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A UK university has closed international applications to some of its courses beginning in September 2023 due to high demand. 

The University of Bradford, which had 1,815 international students in the 2020/21 academic year, said it had seen an increase in overseas interest in postgraduate taught courses since the pandemic.

The university has now closed applications to some of these courses including International Business and Management, Human Resource Management and Social Work. 

Bradford said demand was in part driven by its “outstanding” reputation for teaching and the support it puts in place for new international students. The top three countries for applications are India, Pakistan and Nigeria. 

“We are actively developing new markets to support our diversity and inclusion agenda,” a spokesperson from the university said.

Normal application deadlines vary across universities, with many remaining open until September for autumn intake postgraduate courses. However, growing international demand means universities are increasingly closing intakes earlier in the year as courses fill up more quickly. 

Oxford Brookes University has also introduced a February deadline for international students wishing to apply to some of its postgraduate courses beginning in autumn 2023, including International Business Management, Finance and Marketing. 

The university has an earlier application deadline across all of its courses for students from certain countries, including Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Nigeria and Pakistan. These students must apply by the end of April, while students from other countries have until May 31.

“It’s essential we accept the correct number of applications for converting to enrolment”

The University of Salford has paused applications to all of the courses offered by its business school to ensure it does not “over-recruit”.

“Like many other universities globally, we operate application windows. For our most popular courses, we have already had one application window for our September 2023 intake and we plan to open these again later in the year for the second round,” said Nancy Cooke, associate director of international development at the university.

“It’s essential we accept the correct number of applications for converting to enrolment and are able to process all applications in good time, so our students have as positive an experience as possible.”

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Students in China who have been studying international courses online must now travel to overseas study destination countries, authorities in the country announced on January 28.

The Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange had permitted students to study online as a result of Covid-19 travel restrictions, but the temporary rules have now been lifted. Students will have to go destination countries to join the first semester of 2023.

They should return “as soon as possible”, it said. CSCSE has restored its pre-pandemic rules as “major overseas study destinations have opened their borders, and overseas universities and institutes have fully resumed face-to-face teaching”, along with the fact that China eased its Covid-19 rules from January 8.

“CSCSE will no longer provide certification/accreditation services for foreign diplomas and degrees obtained during the Spring semester of 2023 (Autumn semester of the Southern Hemisphere) and beyond (including new enrolment and continuing study).

“If there are special reasons which also comply with the relevant regulations, CSCSE will handle it separately case by case,” it however added.

While Australia’s education minister Jason Clare said it was “welcome news” and that the country is “already seeing Chinese students return to Australia, with about 3,500 arriving so far this month”, he warned of short-term logistical problems.

“Everyone expected that there would be a transition period”

Concerns in Australia – where around 40,000 Chinese students remain outside of Australia and semester one begins in February – include visa processing, air flight availability and student accommodation.

“While China has never been comfortable with online learning, everyone expected that there would be a transition period,” Phil Honeywood, CEO of IEAA, said.

“Such a rapid pivot back to regulated face-to-face learning requirements will definitely create challenges for our education providers and our visa processing. Nonetheless, it will be welcomed by most stakeholders.”

Big news from China Ministry of Education. All Chinese students enrolled to study online with overseas providers must return to on campus study in those countries for start of Semester 1. While welcome news, this will cause challenges for flights, accommodation and visa approvals

— Phil Honeywood (@PhilHoneywood) January 29, 2023

“I know that many universities have been preparing for Chinese students to return to onshore study,” minister Clare added. The education ministry, home affairs minister Clare O’Neil and Australian universities will have to collaborate to resolve issues, he suggested.

“China’s decision will encourage students to return to Australia which is a good thing,” Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson said in a statement.

“Happening so close to the new academic year, there are obvious logistical issues that need to be worked through to ensure the smooth return of around 40,000 Chinese students who remain outside of Australia.”

