Oxford tops the Guardians University League Table

The UK's three oldest universities claim the top three positions in the Guardian university league table today, with  Oxford and Cambridge universities achieving the topmost positions. A key ingredient in their success was the very high satisfaction ratings from their students.

 All the institutions in the top 20 are strong in research - as we can see from the , where readers can compare research and teaching ratings for each subject - but that is not why they are top of the table. We judge them purely on their teaching. They would argue that their teaching is enriched by their research.

Two Scottish universities, Heriot-Watt and Robert Gordon, have jumped tremendously  up by  the ratings to 22 and 36 respectively, while as far south of the border as you get, Bournemouth is the new  favourite university at 32 (37 last year). In Wales, the revival of Lampeter on the eve of its merger with Trinity University College Carmarthen is notable.

Among the specialist institutions that are often overlooked in some tables, the music conservatoires once again dominate this league.

Courtesy Guardian.co.uk

Consider all the Parameters before you join any 'University or College'.

Lot of Students ask about the various crucial decisions of their life like carreer which college to join or which course of education should be taken so as to build the career .My advice is to follow your heart’s desire that is what you feel like doing brilliantly in any field. If you feel that you are artistic go for arts and vice versa. However there are some problems like selection of colleges in India or foreign countries . 

A lot of general information is available about the humanities and the perceived rankings of graduate programs and universities. Most academics are able to assess the relative merits of the faculty in one department versus another—at least in our particular subfields. We can also visit Web sites and find out the features of programs, which are generally presented in the most positive terms. 

But, one should get some reliable, recent, and specific information about individual graduate programs, since perceptions about the relative merits of programs are often based on vague—and possibly dated—reputational capital. Useful information, such as attrition rates, are generalized for the entire profession so that one can't use such data to compare programs. And while some programs provide information about placement rates of their graduates in academic positions, that hardly presents the whole picture, and the methods used are inconsistent. 

You often hear that students should consider going to a graduate program in the humanities only if they get into a top-20 program. But there are underfinanced programs in the top 20 that have high attrition rates, heavy student workloads, and, for a variety of interconnected reasons, poor placement records. Those programs prepare their students for positions at research universities (for which they may not be competitive) and teach them to shun other opportunities. The majority of teaching jobs are at non-elite colleges, but hiring committees at those colleges share the bias toward the elite and too often assume that a candidate from a top program doesn't really want to teach at a lesser-ranked campus and will leave as soon as possible. 

Sometimes elite universities do not properly prepare students for the academic job market,nd sometimes departments promote a small number of star students and invest minimal effort in the rest of the cohort. 

Knowledge about such distinctions, however, is hard to acquire. It requires an extensive web of contacts and information sources that is nearly impossible to sustain outside of the most active centers of the profession. 

How many students are bold enough to ask the chair of a department to provide some hard data about a program? They can visit a department and talk to its students, but how do they contact former graduate students—typically, the majority—who left without completing their degrees? 

Typically, students feel grateful to be admitted to graduate school, and they go in with their eyes half shut. Sometimes it works out; more often, it doesn't. A lot of luck is involved. And it's much easier to talk about contributing factors in retrospect, perhaps 10 years later, than it is to predict the outcome of a program one is about to enter. 

The problem is that most applicants to graduate programs lack the most crucial information, and so do the people they trust and turn to for advice. 

Admissions: How many applications does your program receive each year? How many students are accepted? How many enroll? 

Aid for students: What kind of financial support can a student expect to receive during the entire course of the program? What is the cost of living in the area? How much educational debt have students accumulated, on average, by the time they graduate? 

Teaching: How many discussion sections and courses are graduate students required to teach in order to receive a stipend in each year of the program? What is the average teaching load in each year of the program? 

Attrition: What percentage of students enrolled in the program eventually earn doctorates? How many leave with master's degrees? At what point do most drop out? What are the reasons given, if any (i.e., money, concerns about job market, seeking other opportunities, family responsibilities, etc.)? 

Time taken to complete the degree: How many years does it take to graduate on average (not ideally, but in reality)? 

Placement:  Where, exactly, is every graduate employed in academy (and in what kinds of positions: tenure track, visiting, adjunct, etc.)? Who was their dissertation adviser? What were their subfields? Does the program also lead to appealing career paths outside of academe? 

