The Brexit fall-out could mean Luxembourgers and other EU nationals studying in the UK paying higher tuition fees.
On Monday, UK education minister Damian Hinds announced EU students would continue to be eligible for home fee status for the academic year 2019-2020.
It means “those starting courses in English Universities in autumn next year will continue to pay the same tuition fees as UK students for the full duration of their courses”, UK ambassador to Luxembourg John Marshall tweeted on Monday.
Application numbers high
Even before the announcement, applications from Luxembourg students to start the 2018-19 academic year were high.
“It’s as high as it’s ever been which is interesting,” dean for Europe of the University of Kent Professor Jeremy Carrette told Delano, explaining that by 4 July 2018 the university had already received 22 applications from Luxembourgers. This figure, he cautioned, did not include Luxembourg residents of other nationalities.
“Probably the highest year was 2016-17, when we had 25 applications at this stage.”
The university is geographically among the closest to the European continent, making it a popular choice for Luxembourg nationals and EU students in general. One in ten students at the university are non-UK EU nationals with on average 10 Luxembourgers per year joining the university over the past five years.
“The announcement to carry forward Brexit gave a small dip. But they are back up to levels of the previous year. I think that’s a positive sign. I think after the initial shock of the decision, the value of education in the UK is still important for the Luxembourg students who come,” Prof Carrette said.
Appetite for Warwick
A spokesperson for the Warwick university alumni association in Luxembourg said there had been overwhelming interest from Luxembourg students at a recent higher education information day. “There remains quite an appetite for Warwick,” she said.
A Warwick university spokesperson said Brexit had had no impact on applications from non-UK EU undergraduates in general. “Indeed, those applications to Warwick are in fact up by a factor far in excess of UK student applications. Our overall undergraduate student applications were up 5% this year but the EU increase was in fact 10.11% and for overseas (non-EU) it was 10.63%,” Warwick university press director Peter Dunn told Delano.
Renowned universities Cambridge and Oxford saw a significant drop in undergraduate applications between 2016 and 2017--the referendum confirming the decision for Brexit took place in June 2016. “It dropped by about 25%--from a little over 40 to about 30,” Steve Brabbs of the Cambridge Society of Luxembourg told Delano.
With the deadline for applying to these institutions in October 2018, Brabbs welcomed the minister’s announcement, saying it would allow “candidates to prepare their applications over the summer, in plenty of time to meet the deadline.”
According to government data, from 2016-2017, some 1,216 Luxembourg residents were registered as studying in a higher education institution in the UK, making it the fifth most-popular country of choice.