Hello--
        Most UK universities now have Web sites, which can be very helpful
in finding about their various museum programs.  A convenient listing of
these universities can be found at yahoo.com, under Education.  Also, I
have put together a list of M.A. programs outside the U.S in the general
area of art history, including museum studies.  It's not exhaustive, but
should give the curious a good idea of what getting a foreign degree
involves.  Find this at: (darkwing.uoregon.edu/~acd/site2/)
        People have been responding to these questions with excellent, if
rather sobering information about the near-impossibility of getting a job
in Britain--or anywhere else in the E.U.  I'd just like to add that while
we U.S. citizens (and other non-E.U. types) are not wanted as workers we
are much appreciated as students, perhaps in part because we pay 2.5 times
the amount of tuition, at least at the U. of London (Courtauld Inst.)
There is no financial aid for foreign students, and prospective students
should be careful about depending upon making important friendships--we're
there because we pay big bucks and so help to keep down the overcrowding.
        Anyone who wishes to attend university in non-English language countries
will almost always have to go through an application process even more
intense than for the UK. For Italy, p.e., one must take a special language
test which is apparently difficult--although there are now schools there
to teach you how to pass the test.  Most continental universities, while
cheap, are extremely overcrowded.  Also, while the UK used to be the
strictest about adherence to visa requirements, this is now also the case
for France, Germany, Italy, and probably every other country in Europe.
The arriving student may well be required to give evidence of having
enough money to stay for the academic year.  This has long been a
requirement for foreign students coming to study in the U.S.
        Finally, in terms of supporting oneself overseas, the folks I've
found who've been most successful have been skilled cooks, gardeners,
bicycle and auto repairers. If you're really good at one of these, and
make the right connections, you may be able to get an illegal job (you'd
never get hired legally for any these, any more than for museum work),
for which you will be paid less than the locals, but enough to allow you
to live, at a ramen-macaroni (or local variant) level for about as long as
you can stand it.  If you get caught without the proper visa or work
permit, you very likely will be deported.
  However, a graduate degree from a well-thought of foreign university can
be a big help on the old resume; for those who wish to indulge in the
ritual self-mortification of the PhD, this can help one's application
stand out in the crowd, and so may earn one a better fellowship package.
I think that the best idea for most US students is to find a good M.A.
program, go to London or Florence or Paris with enough money to live
decently, and then return home while they still retain the glow.  There's
not much more depressing in the world of travel than encountering a
burned-out ex-pat who's tired of living like a graduate student on the
edge of grown-up life in a glamorous European city, but who has been away
from the U.S. for too long to get a good job.

        Adrienne DeAngelis
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