Global head of Insights and Analytics at Navitas, Jon Chew, told The PIE, while not completely unexpected, the timing of announcement – effective immediately – will “likely catch students and families by surprise”.

“Many students have either already started studying online, or are just about to start studying online as a stepping stone to travelling and studying on campus from mid-2023 onwards,” he said.

“For these families, conversations around the reunion dinner table one week ago will need to be revisited. Fortunately, many of them still have another week together till the end of the new year celebrations to come up with new plans.”

Student can either join the rush to get on campus as soon as possible, or delay until the middle of the year, Chew continued.

“The vast majority of IDP students prefer studying face-to-face over online models,” Jane Li, area director Australasia for IDP said in a statement to The PIE.

“Our team will continue to support Chinese students through this announcement, particularly those Australia-bound semester one students who will require visas, flights and accommodation in a short space of time.”

Chew suggested that institutions “that are on the front foot and able to anticipate and accommodate the sudden change in timing for their students will be well-placed to catch a bumper intake in the first semester of 2023”.

The Group of Eight also warned that the announcement “leaves students with little time to return ahead of the start of semester one”. Some stakeholders are worried the decision could lead to Chinese students deferring in the next semester.

However, Chew highlighted that most Chinese families “won’t like the idea of waiting around or putting their lives on pause yet again”.

“They will likely try to join the rush, and revert to a deferment as a fallback option,” he added.

“Final year students who stuck with us throughout the Covid-19 years may now need to return urgently, secure accommodation and obtain a visa within a few weeks – an almost impossible task,” Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight, told AFR.

It is unclear how much flexibility will be offered to students with short time periods left of their course.

The CSCSE said the announcement means that certificates awarded from the first 2023 semester using cross-border online learning will not be accredited.

However, it added that those unable to return due to “objective reasons”, must keep relevant written documents as evidence when applying for accreditation when they are awarded degree certificates.

“CSCSE will conduct a case evaluation according to the specific situations,” it stated.

“We are concerned at the bluntness of this decision”

Additionally, coursework-based degree applicants can continue to complete studies in accordance with the requirements of education providers, while research degree applicants should go to overseas study destination countries for the first semester.

“We are concerned at the bluntness of this decision and we will seek urgent advice and clarification from the Chinese embassy on what special circumstance provisions are available for Chinese students, as we did recently with Australia’s regulatory body TEQSA on behalf of all international students currently studying offshore,” Thomson added.

Go8 also urged the government to prioritise international student visa processing in order to “return to normal and minimise further disruption”.

For Navitas, experience has shown visa processing in China tends not to be a major bottleneck, but the situation “along with all other aspects of travel – will come down to total volumes and Covid-affected staffing”, Chew said.

“For parents and students alike, the final celebrations of the Spring Festival and Lantern Festival will be especially bittersweet as life finally moves on from three years of zero-Covid, but the physical and emotional separation comes much sooner than anticipated,” he concluded.

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Three investors are looking to takeover UK-based Cambridge Education Group in a deal that could be worth £200 million.

Education Investor reported three private equity firms were vying to acquire the Bridgepoint-owned CEG. Sky News later named Oxford International Education Group, Bahrain-based Investcorp and American investor Vanta as the companies seeking to takeover the company, according to its city sources.

One banker has suggested OIEG was likely to be at an advantage due to cost synergies it could extract, according to the news organisation.

Education Investor reported in February 2022 that Bridgepoint was exploring the sale of CEG. The private investment company initially acquired the education company in 2013 in a £185 million deal.

Former-owners, Palamon Capital, bought CEG in 2007 and achieved an acquisition multiple of 11 times the current year trading forecast (EBITDA), the PIE reported at the time.

CEG counts eight UK universities among its partners, in addition to its ONCAMPUS centres in London, Paris, Lund, Boston and Chicago providing pathways to a number of institutions.

It also partners with the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. CEG offers healthcare-related pathway programs through its Castel Education brand and online courses via CEG Digital and iheed.

