UCU responds to government announcement on EU students

Commenting on today's government announcement on fees and financial support for EU students starting courses in 2017/18, UCU said it welcomed the clarity for students applying next year.

However, it said the uncertainty over future years, coupled with a flurry of recent news stories which could give the impression to EU students that the UK is not welcoming, risked doing huge damage to the UK as a major player on the international academic stage.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'We are pleased the government has now clarified the situation for EU students who want to apply to English universities for next year and hope the devolved nations will soon follow suit.

'We don't believe this measure can undo the damage that various proposals floated at the Conservative party conference last week may have done via headlines around the world. The news that the government was also seeking to ban leading foreign academics from advising the UK government over Brexit because they are not British nationals will have also done little to help our international standing.

'The government needs to think very carefully about the message it wants to send to the rest of the world at this challenging time. One good start would be to guarantee the rights of the many EU nationals working in our universities.'