Date published: 2007/03/12
The BBC says:
Foreign science students could be deterred from studying in the UK by new checks aimed at stopping the spread of weapons technology, it is feared.
The Academic Technology Approval Scheme will require non-EU postgraduates who want to study "proliferation-risk" science subjects to apply for approval.
Currently the Foreign Office is alerted by universities voluntarily about applicants from "countries of concern".
It says it is not in anybody's interest to penalise bona fide students.
The registrar of the Royal Society of Chemists, Tony Ashmore, told his organisation's own publication Chemistry World that there was a security issue that needed to be addressed.
But he said the UK must remain "open to students and academics from around the world" and that they were extremely important to the country's international competitiveness.
He said: "It really depends on how the Foreign Office implements the new system.
"If the vetting is restricted to a small number of countries that attract relatively few students, then the impact might be quite small.
"But if the scheme catches large numbers of students indiscriminately it could put people off coming to this country."
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said the scheme would require all foreign postgraduates who needed a visa and wanted to study in "proliferation-sensitive" subjects to apply in advance for a "clearance certificate" online.
This would affect some fields of biological and physical science, engineering, maths and computer science.
In 2005-06 some 124,000 postgraduate students came to study in the UK, 22,630 of whom studied in the fields affected - but not all in "proliferation-sensitive" areas.
The system will look at where the students come from, what they want to study and what they intend to do with the knowledge.
As usual, the devil is in the detail. What areas will be deemed "proliferation-sensitive" and what countries will be targetted and will this be open to challenge?
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