OIEG currently has international colleges partnership in the UK with De Montfort, Bangor, Dundee, Bradford and Greenwich, in addition to its courses at the OIEG London Centre. In the US, OIEG works with San Francisco State University on pathways.

Neither OIEG nor CEG responded to requests for comment from The PIE.

According to respective websites, Kaplan has pathway partnerships with 16 UK universities, Study Group 15, Navitas 13, INTO eight, Kings three. A CEG takeover by OIEG would make it one of the largest pathway providers in the UK.

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Stakeholders called UK Boarding Schools Week an “invaluable” tool for raising the sector’s profile in Nigeria, after the event took place in Lagos in January.

Over 20 boarding schools from across the UK visited the Wheatbaker hotel in Lagos as part of the event, which is run in association with the UK’s department of international trade.

“As Nigeria grows both economically and demographically, the opportunities to recruit British-focused, English-speaking students is significant,” Katie Banks, head of sixth form at Bishops Stortford College, told The PIE News.

“Although always tricky to be out of school during term-time it was a worthwhile, enjoyable experience and we look forward to welcoming new Nigerian students to BSC in the coming years,” she continued.

The week, organised by Mark Brooks Education, saw exhibitions, meetings, media interviews and a VIP reception.

Mark Brooks reported that over 80 families attended over the weekend exhibitions – a “great result” for the event.

“UK Boarding Schools Week not only gave participating schools to meet with prospective families, but each head had the opportunity to appear on national radio and TV; one program alone was watched by 22 million viewers,” he told The PIE.

The Nigerian News Channel TVC News report was watched across Nigeria and Ghana.

Various Nigerian schools that conduct their learning with GCSE and A-Level curriculums also attended the week, speaking to various British schools to share insight.

“We look forward to welcoming new Nigerian students”

Banks said she met the headteachers of The Grange School and St Saviours’, both based in Lagos, and noted the invaluable experience sharing insight on what type of environment students might be coming from – “especially for sixth form”, she noted.

Also in attendance was British deputy high commissioner, Lagos, Ben Llewellyn Jones. In a speech at the event’s VIP reception, he said that the fair provides the “opportunity to meet the most excellent schools we have in the UK”.

“The offer is not just an excellent education but the experience of living in the UK and really the growth within the children that comes from that too.

““I am really impressed not just by the quality of education on offer but also the personalised experience the teachers are bringing to the conversations with families, trying to really match students with the right school,” Jones added.

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Since the beginning of 2023, some 347 students from Ukraine have benefitted from French language training through the Ukraine Emergency program set up by Campus France.

The program offers recipients the full cost of an eight-month intensive training course in French as a foreign language and a diploma in French language studies at participating language centres.

The initiative is designed to enable displaced Ukrainian students in France to acquire the sufficient level of language skills to apply to a French higher education institution for the academic year 2023/24.

A spokesperson for the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said a response “has been provided concerning the problem of language ability”.

“Of those students who fled Ukraine and those already settled in France before the war, not all had a sufficient level of French to ensure they were admitted onto their chosen program in France and could thus obtain or maintain student status,” they said.

“To address these needs, the ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Campus France agency are implementing a program of grants for intensive French as a foreign language courses, which will make it easier for students to be admitted to their chosen program in the next academic year.”

With almost €2 million in funding from the ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the initiative offers recipients a minimum of 18 hours per week of in-person lessons, five hours of tutoring, as well as a host of cultural activities.

However, the funding does not cover student accommodation, insurance, travel or the payment of a living allowance.

Since February 2022, 106,000 Ukrainian refugees have resettled in France. Nearly 20,000 Ukrainians are currently registered in the French educational system.

This includes some 2,000 students who have been welcomed into French higher education system, with overall more than 1,500 benefitting from French language courses, according to Campus France.

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The UK government is considering increasing the number of hours international students can work during their studies in a bid to fill job vacancies across the country.

