The prestigious British universities more difficult for Europeans to access from December 31?
Pexels / David Jakab
The end of the post-Brexit transition period on December 31 will see the emergence of new rules for students who want to enroll in UK universities next year.
Current situation
For the 150,000 European students, nothing changes during the transition period, during which the United Kingdom and the European Union try to agree on their future relationship.
Currently, EU students pay the same tuition fees as their fellow UK students, which varies by university but also by region, as the decentralized governments of Scotland, Welsh and North Ireland are responsible for education, the British government is for England. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, for example, students can pay up to 9,250 pounds sterling (10,250 euros) per year for undergraduate studies. In Scotland, it’s free.
What will happen on January 1st?
All European Union nationals must apply for residency status, which guarantees them the right to remain on British soil when new immigration laws come into force. Students who start their studies in the 2020/21 academic year and arrive in the UK before December 31st will benefit from the status which allows them to pay the same tuition fees as the British.
New students arriving after this date will need to obtain a student visa which costs 350 pounds sterling (390 euros) if they are studying for more than six months in the UK. They will also have to pay around £ 500 a year to benefit from the public health service, the NHS.
What will happen for the next academic year?
Across the UK, students who start their studies after August 1, 2021 will have to pay a higher registration fee and will not be able to benefit from student loans.
How much will they have to pay?
According to the Times Higher Education magazine, the price of an undergraduate year for an international student in 2020 was between £ 10,000 and £ 26,000 per year. But longer courses like medicine can cost as much as 59,000 pounds. A first cycle lasts three years in the United Kingdom.
Average student debt was £ 27,000 this year, the magazine said, not including loan repayments for daily expenses. The total can reach between 35,000 and 40,000 pounds.
What remains to be determined?
It is not yet clear whether the UK will continue to participate in European programs like Erasmus + and Horizon Europe beyond the academic year. The UK government has put in place recommendations for European students to apply for visas.
But it remains uncertain whether students who have already obtained residency status will be able to pay the same registration fees as before for courses starting in 2021-22.
Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has caused the migration of courses to the internet, many students have taken them without being in the United Kingdom. If they do not go to British soil this year, doubts remain as to the possibility for them to obtain pre-resident status.
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