Hundreds of international students will be able to take up their promised places after negotiations between the Home Office and University College London ended with the government granting extra visas. Hundreds of students, many from China, had been left in limbo after UCL underestimated the demand for places this year and exceeded its allocation of confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) electronic documents allowed by the Home Office. UCL issued an apology to those affected, telling them it was “extremely sorry for the disruption and uncertainty”, and offering to pay…
Tag: International students
International students left in limbo by UCL after university exceeds visa allocations
Hundreds of international students accepted on courses by University College London have been left in limbo and facing thousands of pounds in costs, after the university admitted it had run out of places just days before many were due to start. About 200 students from China alone have been affected after UCL exceeded its visa allocations for the coming academic year, with the university initially telling the students that they would have to defer their studies until 2026. UCL has blamed “an extraordinary surge in demand” for the over-recruitment of…
China-backed centres at UK universities under threat from new free speech laws
Confucius Institutes at universities across England are under threat from new free speech rules, setting off urgent talks between ministers, vice-chancellors and regulators over the fate of the China-backed language and culture centres. Universities fear that the new regulations imposed by the Office for Students (OfS) this month will cause legal headaches with their Chinese partners, including the government in Beijing, and could lead to some being closed. University leaders claim they have been left in the dark by England’s regulator over whether or not they are breaking the new…
Tory immigration policies risk over-reliance on Chinese students, ex-universities minister warns
The Conservative party’s “scorched earth” immigration policies risk UK universities becoming increasingly reliant on students from China to avoid financial crisis, a former universities minister has said. It comes as estimates suggest 25% of tuition fee income at leading British universities already comes from China. Chris Skidmore, who resigned as a Conservative MP earlier this year, said the new restrictions on issuing international student visas, and recent threats to undo the “graduate route” work visas, were sabotaging the government’s own education strategy as well as efforts to diversify university recruitment…
Sustained rift with China would harm UK universities, report warns
UK universities would be hugely damaged by a sustained diplomatic rift between Britain and China, according to a report that predicts difficulty in replacing the Chinese students who now take up more than one in four PhD places. The study, co-authored by the former universities minister Jo Johnson, found that many leading institutions remain highly dependent on Chinese students for tuition fee income as well as to fill postgraduate research courses in subjects such as economics, science and technology. A sudden inflaming of tensions between the UK and China –…
Fifth of UK universities’ income comes from overseas students, figures show
One in every five pounds received by UK universities last year came from international students, according to Guardian analysis that reveals the scale of the sector’s growing dependence on overseas tuition fees for financial survival. With the annual dash to allocate university places for the next academic year about to begin, there are fears UK students could lose out to their overseas counterparts, whose higher fees have become critical to university budgets. Tuition fees from international students now make up a third or more of the total income at some…
English universities warned not to over-rely on fees of students from China
England’s higher education regulator has warned universities against over-reliance on tuition fees of students from China, as Rishi Sunak backtracked on his earlier pledge to close UK branches of the Beijing-sponsored Confucius Institute. The Office for Students (OfS) wrote to 23 universities with high numbers of Chinese students on Thursday, asking to see their contingency planning in case of a sudden interruption to overseas recruitment. “Such interruptions could result from, for example, a changing geopolitical environment which could cause an immediate and significant impact on income,” an OfS report said.…