A combination of the cap, the rise in EU applicants and a rule that prevents universities from discriminating in favour of homegrown talent means that British sixth formers risk losing places to well-qualified rivals from abroad.
Students from the EU are funded by the Government in the same way as British students, and count in an identical way towards universities’ student quotas.
One answer to this is that of course, the ability of UK students to study abroad is the same as foreign EU to study here. So, in fact, there’s no problem.
However, I’d wager that the language skills tell a rather different story. You’re much more likely, if a continental, to have the English skills to get through a course here than a UKite is likely to have the necessary German, Italian, French etc skills to study over there.
So not entirely a level playing field.
4 responses so far ↓
1 David Gillies // Jun 14, 2009 at 10:59 am
“You’re much more likely, if a continental, to have the English skills to get through a course here…”
That’s begging the question. I can attest from personal experience in the UK university system that the written English skills of so many of our notionally home-grown students are so nugatory as to render the playing field almost entirely level. One could admit grass skirt-wearing tribesmen from the wilds of New Guinea and scarcely find them more innocent of the rules of grammar or orthography.
Bearing in mind I base this on having taught ten or more years ago, the mind recoils from the thought of how much lower standards must have sunk since.
2 sconzey // Jun 14, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Poor english skills on the part of British students wouldn’t “level the playing field”
3 Mathijs van den Bergh // Jun 14, 2009 at 7:26 pm
So not entirely a level playing field.
Equality of opportunity vs. equality of outcome :p
4 So Much For Subtlety // Jun 15, 2009 at 12:34 am
More to the point, there are damn few European Universities worth going to. Admittedly there are fewer and fewer British ones worth going to either, but in the end I don’t think the demand for Oxford among Europeans is quite the same as the demand for Bolognia among British students.
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