Open Days, Virtual Fairs and Taster Courses: How to Use Them to Choose a European University

Why open days and fairs matter before you apply

A prospectus shows you what a university wants you to see. An open day, a virtual fair or a taster course shows you the real thing: how staff answer questions, how current students talk about their workload, and how a city feels once you stand in it. Use these events to test your assumptions before you commit months to an application.

Treat every event as data collection, not marketing. Take notes after each one and compare them across universities and subjects, not to remember which campus had the nicest coffee shop, but to spot patterns in teaching style, support and cost.

In-person open days: get past the tour script

Campus tours cover the same ground at every university: library, sports hall, one lecture theatre. Push past that by asking to sit in on a real class, visit the department for your subject, and speak to a current student outside the official ambassador programme.

• Book your place 4-8 weeks ahead. Popular open days for subjects like medicine or business fill up early.

• Bring 5-10 questions specific to your subject: contact hours, group project size, dissertation supervision, industry placements.

• Walk 10-15 minutes beyond the campus gate. Look at housing, supermarkets and bus times, since this is where you live day to day.

• Ask staff directly about dropout and completion rates for your programme.

Virtual fairs: work the live chat

National agencies such as Germany's DAAD and France's Campus France , along with individual universities, run virtual fairs through the year. These events save travel cost and let you compare several countries in one afternoon, but only if you use the live chat and breakout rooms instead of watching a recording later.

• Log in early and target admissions staff directly rather than general marketing contacts.

• Ask for the class size and staff-to-student ratio for your subject, not the university-wide average.

• Request a direct contact for follow-up questions by email.

• Save chat answers about deadlines and fees. Virtual fair pages often disappear once the event ends.

Taster courses and summer schools: the real test

A taster course, short summer school or sample lecture week is the closest you get to trying a degree before you apply. Many run from a few days to two weeks and combine short classes with campus life and city trips.

Use a taster course to answer two questions: do you like how this subject gets taught here, and do you want to live in this city for three or four years. Both matter more than the marketing photos.

• Ask whether the taster course reflects the real teaching style of the full degree or is a simplified showcase version.

• Check if attending gives any advantage in the application. Some universities weigh it, most do not.

• Factor in the travel and accommodation cost of the taster course itself when weighing your options.

Questions worth asking at every event

• What is the total yearly cost including tuition, housing, insurance and books, not tuition alone?

• What language is teaching delivered in for your specific programme, and what level do you need on day one?

• What support exists for international students: visa help, a housing office, a buddy programme?

• What do graduates from this programme do afterward, and does the university show real destination data?

• Who do you contact directly if something goes wrong during the application?

Turning notes into a shortlist

After each event, write down one strength, one concern and one open question. Do this the same day, since details blur fast once you visit several campuses in a row.

Once you attend open days, fairs or taster courses for 4-6 universities, compare your notes side by side. Drop any university where your concerns outweigh your strengths, and build your final shortlist from what remains rather than from the original brochure list you started with.

Combining all three before you commit

Open days, virtual fairs and taster courses answer different questions, so use them together rather than relying on one alone. A virtual fair helps you build an initial shortlist across many countries in less time. An open day tests your shortlist candidates once you have narrowed to a handful, and a taster course, where your schedule allows, gives you the deepest test before you commit to a final application.

Space these out across your application timeline. Start virtual fairs early, in your first year of research, move to open days once your shortlist narrows, and fit in a taster course during a school holiday if your top choice offers one before the application deadline.