According to a report from The Times, ministers are considering extending the work hour limit from 20 hours per week, with the government debating whether to increase the limit to 30 hours or to scrap it completely.

The idea aligns closely with policy in Australia and in Canada.

One source told the paper that ministers were looking at “what more we can do to remove barriers and encourage students to work”. The measure is “part of a swathe of ideas being considered”, they added.

The UK is facing a worker shortage, exacerbated by Brexit and higher levels of economic inactivity after the pandemic. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has signalled his intent to boost the workforce in order to help tackle inflation as high vacancy levels drive up wages.

“What more we can do to remove barriers and encourage students to work”

Earlier this week, The Times reported that home secretary Suella Braverman has drawn up plans to reduce the graduate route visa from the current two years down to six months.

The proposal has been sharply criticised by university stakeholders, as well as some within Braverman’s party. Former home secretary Priti Patel publicly praised the graduate route at an event on Wednesday, saying she is a “great believer” in the scheme.

The department for education and the department for international trade are both thought to be against the idea of reducing the length of the post-study work visa.

Last week, the APPG for international students wrote to ministers urging them to make changes to “maximise” the potential of the UK’s education exports sector.

The Home Office must be included in cross-departmental engagement to “truly make the international education strategy a success”, the letter said, adding that the department has a “key part to play” in ensuring the UK’s student visa system remains competitive with other English-speaking markets.

The Times also reported that Braverman is likely to be wary of any measures that could make student visas more attractive internationally. In addition, it said the Home Office could use the plan to extend work hours during studies as a bargaining chip to push through other proposals to reduce international student numbers.

In 2022, both Australia and Canada scrapped the limit on the number of hours foreign students could work in the countries to help address labour shortages. Australia’s Morrison government announced the policy in January 2022, saying it would both fill “critical workforce shortages”, as well as entice international students back to the country.

Later in the year, the newly-elected Labor government in Australia announced that the cap would be reinstated from July 2023, as it sought to find the “right balance between work and study”. Some have linked the policy to a rise in “non-genuine” student applications.

Canada also extended work rights from November 2022 to support sectors facing labour shortages.

Stakeholders in both countries have welcomed the “choice and flexibility” extended work hours offer students, but have also raised concerns that it “has the potential to distract students from their studies”.

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Ukrainian students have claimed they are being thrown out of European universities following a ban that prevents them from leaving the country to study abroad.

While Ukrainian law states that students will not be conscripted to fight in the war against Russia – some fear being thrown off courses will result in them losing their student status, in turn making them eligible for military service.

In September 2022 male students between the age of 18 and 60 were told they were unable to leave the country to study at foreign institutions.

The ban was put in place after the Ukrainian government reported mass forgeries of documentation for travel out of the country – with 600 people being found at the border using such forged documents.

Since then, a petition has been launched which has been signed by over 25,000 people, calling for the Ukraine government to allow students to leave the country.

Following the petition, the government has attempted to work with European countries to make sure online learning is available for Ukrainian students, but the rule has still not changed.

The PIE News spoke with Students UA, a group that is campaigning for the ban to be lifted.

“Ukrainian students are expelled because they haven’t started their education process abroad and haven’t arrived,” a student representing the group, who did not want to be named, told The PIE.

“I know many Polish universities have provided online education because Poland is one of the countries where there are lots of Ukrainian students…But mainly in the Czech Republic, in Hungary, and Germany, Ukrainian students are being expelled.”

The student claimed that online learning isn’t available at all institutions as it might have been during the Covid-19 pandemic, as sometimes there might just be one Ukrainian student in a class.

“In reality most students have been expelled from their universities because many universities in Europe can’t provide online education for Ukrainian students… there can be situations where the Ukrainian student is only one person, so it is impossible for professors to lecture us.”

The student said there are fears that if somebody is thrown out of their university they could lose their student status which protects them from mobilisation.

“When he is expelled, he loses this right and he can be taken to the army,” the student told The PIE.