On many department Web sites, you will find information about successful recent placements, but the methods are not comparable or verifiable, and leave out far more than they include. Only when you see all of the categories of program assessment together, compiled over many years (five, at least), do you begin to be able to discern which programs are healthy—maybe even nurturing the "life of the mind"—and which ones are somewhere along the spectrum toward dysfunctional and even exploitative. 

The value of such information for advising undergraduates would be enormous, and it could place positive pressures on universities to accelerate time to degree, reduce debt, curtail attrition, and, perhaps, encourage institutions to reduce their reliance on contingent labor. 

There may also be some external ways to encourage participation. Professional organizations like the American Association of University Professors, the Modern Language Association, and the American Historical Association could publicize the most effective programs, recognize the most improved, and censure the worst or the ones that refuse to participate. 

Remember prevention is better then cure and so we must acquire all the information which we can in order to have a safe admission in any university or college in other country.

FulBright Grant Program of USA Government.

The flagship international exchange program sponsored by the United States Government, theFulbright Program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. It promotes leadership development through learning and international cooperation. The Fulbright Program operates in more than 155 countries and has provided over 285,000 participants — chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential — with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research in each others' countries and exchange ideas. Approximately 7,000 grants are awarded annually. 

USIEF has been basically awarding grants to students of USA and other countries. 

Since its inception in 1950, the United States-India Educational Foundation(USIEF) has awarded over 4,550 Fulbright grants to Indians in almost every field of academic endeavor. USIEF's grants are for leadership development in three main sectors: research; lecturing to promote mutual understanding in area studies (both American and Indian) as well as in areas of contemporary relevance to the U.S. and India; and professional training in newly emerging areas of importance to India such as environmental sciences and agriculture. 

United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF) has also on the other hand awarded approximately 2,800 Fulbright grants to U.S. citizens in almost every field of academic endeavor. USIEF's grants are for leadership development in three main sectors: research; lecturing to promote mutual understanding in area studies (both American and Indian) as well as in areas of contemporary relevance to the U.S. and India; 

The Fulbright Foreign Student Program is administered by the Fulbright Commissionor U.S. Embassy in each country. Approximately 1,650 new awards are awarded to foreign graduate students for support at U.S. universities, and some 1,300 renewal awards are also made annually. 

Following are two major awards given to students of the various countries. 

International Fulbright Science and Technology Award 

The International Fulbright Science and Technology Award, a component of the Fulbright Foreign Student Program, is for doctoral study at prestigious U.S. institutions in science, technology, or engineering for up to 40 outstanding foreign students. 

Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program (FLTA) 

The Fulbright FLTA Program provides young teachers of English as a Foreign Language the opportunity to refine their teaching skills and broaden their knowledge of American cultures and customs while strengthening the instruction of foreign languages at colleges and universities in the United States. 

Asian University Leaders seeking to Improve International Ties

Gold Coast, Australia 

At a conference here on Australia's east coast that drew hundreds of higher-education leaders from the Asia-Pacific region this week, educators called for equal partnerships with Western institutions and agreed that they needed to become more flexible to adapt to a rapidly changing economic environment. 

Asia Pacific Association of International Education's annual meeting was generally positive, with many feeling that Asian higher education is coming into its own, university representatives from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, and elsewhere agreed they need to step up their international activities. 

Asian universities have to be very domestically oriented, and their self-esteem is very high within the nation. But they are very limited and their standards are not global.On the contrary, Western universities still set the standards, and Asian universities are always falling behind. 

To tackle those problem, Asia Pacific Leaders program will be created, in which top university students will study, volunteer, and learn the local culture in a neighboring country's university,as declared by Mr. Lee. Mr. Lee said 15 Asian countries and 22 universities are participating. 

The association, which is only five years old, has grown each year—a sign that Asian universities are increasingly interested in developing a regional identity. This year's annual conference drew 900 attendees—300 more than expected—and more than double the sponsorship of the previous year, organizers said. 

Arun Sharma, deputy vice-chancellor for research and commercialization at the Queensland University of Technology, in Australia, gave the opening address. He called for an end to what he described as a mercantile approach to higher education, in which Western countries export their programs to Asia and then repatriate the profits. 

