Universities warn against visa price rise
Donald MacLeod
Friday October 29, 2004
Home Office plans to raise visa fees and introduce more bureaucratic procedures for vetting foreign students will have a serious impact on UK universities' ￡1bn overseas market, vice-chancellors warned today.
They fear that attempts by one government department to increase revenue are undermining the multi-million pound business, promoted by the prime minister, Tony Blair, and other departments, at a time when competitors like Australia are chasing this market aggressively.
"This is a lack of joined-up government," Les Ebdon, vice-chancellor of Luton University, told EducationGuardian.co.uk. This summer he protested to the home secretary, David Blunkett, when the introduction of new visa procedures by the British consulate in Beijing lead to 60% of applicants being refused permission to come to study in the UK.
The problem was identified as a new paper-based system, which does away with interviews and is cheaper to operate. Steps to improve procedures were taken, but not before thousands of applicants had been turned away, hitting universities in the UK, which typically charge fees of ￡8,000 a year to overseas students.
The new procedures are due to be rolled out to other countries, however, and universities fear there will be similarly drastic effects on their recruitment when they are applied to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - all of which send large numbers of students.
At the same time the Home Office is consulting on plans to double visa fees to ￡495 for students wanting to extend their stay. Postal applications will also become more expensive. The Home Office said this was part of a move to save UK taxpayers ￡100m.
Professor Ebdon said: "We will point out the damaging effect such a draconian increase will have on UK business. It is part of a policy to make visa offices self-sustaining. This country has got to realise that international student recruitment is a multi-million pound business. The US is the market leader, but its share is falling rapidly because they are tightening up their visa regulations after 9/11. The prime minister recognises this, but his initiative is being derailed by bureaucracy."
Universities UK, which represents all university heads, is drawing up a response to the Home Office from the sector. "Amongst other issues, universities will be considering how the UK's immigration fees compete with other countries' international student charges, whether there is any risk to market share on the basis of price comparison alone," said a spokeswoman.
Fees paid by overseas students to British universities jumped 24% to more than ￡1bn, paid by 184,685 international (non-EU) students, the Higher Education Statistics Agency reported this year.
The British Council forecasts that next year 26,800 students from mainland China will seek to study at UK universities and higher education colleges, with 9,100 from Hong Kong, 4,700 from Taiwan, 4,200 from Singapore and 6,000 from Japan. The biggest contingent is expected to come from Greece - 28,000 - but they will pay home fees of ￡1,125.
Soaring overseas numbers prompted the National Union of Students to appoint an international officer for the first time in September to look after their interests. Benson Osawe, from Benin City in Nigeria, is the first African to sit on the union's national executive.
英国人如果真的那么杀鸡取卵，三倍征收续签费的话，偶个人对这个国家已经没有什么好说的了。 |
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