We remain committed to ensuring that we continue to fulfil our treaty obligations in the granting of access to UK higher education and in the charging of tuition fees. The Government unreservedly welcomes these students to the UK, for their contribution to academic life in our institutions and for their contribution to the internationalisation of UK higher education. It is, however, reasonable to expect that students from outside the EU should be prepared to fund the full cost of their higher education, both tuition costs and living expenses. The Government encourages institutions in the responsible and prudent marketing of UK higher education overseas, including to EU postgraduates, and recognises the valuable contribution that this makes to export earnings. The Government funds many scholarships for such students, most famously through the Chevening Scholarships.
Many more students are, of course, sponsored by their own governments or by industry.
The Government believes that citizens' ability to become and remain employable within the Single European Market will increasingly depend on their having access to the European dimension of education, training and retraining provision. These links will be vital to the development of coherent Community support for Member States' lifelong learning policies. The Government welcomes in particular the Commission's stated intention to secure better links and pathways between the programme's various actions as well as with programmes in the fields of vocational training and youth. However, the Government believes that there is scope in the interests of enhancing accessibility and user-friendliness for the new programme to be simplified and to employ more decentralised procedures. The Government will not, therefore, take a final view on the programme's funding needs until negotiations have clarified its eventual contents.