For the Australian universities in attendance here, much of the talk was about restoring the country's international reputation, particularly in India, following several highly publicized attacks against Indian students last year. Many university representatives here said they were also eager to draw in students from outside their home country. Some universities are doing so by creating Western style institutions or programs within existing universities. 

Mr. Lee noted that while American universities have time-tested academic programs, Asian universities are in an age of experimentation. But there was one area in which American universities could improve, he added: outreach. Only about 30 Americans attended the conference. Some Asian educators, he said, feels that American higher education could risk insularity if it does not also start to innovate and get involved with Asia. 

We know very well that Asia is a big market in which all economic giants have already participated so as American Universities need to do. 

Online Degrees Verification

The government has appointed a task force to create a national database of academic qualifications to ensure confidentiality, authenticity, online verification and easy retrieval of degrees . In the private sector, software and insurance industry groups currently manage their own database to prevent fraud.According to the website of the ministry of human resource development (HRD), there are a total of 490 government-recognized universities in the country with around 2.54 million students getting a graduate or postgraduate degree every year. Apart from this, 9.5 million students clear their secondary school examinations.The database will not just stock documents virtually, but also create a system for storing hard copies, said Sanjay Dhande, chairman of the government-appointed task force and director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. 

The group was appointed by the HRD ministry, which oversees education, in January this year. Verification of degrees will be cheaper and quicker if the project is implemented.“We have prepared the road map of implementation, of which the first and foremost is that a law needs to be enacted to give legal standing to the database,” Dhande told Mint over phone from Kanpur. The task force, also entrusted with identifying a registered depository that would create the database, has formed two sub-committees to look into the matter. 

Dhande said only registered depositories are being considered for the job.Another official of the task force, requesting anonymity since he is not authorized to speak to the media, said universities and various education boards will also be asked to upload documents online as the database is implemented.

He also said that legislation for the database is expected to be in place by September-October. 

Academic certificates from school to graduate and postgraduate levels, including professional degrees, will be mandatorily registered with the depository through the respective boards, universities and other institutions once the legislation is passed, with information retrievable on payment of a fee. 

Nasscom, the country’s information technology (IT) industry group, launched the National Skills Registry (NSR), a centralized database of employees for independent background checks, in January 2006. 

Till date, 83 companies have joined NSR, comprising more than 70% of the workforce in IT and allied services. 

USA needs Higher Education Students, Marketing and Quality

SCORES of cash-strapped US state universities are preparing to open their doors to foreign undergraduates, posing a serious challenge for Australian universities, as declared by US Study centre chief Geoff Garrett.

Another issue for Australian international education sector which is under focus for restriction of migration pathways , increased student visa financial requirements, student welfare, perceived racism and associated shortfalls in marketing of international education,and the high Australian dollar has made Australia much less competitive.Now this can be a real challenge to Australia’s ELICOS, university preparation and under graduate market in India, China and other Asian markets.

British students agitate for teaching quality. HUNDREDS of Manchester University engineering students have become the latest British undergraduates to stage a revolt against poor-quality teaching.
Predictable, if you charge fees students,clients, users or stakeholders demand a service as opposed to turning a blind eye. 
The number don’t add up in maths class. AUSTRALIA has a numeracy problem and they are not addressing it. TAFE(largest vocational education and training provider in Australia ) can help meet participation target. VICTORIA is being urged to create a fund for TAFE to finance delivery of degree programs with universities.

Universities suffering from decreasing international enrolments would surely be tempted to cooperate on degrees with TAFE. And It is good for TAFE sector with its resources to deliver degrees with practical internships, in addition to pathways.

Major Education Pact between Australia and India

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday that Indian students continued to come to Australia for higher studies and the government had not "prevented them" from doing so, as the two countries signed a major deal on education.

Mr. Sibal told reporters as the education pact between India and Australia was signed that New Delhi wants to take the "relationship forward" with Canberra. 

A joint ministerial statement was signed to expand the education exchange programme, Australian news agency AAP reported on Thursday. 

An India- Australia Education Council comprising experts from both countries will now be set up. The relation between India and Australia had become sour following the fatal stabbing of Nitin Garg on January 2, 2010, in this city. A travel advisory had also been issued to Indian students coming to Australia. 

