higher education

In the first of a new series exploring the radical changes the British higher education system is undergoing, ForeignStudents.com Editor Andy looks at how new student visa restrictions are affecting international students.

Last year Theresa May announced that 260,000 fewer student visas will be given out over the next five years, through harsher restrictions on fake colleges and bogus students. Whilst it is clear that preventing fake students from illegally gaining visas is a positive thing, I believe the problem has been hugely overblown, and the solution poorly managed and badly miscommunicated.

Misuse of Figures

The basic problem here is that headline grabbing statistics have been used to the advantage of the government in order to impress British voters, whilst the very same figures have had the exact opposite impact on prospective international students. The headline figure of 260,000 fewer visas sounds like a high number and makes the government appear to be taking action. However, to prospective students abroad, the figure inevitably makes Britain appear less welcoming.

Students at the University of Dundee officially have the best experience during their studies according to a freshly released survey. For the first time in five years, Loughborough University has been knocked off the top spot in the annual Times Higher Education (THE) Student Experience Survey, falling to second place.

The university ratings are based on the views of more than 14,000 undergraduate students in the UK. They were asked to rate their university in 21 different categories, including the quality of staff, structure of courses, social life and university facilities and student accommodation. These categories are then given different weightings depending on their importance to the overall student experience.

Dundee Fights Off Competition

Dundee rose to the top, from fifth position last year, after students praised the university's convenient facilities, cheap shops, excellent students' union and fair workload. The president of Dundee Students' Association, Iain Kennedy, explained:

Oxford University is the latest high profile voice to condemn the changes in visa regulations, whilst welcoming Indian students to continue applying. With changes making it harder to gain a post-study work visa, Oxford Vice-Chancellor Andrew Hamilton wanted to urge potential students form India not to be put off.

The new regulations kicked-in at the start of April, meaning that only a handful of international students will be able stay on and work after their studies in the UK. Since these changes were announced last year, there have been figures from throughout higher education criticising them.

"Confusing and Off-Putting"

Most recently, speaking to the BBC Asian Network, a number of Oxford students, graduates and professors all questioned the motives and effectiveness of the new visa regulations. There are more than 350 Indian students at Oxford University, making them the sixth largest group of overseas students studying there. University heads want to maintain this popularity amongst Indians.

More than 8,000 students' email addresses were accidentally revealed by Student Finance England last night after an administrative error. In a mass email sent out to students due to start university this autumn, the staff inadvertently included an attachment with the email addresses of everyone on their distribution list.

Student Finance England is part of the Student Loans Company- the public body responsible for awarding loans and grants to students starting university. After the blunder, they were quick to apologise, releasing a statement:

"The information was sent in error and only included email addresses, no other personal student data was shared. We have contacted all customers affected to let them know about this issue. The integrity and security of student accounts and the protection of personal information is vital to us and we apologise to all of the students involved."

However, this is not the first time the agency has come in for criticism, as in both 2009 and 2010 thousands of students were forced to start university with little money after their grants and loans were delayed.

Privacy Concerns

The Telegraph newspaper spoke to Nick Pickles, the director of privacy and civil liberties group, Big Brother Watch, who was concerned by this most recent mistake:

Where do you think the best city to study is? Are certain places a student's paradise and others a student's hell? Well, a new survey hoping to answer those questions has placed London as the second best city in the world for students. Only Paris beat the UK capital after cities were judged on affordability, quality of life and the number and reputation of their universities.

Higher Education organisation QS carried out the survey predominantly with international students in mind, with hundreds of thousands currently considering where to study. Over 500 cities were considered, with anywhere with a population of over 250,000 and at least two universities qualifying.

The sheer number of London's top quality universities (think Imperial, UCL, King's, SOAS) gave it the edge over Paris, but the city was let down by being far more expensive than the French capital. Whilst international students in London will expect to pay up to £20,000 each year in tuition fees, that figure drops to just £1,000 at Paris universities. Ben Sowter, the lead researcher, explained: