U.K.: Landmark ruling could lure thousands of international students back to Britain

An immigration tribunal found that, in 2014, the British government detained and deported thousands of international students without adequate evidence. The deportations came after a BBC investigation uncovered fraudulent practices at an Educational Testing Service (ETS) test center where the TOEIC exam (a prerequisite for certain visas) was administered. A government investigation later determined that 46,000 test results at ETS centers were obtained via fraud. The subsequent crackdown stripped 65 colleges of their licences and affected 19,000 international students. Students were either told to leave the country or barred from re-entry.

The PIE News
March 27, 2016

E.U. may use Erasmus+ to bargain for “forced returns” of unwilling Afghanis

A restricted ‘non-paper’ published by European Union officials earlier this month links extension of the E.U.’s Erasmus+ program to a possible package of “incentives” to Afghanistan in exchange for accepting “forced returns” of those who had failed to obtain refugee status in Europe. Erasmus covers study abroad, professional development abroad for university staff and institutional cooperation between universities. A representative from Norway cautioned against letting “youth and academic exchange [programs] become a political bargaining chip.”

University World News
March 23, 2016

U.K. dominates list of Europe’s best colleges

A new study ranking the top 200 institutions in Europe found that over a quarter are based in the U.K. Times Higher Education ranked Oxford University as the best institution in Europe to study, based on factors such as the quality of teaching, research and international outlook. Germany is the second most-represented nation in the list, with 36 institutions, almost a third of which (11) are in the top 50, according to the THE study. For cost efficiency for a top 10 university, Germany wins hands down with annual fees for both E.U. and non-E.U. students costing absolutely nothing.

City A.M.
March 10, 2016

U.K.: International student visa policy is bad business, say business schools

In a new report criticizing the U.K. government’s international student visa policy, business school leaders voiced concerns about the loss of revenue and the long-term impact visa measures will have on the U.K.’s global influence. U.K. business schools and their surrounding economies lost an estimated £133.5m last year due to an 8.6 percent drop in non-EU enrolments, according to the Chartered Association of Business Schools. The report quotes some respondents as saying that more burdensome visa processes have led them to automatically reject applicants from “troublesome” countries.

The PIE News
March 10, 2016

Germans concur: Brexit will damage E.U. scholarship

The U.K. leaving the European Union would create “a huge problem” for universities, according to senior figures in the German sector. The future of relations between universities from the U.K. and Germany – the E.U.’s most populous nation, its largest economy, and one of its leading players in higher education – would be damaged, since Brexit would impose new barriers to European research collaboration. U.K. higher education leaders have strongly condemned Brexit as well. The date of the Brexit referendum on E.U. membership is June 23.

Times Higher Education
March 3, 2016

U.K.: Two universities have stopped the drop off in Indian student numbers. Can others?

In just four years, the number of Indian students at United Kingdom universities has halved – from 40,000 to 19,500, said Alan Mackay, deputy vice-principal (international) at the University of Edinburgh. By contrast the number of Indians studying in the United States has risen by 29 percent since 2010. The number of Indian students is also going up sharply in other countries like Canada, Australia, Germany and France. Two universities, Edinburgh and Aston, have managed to buck the trend.

University World News
March 2, 2016

U.K. tops international student recommendations

Responses from 365,754 international students from 800 universities across the globe, ranked the number one for international student recommendation at the undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research levels, higher than results from the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The PIE News
March 2, 2016