Mr. Sibbal addressed the conference and laid stress on the fact that India is fully aware of what is happening in Australia and hoped the Australian government would take strong steps to ensure security of Indian students .He admitted also that attacks on Indians have surely declined

However it is recently revealed that international student numbers were down nationally three percent and 12 percent in Victoria. The drop in Indian student numbers in Victorian institutions was 40 percent, from 6303 to 3761

Prasun chatterjee

April 8, 2010

Washington :  Prasun Chatterjee, an Indian environmental engineering student whose research has contributed to a new way of detecting toxic lead and copper in water, has been awarded the best research honour.Chatterjee, a research student at the University of Lehigh, Pennsylvania, will be awarded  the 2010 C. Ellen Gonter Environmental Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Environmental ChemistryDivision when ACS holds its fall national meeting in Boston in August. Chartered by the US Congress, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and the premier international organization for chemists, chemical engineers and related professions. The Gonter award, named after a noted research chemist and consultant, is given to a graduate student for an outstanding research paper. Chatterjee, who received his BS and MS in chemical engineering from Jadavpur University in India and is hoping to complete his PhD in environmental engineering this year. 

He will deliver the invited Gonter lecture, "Rapid Detection of Toxic Metals in Water through pH Changes Using a Novel Hybrid Material." 

Chatterjee's doctoral research has led to the development and synthesis of an inexpensive inorganic material that can detect toxic lead or copper in water at the parts-per-billion level by using a pH meter or pH paper. Chatterjee is also co-inventor of a technology called "Rapid Sensing of Toxic Metals through Use of Hybrid Inorganic Materials," for which a US patent has been applied.

Students in Lehigh's freshman engineering projects classes use hybrid inorganic materials to make easy-to-use gadgets that detect toxins in drinking water. 

Applications UP in ‘Grad’ Schools of USA

Applications from outside the United States have increased by  7 percent in 2010 at American graduate schools, a healthy increase due to which many universities will be delighted , according to a new survey released by the Council of Graduate Schools.

But the increases are uneven. Continuing a trend from last year, the three countries that send the largest numbers of foreign graduate students to the United States are showing  distinctly different patterns, with the numbers from China have increased, on the contrary India and South Korea are flat. Programs at doctoral institutions are seeing increases, while master's universities are experiencing drops. And the application increases are largest at institutions with the most international students already enrolled, suggesting that among institutions trying to increase their international enrollments, it may be easier to build on success than to create a critical mass.

The 7 percent total gain for 2009-10 is up from the council's final analyses of previous years, which found gains of 4 percent in applications the prior year and 6 percent the year in the previous year. While applications is not  necessarily the barometer of  enrollment gains, universities that rely on foreign graduate students have been trying hard for application gains, given that competition has increased for the best foreign talent, with countries like Australia, Britain and Canada -- as well as home-country universities -- bidding for some of the best students.

Trends over the past four years in students' country of origin and discipline show some consistencies: Applications continue to soar from China and the Middle East. But other countries and some disciplines are are showing uneven trends.

Change in International Applications by Size of Current International Enrollments, 2009 to 2010

Nathan Bell, director of research and policy analysis for the Council of Graduate Schools, did confirm that the survey doesn't produce definitive information on why some countries are sending more applications than others.

As for the larger increases at institutions that already have many foreign students and  these institutions tend to be institutions with large enrollments (of all students), making them more likely to have name recognition abroad. 

Best ‘USA Colleges and Universities’

It is marvelous that these elite institutions are offering scholarships to the talented students in today’s world .

US Schools That Offer admission to International Students - under a need-blind admissions policy, a college or university will admit students regardless of their ability to pay, and for any students that cannot afford the pricetag, the university awards scholarships and other institutional aid to make up the difference.Now there are eight US schools that offer need-blind admissions to international students - Amherst College is the most recent to join this elite group, for school year 2008/2009. Basically, if you can get in, you can afford to go - they are:

1.     MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in  
  Massachusetts

2.     Harvard University in Massachusetts

3.     Princeton University in New Jersey

4.     Yale University in Connecticut

5.     Williams College in Massachusetts

6.     Middlebury College in Vermont

7.     Dartmouth College in New Hampshire

8.     Amherst College in Massachusetts

The Talented students must clear the preliminary process and should get admission into these esteemed group of institutions of USA.

USA’s Best Value Colleges for 2010

Princeton Review of The Institutions of USA

For the second consecutive year, The Princeton Review (Nasdaq: REVU), one of America's most widely known education services and test-prep companies, has teamed up with USA TODAY, the nation's most widely read print newspaper, to present a list of the 100 "Best Value Colleges" of the year.

