A working group of the Higher Education Commission, chaired by Graham Spittle, IBM’s chief technology officer, has concluded that British universities are failing to produce the postgraduates we need and that the system is being used mainly to attract overseas students.
The group accuses universities of neglecting students from here and going for overseas applicants who pay higher fees. Overseas postgraduate students have increased by 200 per cent since 1999, against 18 per cent for British students.
The report says Britain has become the “education outsourcing capital of the world”, and predicts more British firms will recruit more from overseas or even relocate. Within Europe and its environs only Andorra and Kazakhstan have a poorer record. ■