Overseas students are a lucrative source of income for
universities all over Europe. Currently, the UK is the undisputed
champion: the alma mater to 214,000 non-EU international students.
The OECD expects this number to grow to 258,000 by 2015 so that 10%
of undergraduate and 50% of postgraduate students in the UK will be
from overseas. However, recent developments might work against
these predictions as British Prime Minister, David Cameron,
lives up to his campaign promises of slashing budget deficits and
immigration numbers.
From caps to fees
Home Secretary Theresa May recently explained British MPs that
Great Britain had to "take action across all routes to entry - work
visas, student visas, family visas". The new government's goal is
to cut immigration numbers of currently 196,000 per year to the
"tens of thousands" by 2015. The catch: this immigration cap would
also entail refusing visas to up to 88,000 overseas students.
Those foreign students who do make it across the border may then
join their fellow British students paying higher tuition fees to
decrease UK's debt burden. UK and EU students currently face annual
fees of £3,000 per year (around € 3,500), overseas students are
charged between £6,250 and £18,000.
Living up to his second campaign promise, Prime Minister Cameron
introduced legislation that would double or triple tuition fees for
both UK/EU and overseas students. The necessary legislation
squeezed through the House of Commons last week, deeply dividing
the LibDem coalition partner of Cameron's Tories. Nobody was more
in shock about this than Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in her
Bentley.
Scandinavian taxpayers worried
Shifting higher burdens to students is not only favored
in the UK, but seems prominent in other countries as well. Sweden
is often seen as leading in innovative education policies. There,
it was common sense that all Swedish, EU and overseas students
could study for free. This generous system was questioned once debt
levels rose all over Europe. That is why from 2011 on all of the
currently 10,000 non-EU students will be charged up 200,000 kronor
(over € 21,000) while Swedish and EU students go on studying for
free.
"It is not reasonable to expect Swedish taxpayers to sponsor
foreign students' studies," states Tobias Krantz, Minister for
Higher Education and Research. "Swedish students who wish to study
abroad have to pay." Charging foreign students more than home/EU
students is seen by many EU governments as a reasonable measure to
protect taxpayers. It is interesting to note, however, which
countries now move towards a system that is more restrictive for
foreign students and those that are not.
Dutch treat
Prof. Philip Eijlander, Dean of the University of Tilburg,
recently prodded Dutch universities to take advantage of this
trend. Speaking at the seminar on Jo Ritzens latest book on the position of universities in
Europe he pointed out: "We can gain a competitive edge out of this
situation. The Dutch tuition fees are still quite reasonable and
will now become much more competitive, even for students who would
prefer to go to British HE-institutions. Here in the Netherlands
they can receive well regarded degrees in English language subjects
and studies. The top-universities in Britain will try to be able to
'catch' the very best students from abroad in any way, probably by
extra scholarships etc .
But Dutch universities will be able to attract many more of the
candidates for the English language institutions as long as we will
be effective in presenting the quality we can offer them. The most
recent CHE-ranking is just one example of the very
good quality-assessment our whole HE-system receives, not just
individual universities, as is still the case with almost all other
HE in other European countries and outside Europe."