The Princeton Review's 100 "Best Value Colleges" list for 2010 is based on data compiled and analyzed by The Princeton Review, the education services and test-prep company known for its annual college listings.

Following are the top 20 colleges or universities according to the Princeton Review.

TOP 20 'VALUE' PICKS PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS 1. University of Virginia (Charlottesville) 2. City University of New York - Hunter College (New York, N.Y.) 3. New College of Florida (Sarasota) 4. Florida State University (Tallahassee) 5. University of Colorado-Boulder 6. State University of New York-Binghamton 7. University of Georgia (Athens) 8. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg) 9. Texas A&M University (College Station) 10. University of Oklahoma (Norman) PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS 1. Swarthmore College(Swarthmore, Pa.) 2. Harvard College(Cambridge, Mass.) 3. Wesleyan College(Macon, Ga.) 4. Princeton University(Princeton, N.J.) 5. Yale University (New Haven, Conn.) 6. Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.) 7. Rice University (Houston, Texas) 8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology(Cambridge, Mass.) 9. Amherst College (Amherst, Mass.) 10. Wellesley College (Wellesley, Mass.) Source:The Princeton Review This year's list keeps the University of Virginia and Swarthmore College in the No. 1 spots for public and private schools, like last year. Several others on this year's list also appeared last year, including Harvard, Florida State and the University of Georgia. Some are new to the top 10, such as the University of Colorado-Boulder, Texas A&M, MIT, Virginia Tech, the University of Oklahoma, Wellesley and Wesleyan College in Georgia.

Academic ratings were based on surveys of students about class sizes and professors' accessibility, as well as student/faculty ratios and percentage of classes taught by teaching assistants. Financial aid rankings came from school-reported data and student surveys, and factored in tuition, fees, room and board. Overall selection criteria included more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, costs and financial aid. Academic ratings were based on student surveys about such issues as professors' accessibility and class sizes, as well as institutional reports about student-faculty ratios and percent of classes taught by teaching assistants.

Legal Challenge By English Language Schools

English language schools are planning a legal challenge against the Home Office over fears that the UK will lose thousands of jobs and £400m in income through tighter visa regulations this year. 

English UK, the body representing most language schools plans to seek a judicial review of home secretary Alan Johnson's decision to prevent students with only beginner's English from entering Britain for English language courses. 

The regulations, announced last month, were raised due to concerns about illegal immigration and radicalisation of students at UK institutions following the bombing attempt on a US-bound aircraft on Christmas Day by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a British-educated Nigerian. 

The clampdown coincides with sharp cuts to university funding. Vice-chancellors fear that a decision in January to suspend student visa applications from large parts of the Indian subcontinent because of suspected abuse of the rules will affect enrolment numbers. 

English UK, which represents 440 schools and colleges, describes the government's insistence that those who come to learn English must already be competent in the language as an absurd remark. The home secretary has not brought the changes before parliament which is claimed ‘unlawful by the association’. 

The schools claim as many as 100,000 students will be deterred from entering the UK, that £400m in income and 3,400 teaching jobs will be lost, and a further £1bn forfeited in university fees because higher education institutions recruit as many as 70% of their students from among those already studying English language and foundation courses in the UK. 

Many English language schools are based on the south coast, particularly in Brighton and Bournemouth. Others are in Oxford, Cambridge and London. Students come from countries such as South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Turkey, Japan, Venezuela and Vietnam. 

Restricting these students will cause a huge loss to the economy of UK and further create slump in the coming years as far as enrollments are concerned in English Language schools. 

