UK: British bid to attract 10,000 Brazilian students

Government ministers have been accused of seeking to plug a black hole in university funding by arranging for 10,000 fee-paying Brazilians to study in the UK, writes Daniel Boffey for The Observer.

David Willetts, the universities minister, flew to South America last month to arrange a deal that he hopes will be highly lucrative at a time of cuts to state funding for higher education. The Brazilian government is planning to provide up to £18,700 (US$30,100) a student.

The development follows a £200 million cut by the coalition government to state funding for higher education, which will mean 24,000 fewer places for UK and EU students over the next two academic years. While the Brazilians will not take places otherwise available to British and EU students, concerns have been raised that the government's funding model for higher education is becoming increasingly reliant on attracting overseas nationals who, if they had been born in the UK, might have struggled to attain a place at a university in this country.
Full report on the Guardian site