06 December 2017 Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
Despite the fact that the government’s general Brexit impact reports fail to exist, the Commons Education Committee produced a report earlier this year on the impact of leaving the EU on the HE sector, and the government has now replied in a response document. Among the key points, there’s confirmation from the government that EU students will be able to claim home fee status for 2018/19, and that this would not be followed by a 'cliff-edge'.
However, there are still no plans to remove international students from the net migration target. This remains a worthwhile cause for the sector, despite net migration plummeting over the last twelve months. In an article covering the latest ONS release, the Guardian reports that “net migration to Britain over the past 12 months has fallen by the largest amount since records began, with EU nationals accounting for three-quarters of those who chose to return to their native country”. The drop includes the number of overseas students falling 23,000 - now down to 141,000 in total. There's additional coverage in the Independent.