Experts warn UK government of influx of EU students
By Lisbeth Kirk
The upcoming chairman of the Russel Group of universities has warned the British government that home students at top UK universities are being displaced by a growing number of highly qualified students from Europe.
Professor Grant, incumbent Vice-Chancellor of University College London noted that more funds would be needed, and less strict admission quotas would be necessary in future in order to maintain the number of UK students attending the UK’s top universities.
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"It’s clear that the places for UK students in leading UK universities is starting to decline rather than increase," Professor Grant told The Times.
"We will be asking for greater resourcing for institutions which are setting the gold standard for British university education," he added, noting that "any adjustment will affect others, but there are big questions to be asked about the Government’s 50 perent attainment rate, without a big uplift in funding."
Bill Rammell, the Higher Education Minister, retorted that "In the last decade we have seen a 50 percent increase in the number of EU undergraduates studying in England and this has not affected the opportunities for UK students - we see no reason for this to change."
Barry Sheeman chairman of the Commons Education Select Committee has also noted that EU students, often with better qualifications in maths and sciences, are in fact sustaining less popular courses in the UK.
When the EU expands to 27 member states 91,000 students are expected to be studying in the UK.
Of 404,668 undergraduates starting a degree at UK universities this year 14,049 were from other EU member states, including the ten accession countries. The number of home students who failed to gain a university place reached 106,430.
Under EU laws, universities cannot discriminate between EU candidates.