So, the number of students from non-EU countries coming into the UK has risen 33% in a year. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10834526 Rather than view this as a splendid example of the education sector bucking the international trend of doom and gloom or as a statement on the strength of UKHE as a brand, the government instead says it's "undertaking a thorough evaluation of the student system over the coming weeks and months and ... will introduce new measures to minimise abuse and tighten the system further."
Of course the figures need to be understood against the background of the chaos and upset that the introduction of UKBA's Tier 4 points based immigration system brought in much of the first of the two years being compared here. Those of us who kept an eye on JISCmail messages could see the way that the scheme was being implemented subjectively according to country, with different branches interpretting the rules in different ways.
It was almost as if the Labour politicians that came up with the idea of restricting student immigration to those with actual places, having dreamt up the concept, then buggered off, leaving it to Civil Servants to work out the details. Oh, and could they do it before a potential next General Election came around? It bore all the marks of a rush job.
So, given a year, HE administrators finally having gotten their heads around which hoops students need to jump through (and tills to pass by, lets not forget each of these new students is paying HMG for the privilige of *applying* to study here), we've managed to soften the harsh edges of a government scheme and make it more friendly to attract them and their wallets, I mean, their brains and skills as students adding to the rich tapestry of knowledge. And our reward? A review to tighten things further.
It remains to be seen how the LibDems will respond, given the mosre relaxed attitude they were putting forward before May.
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