1. Tougher rules for international students
The Home Office has announced the introduction of stricter entry criteria for non-EU students wishing to study in the UK. The new rules, announced by Alan Johnson this week, will require applicants to have English skills equivalent to a GCSE in a foreign language, and will bar students that are undertaking courses of less than 6 months from coming to the UK with their dependents.
The new regulations also put limits on the ability of students and their dependents to work in the UK. Students undertaking courses below degree level can now work a maximum of 10 rather than 20 hours per week, and their dependents are now no longer allowed to work at all.
2. Applicants who miss out on university places should undertake apprenticeships, Mandelson says
Those students who miss out on a university place should apply for an apprenticeship or further education place instead, Lord Mandelson has said. With record-breaking numbers of university applicants, up 8.7% on last year, Mandelson has argued that applicants should look at other options, and dismissed calls for a further increase in university places.
In the speech, given at the Lord Dearing Memorial Conference at Nottingham University on Thursday 11 February, Lord Mandelson argued that "The right response to the very real disappointment [of applicants not getting a university place], as tempting as it might seem, cannot be to guarantee every applicant a full time university place. It makes no sense either in terms of the cost to the public purse or the provision of quality teaching.”
3. Parliament on half-term recess 10- 22 February 2010
Parliament went on half-term recess this Wednesday 10 February. Parliament will re-open for business on Monday 22 February.
4. Parliamentary questions
Laird - Higher Education (Financial Benefits from Overseas Students)
Wed, 10 February 2010 | House of Lords
Written Answer
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the net annual financial benefit to the United Kingdom of students from non-European Union countries attending United Kingdom (a) public sector universities and colleges, and (b) private colleges.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Lord Young of Norwood Green): Estimates of the financial benefit to the UK of overseas students attending publicly funded higher education institutions, for the 2007-08 academic year, include the following:
- HEI income from non-EU students was £ l.88 billion;
- personal off-campus expenditure of international students attending UK universities is estimated to be £2.3 billion;
- international student expenditure generated almost £3.3 billion of output across the economy;
- gross export earnings for the HE sector are estimated to be over £5.3 billion-this includes the international revenue earned directly by the universities together with the additional personal expenditure of international students and visitors.
This does not include income from international students studying below HE level, or those studying at HE level in further education institutions. Equivalent information on international students attending private HE institutions is not held centrally. There are a number of private universities based in the UK whose students will benefit the UK to an extent, although these are not included in the above figures.