PhD in Europe without scholarship from non-European homeland I earned my bachelors in Computer Engineering from my home country. I am now enrolled in a Physics masters program in the same university. Next year I plan to find a different university in Europe in which to enroll in a Computer Engineering PhD program.

However I doubt that I'll receive any scholarships from my homeland's government when studying abroad. Can I survive if I start to live out of my own my pocket? Is that enough to live in Europe just for a half year. Are there any available funds that can supplement my income such as a TA/RA's salary?

My main question is:


How to survive if I want to study PhD in Europe without any scholarship from my home country?
Which country might provide sufficient support for a foreigner to study at graduate level?


I am interested to Germany and Finland but any European country would be acceptable!
I only know the situation in Germany:

In order to get a visa, you are required to show that you can fund your PhD study. Either by scholarship, salary, or your personal means.

Usually, at least in CS, PhD students are employees of the university. You don't sign a contract that you are going to do a PhD, instead, you sign a contract that you will work for the university, "and you will be supported for doing a PhD". Your salary will be more than enough to support yourself (and thus for visa regulations).

However, it is also possible to do an external PhD. In this case you will not be an employee, rather a PhD student. What you need would be to find a professor who is willing to advise your work. In this case, you might get some scholarship from institutions like DAAD.