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Brexit to lead British universities less attractive: survey

Xinhua, May 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Nearly half of the respondents said British universities would be less attractive if Britain leaves the EU, a latest survey released Tuesday said.

The International Student Survey, conducted and released by Hobsons Solutions, said that the result of the EU referendum in Britain could have a significant impact on universities in Britain across a wide range of areas from international research collaboration to grant funding, as well as the number of international students coming to study in this country.

Hobsons Solutions said they sent a survey to 10,384 international students to gauge their attitudes towards the referendum this June.

Of the 1,763 respondents, who had contacted or applied to study at British universities, over 47 percent of international students said they would find Britain less attractive if it were to leave the EU, while over 17 percent thought it would make Britain more attractive if it were to leave the EU.

The results showed that 35 percent of international students thought EU membership did not make a difference to their attraction to Britain as a destination for study.

Among those international students who took part in the survey, 82 percent of EU student said Brexit would make studying in Britain less attractive, while 35 percent of non-EU students reported that they would find studying in this country less attractive if Britain votes to leave.

The survey said though the accurate number of international students being affected couldn't measure via an attitudinal poll, the number of international student places which might be "at risk".

Statistics from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) showed 240,767 international students came to Britain in 2014/15, of which 60,955 were EU and 179,812 were non-EU.

The survey suggested that 113,116 international students (50,056 EU students and 63,060 non-EU students) could be "at risk" of being put off studying in Britain based on HESA's figures.

The loss of 35 percent of non-EU international students coming to Britain could have a significant financial impact on British universities, facing a loss of at least 690 million pounds (about 1 billion U.S. dollars) of fee income a year, it added.

"A vote for Brexit would represent a further challenge. For universities in the UK, the conditions for recruiting international students are tougher than ever before," said Hobsons managing director Jeremy Cooper. Endit