Increase in Admission Indian Students in UK universities

Press Trust of India, Friday April 2, 2010, London

The number of Indian students getting admission in courses in British universities rose by almost a third in the previous academic year, according to official figures. More than 34,000 students from  India studied at British higher education institutions in 2008-09, up 31.5 per cent on the year before. William Lawton, policy adviser at the  UK Higher Education International Unit, said, "The predicted fall in our share of the global market - as a result of other countries wooing  international students - does not seem to have happened." Recruitment may have been helped by a weaker pound, he added, "but it most likely reflects a reputation for good quality and sustained brand strength". The Higher Education Statistics Agency figures also show that Nigerian nationals have overtaken Americans to become the third most numerous overseas-student population in Britain. A total of 14,380 Nigerians came to the UK to study in 2008-09, a 22 per cent increase on the previous year, compared with 14,345 from the US. Arrivals from Saudi Arabia showed the most dramatic rise, up 47.2 per cent. However, this was from a relatively low base, from 3,535 students to 5,205. Students from mainland China remained the largest overseas group at 47,035 - up 3.7 per cent on the year before. However, numbers from Taiwan fell 6.8 per cent to 5,235, and from Hong Kong by 1 per cent to 9,600. Allaying fears that the UK may be losing its grip on the international student market due to it’s point immigration system,  total numbers from outside the European Union who pay the highest fees rose by 9.4 per cent, topping 250,000. Numbers from within the EU rose by 4.9 per cent to 117,660.

International Students can shun UK, thanks to new VISA rules

Last week in UK universities declared that their seats are full.But now they are worried due to the fear that in next session they will have 20% less students as compared to previous sessions.  

The "house full" sign was visible  at most of the country's top universities last week as students snapped up the few spare places in record time.

In April, the government changed the immigration system and introduced a points-based system for, among others, international students applying for study visas. Well, So far, it has not been a success, as far as many in the sector can tell.

To get a visa, international students are now expected to show that they can afford their tuition fees 28 days before they apply, have at least an extra £600 a month and £400 for each dependant in living expenses, and to keep it all in a bank account in their own name for the first year of their study. They also need to show  a biometric identity card and should  have received their exam results by the time they apply.

Agents who apply for UK visa on behalf of students are finding these these requirements  too much and these take take too much time.

Many more student visas are being rejected than in previous years, they say, encouraging students to give up on the UK and opt for Australia or the US for their higher education instead.

Universities hoped that they would find out last Thursday exactly how many student visas had been accepted since the new immigration system came in. But, when the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics published data on immigration, student visa data for the second quarter of this year was nowhere to be found.

Diana Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK, the vice-chancellors' umbrella group, says: "Unfortunately, the information published is of limited value to us in assessing how effectively the new immigration system is working. It does not provide data on visa applications and their approval and refusal rates under the different tiers of the new system.”

"This is our busiest period for student visa applications and there are worrying indications of problems with the operation of the system overseas. We know the UK Border Agency is working hard to process applications in time and we are continuing to work with them to identify and tackle issues raised by universities.

"We remain concerned, however, that the system may delay or deter international students who wish to study in the UK." .

Anecdotal evidence indicates numbers of these students are down as much as 20%, in some cases, on what course leaders were expecting this year, says Dominic Scott, chief executive of the UK Council for International Student Affairs.

Brendan Webb, sales and marketing director of Study Group, which runs classes at colleges and universities for international students who want to improve their English, says overseas students are either "not turning up or turning up very, very late" because of the visa problems.

"We have had to postpone some courses by two weeks," he says. "We still don't know when they are going to arrive or be rejected at the border gates. The agents in our regional offices across the world say there have been delays. They have been shouting and screaming about them."

It is estimated that there are more than 340,000 non-EU students at UK universities. They generate more than £1.25bn in fees, spend a further £1.6bn in living costs and contribute a total of around £8.5bn to the British economy each year.

Alasdair Murray, director of Centre Forum, a liberal thinktank, says: "While the short-term damage in terms of disruption and unfilled places could be considerable, it is the longer-term impact which is the real worry.

"Aside from the overall economic benefit generated by overseas students, the fees help cross-subsidise their UK counterparts. The government faces depriving universities of vital funds at the very moment it is scrabbling around for cash to help tens of thousands of extra UK applicants escape the recession. Universities fear that any ongoing fall in overseas student numbers will only exacerbate the looming problem posed by much tighter public spending."

Webb says there is going to be a "big black hole ahead".

"This was going to be the year for the UK in terms of opportunities," he says. "Visa applications are up, but down in Australia, because the UK was seen as more affordable and providing a much wider choice. This is a massive missed opportunity.”

Statements Courtesy guardian.co.uk

There is no doubt that UK has tightened the rules which will lead to depression in UK market regarding students.The rules are too much and take long to be fulfilled up.Well if this scenario remains then the majority of students will move over to USA or other favourite study destinations.