The PIE spoke with another 19-year-old student from Kharkiv, who is enrolled at an institution in Poland. He said he expects to be thrown off his course soon if he is unable to take exams and also said that remote learning was not feasible due to power outages.

“I need to get to school. I cannot study remotely. Every day they turn off the lights. I have a right to an education,” he said.

The student from Students UA echoed these concerns around remote learning.

“I am in Kyiv, and because of constant bombing I’ve had no electricity at all for three whole days. How can I study, and how can other students study in such a situation?”

How can I study, and how can other students study in such a situation?

The PIE contacted the Ukrainian government and the European University Association for comment, but did not receive a response.

Seeking a solution

Members of Students UA have contacted the European Commission asking for them to help find a solution that enables them to leave Ukraine.

In a letter seen by The PIE, Pawel Busiakiewicz, head of unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, told the students that the EU could not interfere in the implementation of Ukraine’s national laws and regulations.

This, according to the letter, included those laws made while exercising the country’s inherent right of self-defence, which “may limit the possibilities for students to leave the country to take up offers to study at universities in the EU”.

“We remain in contact with the authorities and count on them to provide information on this issue to the Ukrainian public in a clear and timely manner,” the letter said.

The European Students’ Union has told The PIE that it has “repeatedly urged” the Commission to find a solution with the Ukrainian government.

“These students are, in all respects, EU students, since they are studying in EU higher education institutions. We reiterate our call to find a solution as soon as possible,” a spokesperson said.

Some have questioned the legal basis of the ban, including Oleg Lukyanchikov, a lawyer based in Kharkiv.

He told The PIE that according to the Constitution of Ukraine, the ban on leaving Ukraine can only be established by law and that the law does not prohibit men from leaving during wartime.

“There is no official document that prohibits the departure of men from Ukraine during wartime. This fact has already been recognised by the courts,” he said.

Students told The PIE about the emotional impact of the ban, saying that if Ukraine wants to become a member of the EU, it should “support human rights”.

“Russian and Belarusian students can study and move to EU countries. Russia is a terrorist state… it is impossible and unimaginable. How can students from a terrorist state study but Ukraine students cannot?” one told The PIE.

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A Tanzanian student is confirmed to have died in October fighting for Russia during the war in Ukraine, Tanzania’s foreign affairs minister has said.

Nemes Tarimo was recruited from prison to fight for Russian mercenary group Wagner in exchange for freedom, Stergomena Tax added.

It is the second confirmed death of an African student fighting for Russian forces in just six months.

The 33-year-old masters student was studying business informatics at the Russian Technological University, which he joined in 2020 on a scholarship. 

“According to the information shared to us by the government of Russia, Tarimo opted to join the Wagner Group with the promise of receiving money and to be pardoned after the war ends,” BBC Africa quoted the minister saying.

His body is expected to arrive in Tanzania “any time this week”, the minister added. 

“Tarimo opted to join the Wagner Group with the promise of… [being] pardoned”

Reports suggest that Tarimo was killed in the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut, in Donbas – a region seeing heavy fighting in the war.

Tarimo had been sentenced to seven years in prison for drugs related charges and had been serving time since last March, reports indicated.

His family last week said they had received reports of his death from friends in Russia, and had watched online videos of people in military uniforms holding candles over a casket believed to belong to Tarimo.

His sister, Rehema Kigobe, said the family first received news of the death in December – before the Tanzanian embassy in Moscow confirmed to them that he had actually died nearly two months earlier at the end of October.  

They expressed surprise that he had joined the battle, despite having no military background.

News of Tarimo’s death comes just months after the killing of 23-year-old Zambian student Lemekhani Nyirenda, who died last year while fighting for Russian forces.

Like Tarimo, he had enlisted with Wagner to escape a nine-year jail term for a drug offence.

The Zambian was buried on Wednesday in the eastern Rufunsa district, six weeks after his body was returned to Zambia – nearly five months after his death last September.

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