Brexit plan shows EU nationals are to pay more to study in England
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EU nationals living in the UK are being urged to use European elections next month to protest against a government proposal to make future students from the bloc pay more to study at English universities. Damian Hinds, education secretary, is proposing to end the preferential status enjoyed by EU students for courses starting in 2021-22, by which time Britain is scheduled to have left the bloc.
The FT reports that the proposal, first reported by BuzzFeed News, was not denied by the Department for Education and has already attracted criticism that the government is willing to hobble its thriving universities by turning away international talent. “Another dreadful idea from this dim-witted government,” said Gavin Esler, a former BBC journalist and a candidate for the Change UK party in next month’s European Parliament elections.
“Any EU students or nationals in this country who can register to vote please do so. We want a brainy Britain and to attract the best and brightest,” he wrote on Twitter. EU citizens have until May 7 to register to vote in the elections on May 23. There were an estimated 3.7m nationals of another EU country living in the UK in 2018. Under the proposals — which have not been finalised or signed off by cabinet — future EU students at universities in England would no longer have the right to pay the same tuition fees as domestic students.
