The GLOCAL office just sent out the conditional/unconditional offers to the GLOCAL Cohort 6, and as current GLOCAL students, we’d like to welcome all of you to become part of the GLOCAL family! This two-year programme will certainly be a challenging, interesting, and rewarding journey in your life that you will never forget 
Thrilled and excited, you must also be a bit nervous about what will come next in the following few months. When should I book the accommodation? What kind of courses will I be taking at the University of Glasgow? Are there any recommended books that I can read during the summer? Where can I find information for the visa application, the scholarship, and the courses? Trust us, we know your anxiety because we’ve also been through that!
That’s why we decided to write this post and share our experiences with you so that you can relax a bit, get prepared, and most importantly, enjoy the happiness of being accepted into one of the best programmes in the world!
When should I start looking for accommodation in Glasgow?
When we are planning a trip, the flight tickets and the accommodation are usually the first two things that we want to take care of, so you’re probably already thinking about where should you live in Glasgow. Don’t worry, the GLOCAL office will send out the Welcome Pack to provide you with further information (In 2021, we received the Welcome Pack in mid-June).
The student accommodations that the GLOCAL office has an agreement with may be different every year. In 2021, we were offered two options: Unite Students and Fresh (Collegelands). You can choose to live with other GLOCAL students, or you can share a flat with other EMJMD students. You can visit their websites to get an idea of what the rooms look like. The accommodations are provided on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you’d like to stay in the student accommodation, keep a close eye on your email, and upon receiving the Welcome Pack from the GLOCAL office, follow the instructions and act fast 🙂
Please note: this information is based on the 2021-2022 school year, and may differ from what is available in 2022-2023 and beyond. Please refer to the official GLOCAL website and the GLOCAL Welcome Pack for the most up-to-date, accurate information.
If you don’t want to live in the student accommodations, you can also look for rooms on your own. You can choose to live in the West End of Glasgow, where the University of Glasgow is located, or you can live in the East End, which is closer to the city center.
If you want to learn more about accommodations, here are some articles written by previous GLOCAL students that you may find helpful:
Accommodation in Glasgow (written in 2019)
Finding a place in Uppsala (written in 2022)
So you want to live in Barcelona… (written in 2022)
How can I apply for the UK visa?
The GLOCAL Welcome Pack will provide thorough information about the visa application as well, but if you are really worried and want to start preparing the documents, here are a few useful links that you can take a look at:
If you need a visa to study in the UK, you can choose to apply for a Student Route Visa (valid for the full duration of the programme) or a Standard Visitor Visa (valid for semester one only). Please note that students from different countries may encounter different problems when applying for a UK visa, and the fee is also different. If you want more detailed information about applying for a visa from your country, it is recommended to visit the official website of the UK government.
You will also need the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) from the University of Glasgow to apply for the student visa, and this will be issued by the university rather than the GLOCAL office. Most students will receive their CAS in July, but if you are still waiting for it in August, you should visit the International Student Support website for information or contact them at internationalstudentsupport@glasgow.ac.uk.
What courses will I be taking in Glasgow?
All the students are required to take the course “The Globalized Economy” and “Global Varieties of Capitalism in Historical Perspective“, and can choose one elective course from various options. Each year, the elective courses offered may be different, but in 2021, we could choose between “Technology Transfer in the Global Economy“, “Innovation in the Middle East and North Africa“, “Business and Government“, and “Issues in Global Political Economy“. To know more about the courses, you can visit the GLOCAL website.
In 2021, we also got a chance to enroll in a free language course (optional). There are plenty of languages to choose from. It is recommended to take Spanish, German, Japanese, or Dutch courses if you are going to study in those countries in the coming semesters!
The University of Glasgow also offers various free online courses and self-learning resources for their students, ranging from academic writing and presentation skills, to career-building guidance and LinkedIn profile advice. You will be amazed by how much you can learn!
If you’d like to learn more about the courses and what we did in the classes, check out these recommended articles:
Are there any recommended books that I can read during the summer?
There is no compulsory summer reading list for upcoming GLOCAL students in 2021, but Professor Duncan Ross recommended some books, websites, and Podcasts related to the courses at the University of Glasgow. Check them out if you are too excited and just can’t wait till September!
Books
- P. Dicken, Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the Global Economy (2015)
- F. Livesay, From Global to Local: The Making of Things and the End of Globalisation (2017)
- J. Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents Revisited (2017)
- J. D. Sachs, The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions (2020)
- M.C. Klein and M. Pettis, Trade Wars are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace (2020)
Blogs & Columns
PODCASTS
Besides, in the first class of Global Varieties of Capitalism, we read a few chapters of the book “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty” written by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. You can read it if you’re interested in the topic. The book “The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs Private Sector Myths” written by Mariana Mazzucato was also brought up by different professors both in Glasgow and Barcelona, so it is worth reading too!
Other suggestions?
The best place to look for information about the GLOCAL programme is to visit the official GLOCAL website. The GLOCAL office keeps updating the website, so you will be able to find up-to-date information about the courses, the consortium, the academic calendar, and common FAQs.
It is also recommended (of course!) to read some articles on this GLOCAL Experience blog to get the first-hand experiences of the students! You can read articles about our academic work, creative activities initiated by the previous cohorts, social and cultural experiences, and some articles about careers.
You can also visit the Meet Cohort V page to see where the GLOCAL students come from and reach out to them if you have any questions!
GLOCAL is a really diverse program and you will probably come from 25+ different countries, you will definitely learn as much from other classmates as you will from the professors. We believe you will learn a lot, make a lot of amazing friends, do a lot of things for the first time, and have SO MUCH fun! Welcome to the wonderful GLOCAL family, GLOCAL Cohort 6!