	£11,190	£20,440
5	1	University of Oxford	£9,250	£11,129	£20,379
= 6	36	King’s College London	£9,250	£11,000	£20,250
= 6	76	University of Bristol	£9,250	£11,000	£20,250
8	121	Queen Mary University of London	£9,250	£10,500	£19,750
9	=126	University of Southampton	£9,250	£9,953	£19,203
10	=80	University of Glasgow	£9,250	£9,792	£19,042

The costs of each university for both EU and non-EU students were also calculated to highlight what British students may end up paying after the UK leaves the EU in 2019. There were some significant differences, the largest at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, with a difference of £16,500.

However, despite these costs, many universities in Europe worked out significantly cheaper than if a student chose to stay in the UK.

The biggest differences in costs for EU v international students

Post-Brexit Rank	World University Rank	University	Country	Average costs for EU students (tuition and living)	Average costs for international students (non-EU) (tuition and living)	Difference
1	=38	Karolinska Institute	Sweden	£7,197	£23,697	£16,500
2	103	Maastricht University	Netherlands	£11,514	£27,222	£15,708
3	64	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands	£9,566	£23,371	£13,805
4	90	University of Helsinki	Finland	£7,614	£21,247	£13,632
5	=153	Technical University of Denmark	Denmark	£9,829	£23,108	£13,279
6	9	Lund University	Sweden	£7,647	£20,773	£13,126
7	=198	University of Gothenburg	Sweden	£7,197	£18,199	£11,801
8	68	Utrecht University	Netherlands	£9,743	£20,947	£11,204
9	=86	Uppsala University	Sweden	£7,255	£18,357	£11,102
10	=173	KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Sweden	£7,746	£18,803	£11,057

The analysis also looked at the most affordable countries in Europe, and Italy came out on top because there are no tuition fees and no living costs for students. Other countries such as Germany and Finland, which do not charge tuition fees but charge admin fees, also come up high on the list.

The most affordable countries to study in Europe

Rank	Country	Average tuition Fee	Average living costs	Average Total	How much more for non-EU students?
1	Italy	£0	£0	£0	£0
2	Germany*	£379	£6,811	£7,190	£699
3	Sweden	£0	£7,448	£7,448	£12,335
4	Finland*	£89	£7,525	£7,614	£13,632
5	Austria	£34	£8,543	£8,557	£1,270
6	Belgium	£776	£8,410	£9,186	£1,286
7	Luxembourg	£708	£9,552	£10,260	£0
8	Spain	£1,852	£8,676	£10,528	£2,694
9	Norway	£127	£10,411	£10,538	£0
10	Netherlands	£1,776	£9,250	£11,026	£8,838