60
Accepted
Universities UK has outlined the steps they believe the UK Government should take in order...
Recommendation
Universities UK has outlined the steps they believe the UK Government should take in order to help stabilise EU/European Economic Area (EEA) student demand. These include: • “Improving and extending the Study UK campaign into key markets in Europe by coordinating existing campaigns currently in European markets and increasing investment in Study UK to £20 million a year.” • “Providing targeted financial support for EU students such as through an expanded or newly developed EU scholarship offer.”145
Government Response Summary
The government refers to its existing International Education Strategy and notes it already operates global scholarship programmes like Chevening and Commonwealth scholarships. It also states the British Council Study UK campaign collaborates with Scottish stakeholders to accurately represent Scottish universities.
Government Response
Accepted
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
In February 2021, the UK Government published an update to the International Education Strategy, recommitting to the ambitions of the original strategy. These ambitions are to sustainably increase international students in the UK to 600,000 per year, and increase the value of education exports to £35 billion per year, both by 2030. This update set out a number of new actions aimed at supporting the sector’s path from pandemic recovery, back to sustainable growth. We are making good progress against the ambitions. International enrolments increased by 9% in the 2020 to 2021 academic year, with a total of 605,130 compared with 556,625 for the previous academic year. With this we have now met the Government’s ambition for the first time of hosting at least 600,000 international students per year by 2030. A world-class student experience is essential to the UK’s globally competitive offer. That’s why the strategy sets out several actions to support each stage of the international student experience. This includes working with the sector to ensure a simple, streamlined application process, and work looking at alternative student finance, student experience and employability. Our International Education Strategy makes clear that Europe remains an important regional market for international student recruitment. In the 2020 to 2021 academic year there were 152, 905 higher education enrolments from the European Union studying in UK HE providers. These students make a valuable contribution to university life in the UK. We will continue to welcome European students to the UK and to promote the world-class UK education offer to prospective European students and ensure that they have a positive experience. Representatives from the devolved nations are represented on the Education Sector Advisory Group. This group is co-chaired by the Minister for Skills, Alex Burghart, and the Minister for Exports, Mike Freer, and coordinates efforts to boost UK education exports. The UK International Education Champion also meets regularly with officials from the devolved administrations. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) also provides £86m to fund scholarships for students from developing countries to study for post graduate degrees at British universities throughout the UK, including Scottish universities, through two scholarship programmes: Chevening, which is open to applicants from 160 countries, and has awarded over 1500 scholarships this year; and Commonwealth scholarships, which are awarded to around 700 candidates from Commonwealth countries each year. In addition, the Marshall Scholarship programme, established by an Act of Parliament in 1953, provides scholarships to talented young Americans to study for Masters’ degrees at any British University. There is regular collaboration between the British Council Study UK Team and relevant stakeholders in Scotland to ensure that the campaign provides the correct information on the different structures and support in place for international students in Scotland. In addition, the campaign is delivered with direct input from Scottish Universities to ensure that it represents the breadth of the offer available to international students in Scotland as appropriate.
Source
Committee
Scottish Affairs Committee
Inquiry
Universities and Scotland
Report
First Report - Universities and Scotland
28 May 2021
HC 54
Addressee Bodies
Scotland Office
Timeline
Recommendation age
5.2 yrs
Report published
28 May 2021