England loses out on European students
The official numbers are out. And British Prime Minister DavidCameron might not be very happy about them: following the massive
In October last year, preliminary data from UCAS, the Britishuniversity application system,
13,7% increase among non-EU students
Among non-EU students English universities continue enjoyinggreat popularity as there were 13,7% more applicants from thiscategory. Citizens from other EU member states meanwhile seem toshy away from studying in England as their number declined by11,2%.
Officials downplayed the data with Nicola Dandridge fromUniversities UK commenting that “the dip is far less dramatic thanmany were initially predicting. And if we look at the number of18-year-old applicants from the UK, this has dropped by only 3.6per cent at a time when the overall 18-year-old population is indecline.”
Worries over university participation
Martin Lewis, head of the Independent Task Force on StudentFinance Information, raised concerns that this trend may affectparticipation rates among students from a lower socio-economicbackground. “There is no doubt that the new higher fees in Englandwill have put some students off. More difficult is assessing howbig a problem that is.”
“The worst case scenario is that it is those fromnon-traditional university backgrounds – wrongly panicked intofeeling they can’t afford fees or scared of being saddled with hugeunmanageable debt,” Lewis stated.
