The most important thing to do is to think very carefully about what it is you want to get out of your study. This will depend upon your interests, your experiences and your long-term ambitions. Only you can make the right choice but you should get as much advice and assistance as possible. If you are currently at university, talk to your tutors and, if appropriate, careers advisers. You should contact your British Council, which offers advice and information for anyone considering coming to the UK. Talk to your family and friends. If possible, talk to people who have already studied in the UK. Most UK universities have alumni networks. Many will also have international officers working in your own country. When you are clear about the subject you wish to study, you need to find out which universities offer the courses or research programmes you are interested in. The best place to start your search is with Prospects at Find courses and research. This online database allows you to search for postgraduate programmes by subject of study, institution, qualification and keyword. Each entry includes a description of the course or research opportunity, information on the duration of the course and the number of students plus a section with information relevant to international students. Email links mean that you can get in contact with course providers directly. In addition to postgraduate opportunities, the British Council’s website Education UK includes information on boarding school and college education plus English language, career-based, and undergraduate programmes. The site also has a link to the English in Britain website where you can search accredited institutions offering relevant English language courses. The site will also point you to your nearest British Council office. Once you’ve got what you need from the website, click on the relevant link to contact the British Council. Your local office will have a wide range of books, directories, brochures, guides, prospectuses and CD-ROMs that you can use. UK universities attend exhibitions all over the world. These exhibitions, usually organised by the British Council, provide an ideal opportunity to talk to representatives from the universities and with alumni. If you wish to check the validity of an institution and/or course in the UK, you can check with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), a UK government department. Their Recognised Degrees section is particularly helpful and includes a warning about bogus degrees and a very useful section called 'About UK Degree Awarding Institutions'. The The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) is an independent body that exists to safeguard and help to improve academic standards and quality of higher education in the UK. The QAA conducts reviews of institutions and courses in UK higher education institutions and these can be viewed on their web site under 'Reviews and Reports'. The quality of research in higher education institutions is reviewed in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) and you can read the results of the latest exercise. Unistats is also useful in giving insights into UK higher education. Further information:
| 
