Date published: 2007/08/05
The BBC says:
MPs are telling universities in the UK they need to collaborate more with others overseas if they are to continue to attract foreign students.
The Commons education select committee said the key to continued success was to maintain high standards.
But they could lose their appeal to students from India and China as their own higher education systems grow.
It also said the government and private sector should fund prestigious scholarships and fellowships.
The committee said foreign students brought some £4m a year into the UK in tuition fees and spending while studying here.
About half as much again came from those who chose to stay on to work.
But it said there was growing competition from those students' home countries and from other nations in Europe.
It noted existing efforts to develop projects with India and recommended similar approaches be made to China.
The committee's report quotes Professor Lan Xue of Tsinghua University in China as having told it that UK universities had been aiming largely at attracting students to the UK rather than developing collaborative programmes.
"The UK was not in the top five of countries whose [higher education] institutions were involved in joint programmes with Chinese universities."
Committee chairman Barry Sheerman said such collaborations were vitally important.
All pretty obvious. On the other hand, one of the big problems currently is with the British immigration service, which treats all foreign students (and foreigners generally) like scum. If MPs really want to do something, they should first insist that the immigration service be reformed, so that foreign students feel like they are actually appreciated by Britain, rather than considered to be just a money pot and to be treated like third-class citizens.
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