I studied Music and French at Undergraduate level. Having spent 3 years away from university, trying to decide what to do and teaching English abroad I have decided that Media Design is the field I wish to continue my studies in. I initially looked at courses in my native country of Ireland and found 2 courses, costing betweeen 3000 and 8000 euro for one year programmes. Links to which can be found below.

After that, i decided to broaden my search and look at courses elsewhere in the world. At present, I am living in Tokyo and have been for the last two years. It has taken me a while to settle into such a strange new culture and learn (some of) a new language. I eventually found a great course in one of the top Japanese universities, Keio University. The course costs about 8000euro per year, but is two years long.

In addition to this, I'd have the added expense of living in Tokyo for two years, mostly without a wage. Although I do hope to teach English as I study, this will surely work out as significantly more expensive than if I studied for one year in my native Ireland. I've spent months studying the course handbooks and am convinced that Keio seems like a better course. Especially as it is two years long and this will be a new domain for me.

I've already started trying to study some things like Java script to get the ball rolling before I get onto the course, but now the prospect of having to take out a loan of over 24k euro is upon me and I'm worried if I'm making the right decision/investment.

If you had time to objectively examine the courses below and consider their merits and give me your opinion (perhaps from experience) on the benefits of studying abroad, or chosing a more expensive course/longer course, over another.....or indeed the disadvantages of it, I'd really appreciate it.

http://www.kmd.keio.ac.jp/en/admissions/masters-program.html

http://schoolofmedia.dit.ie/digtec_01.html

http://www.csis.ul.ie/imedia/

I think you need to discuss with someone with knowledge of this particular area of media design.

Apart from this, I would suggest not to stretch yourself too much. Any of the universities might be good for you. Sometime, you need only a little push and then you can work on your own to move further. Your home university, despite having a shorter program, might give you enough needed push and then you can move further from there. So, if you are financially comfortable in your country, that might be better option for you. Apart from this, you can make up for any shortcomings through short courses as well after you are back on job again.

Hope this helps.