I'm thinking of doing my PhD abroad, but I found I really don't have a clue as to what non-UK unis are good. Could somebody please help me by pointing out some of the best unis in Europe. Maybe there are a few international visitors on the site who could tell me the best unis in their country?

I would have thought questions like "which countries would recognise my British degree as a suitable prerequisite for a PhD?", "how would I secure funding?", "which institution has a good name for research in my subject area?", "what differences are there between the British PhD and ones in foreign countries?", and "could I put up with the cultural differences?" for example would be questions in the forefront of you mind rather than focussing on finding "the best unis in Europe".

I'm sorry to disappoint you Karen, but I think I prefer my own question. I'm not stupid - of course I realize that there are many things to consider carefully, but what I was looking for was just a few names of unis worth checking out. It would be really great if someone could help me with this.

The thing is, your question is rather open-ended and finding the right university/institute would really depend on the answers to questions such as the ones I mentioned before. You haven't even mentioned which subject area you'll be studying! You'd have to be a bit more specific in order for people to be able to offer their advice.

I suppose I should have mentioned I'm in biochemistry (thanks), but apart from that, I stick with my original question. My knowledge of international unis is very poor (I'm sorry to say), and so I'm not looking for the perfect PhD position, just an overview of what is available. That's why I was kind of hoping that someone could just name a few universities with good reputations so I can see if they are for me or not. If they seem interesting I will continue by asking myself all of Karen's questions.

Dear Sarah
If you would like to come to Sweden then maybe you would be interested in the universities of Uppsala or Lund. Also, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm is good at biomedical research.
I'm not sure what kind of biochemistry is done, but their general reputation is very good.

I would have a look at Lund also, especially for biochemistry. It has a very good reputation, and publishes a lot of papers.

you can 't miss a look at the chinese flier while you choosing amongst the options recommeneded
Tsinghua and peking and Nanking Zhejiang unis are great here

Are you any good at learning languages? If not, go for Scandinavia - the Swedes generally learn/speak English as an international business language (right Frida?) and because Swedish is ... um ... complicated.