boyfriday Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 On the 13th July the BNP posted this on their website: British Universities for Foreign Students – Another Tory Pledge Broken At the same time as Theresa May vowed last month to slash numbers of student immigration, the Tory universities minister flew to Brazil to lobby for 10,000 of its students to come to Britain. Conservative minister David Willetts made the trip despite his party’s promise to allow 85,000 fewer non-EU nationals into the UK each year on student visas. The Brazilian government has said it will provide up to £18,700 per student, an amount welcomed by Universities UK, the representative body for universities in this country, who said the scheme will bring ‘rich rewards’. But last night the move was criticised as a desperate attempt from the foundering coalition government to balance its books. General Secretary of the University and College Union Sally Hunt said, ‘The government must not use overseas students as cash cows, and as a way of bailing out its flawed university funding plans. ‘With hundreds of thousands of domestic students set to miss out on a university place this summer, ministers shouldn't be looking to ration access on the basis of who can pay the most.’ The development follows a £200 million cut by the government to state funding for higher education, which will result in 24,000 fewer places for UK and EU students over the next two academic years. Findings published last week also suggested that 220,000 UK and EU students would be unable to attain places this autumn, following a 1.4 per cent year-on-year increase in demand for university places as of the end of June. The deal was discussed at a meeting in Brazil attended by Willetts, Brazilian ministers and thirteen British university vice-chancellors, including those from Birmingham, Warwick and Nottingham. It is expected that the Brazilian undergraduates would stay in the UK for nine months, although the British government is also exploring the possibility of offering postgraduate courses. Non-EU students pay fees of up to £26,000 per annum and are not counted within the allotment that each university is allowed to take on each year. It is estimated that the numbers of overseas students being educated in the UK could double in four years as universities seek sources of revenue amid punitive government cuts. Durham University is expecting a 97 per cent rise in the number of international students between now and 2014–15, and Exeter anticipates a 73 per cent rise across four of its colleges. Figures show that the number of British students gaining places on degree courses starting last autumn fell by 0.1 per cent, from 425,063 to 424,634. But the number of non-EU students rose by 7.8 per cent, from 32,984 to 37,088. There was a 27.8 per cent increase in students from China and a 20.4 per cent rise in students from Singapore. On average, 350,000 foreign students enter Britain every year, according to official figures. Around 60 per cent of them are from outside of the EU. Brazil currently does not have a single school on the Times Higher Education Supplement list of the top 200 universities in the world." Amongst the contributions to the piece on their website are such comments as these- "What I fail to understand is why are we educating foreigners anyway if we want to compete as a country in commerce and industry? Why not let them wallow in their own ignorance, it means nothing to me. "They also get jobs that they can't do simply because of their colour, I've seen this with my own eyes." "Now Britain is teaching the world, all those who wanted independence from us now can't wait to come over here and get an education, and guess what, about 28% of them think its ok to blow us up, i'am all for helping others but before we do that lets help our young people, make every foreigner pay for two British students if they want our Country to educate them..." As it says in the piece the Brazilian students will come here for 9 months pay £18,700 each pa that's £187 million per year+accommodation and living costs to be educated here all coming into the UK economy, yet the BNP complain about it. The piece goes on to say that 350,000 foreign students come here to study every year. If they all pay £18,700 to do so that's a whacking £6,545,000,000 per annum (£6.5 billion). Now of course not all of them will be genuine or complete their courses, but even if it's only 75% it still represents a huge sum that comes into UK plc. Foreign students are very much subsidising British ones, otherwise courses and universities would close without the much needed external source of revenue. Another example of the BNP cutting off it's nose to spite it's face. Ps: Apologises for the lengthy OP, but we can't post links to political websites apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank ryan Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 as ever matey, a good point well made, let's see the bigot brigade wade in and agree with it very soon, there's some idiot complaining about 'foreign' food (a new indian takeaway) on city rd elsewhere on this esteemed forum. bloody foreigners, coming here and funding our educational system , enriching our culture and making us decent dinners - it's a disgrace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upinwath Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 The BNP are cretins. Without foreign students paying full fees there would be serious problems for British students getting their subsidised places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andikay Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 My interpretation of the article is that the Brazilian government is going to pay for its students to be educated here whilst at the same our students have to pay for themselves, our government doesn’t pay for their educations, and I believe free university education is one BNP’s pledges. The article is an attack on Tory policy of using our university system to educate foreigners instead of British students, the quotes aren’t necessarily representative of BNP policy because anyone can post a reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyfriday Posted July 16, 2011 Author Share Posted July 16, 2011 My interpretation of the article is that the Brazilian government is going to pay for its students to be educated here whilst at the same our students have to pay for themselves, our government doesn’t pay for their educations, and I believe free university education is one BNP’s pledges. It may well be, but how are they going to pay for it? The article is an attack on Tory policy of using our university system to educate foreigners instead of British students, the quotes aren’t necessarily representative of BNP policy because anyone can post a reply. Yes, but it's rose tinted thinking isn't it? The universities wouldn't exist and be competitive without revenue, it has to come from somewhere. If it's right that British students have free or subsidised education (which I agree with btw), then someone has to pay for it, which would mean significant increases in taxation without the income from foreign students..£6.5 billion every year! How can anyone perceive that as a negative? Foreign students aren't taking a place from a British one because the place wouldn't exist in the first place without the foreigner's income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-clips Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 There you go then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercenary Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 They fail to grasp the basic concept don't they- without the money from overseas students the UK economy would be much worse off. Saying that though, the UK government itself doesn't even seem to be aware of this with the number of new hoops they are forcing overseas students to jump through before they can get a visa to study. A lot of them will be so annoyed with the new UKBA rules that they will think applying to the UK is a waste of time and go to Australia or the US instead and bye bye £15k in fees and thousands more in accommodation etc to the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyfriday Posted July 16, 2011 Author Share Posted July 16, 2011 There you go then. ..lol touche-perhaps you don't see the irony in your contributions? Anyway, do you have anything to say about the value or otherwise of foreign students to the British economy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank ryan Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 bigots don't like foreign students cor they're - er - foreign. That's about it isn't it? The BNP are racists and neo nazis, you can't really expect them to be welcoming of decent intelligent hard working folk can you -it's not in their nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-clips Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 ..lol touche-perhaps you don't see the irony in your contributions? Anyway, do you have anything to say about the value or otherwise of foreign students to the British economy? Suffice it to say that I am in favour of freedom of speech whereas many here are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.