Page 7 - StudyTravel Magazine April 2022 Issue

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UK hits HE student target UK tourism bodies call for EU
a decade early group travel scheme
tertiAry lAnguAge
he number of international he UK Tourism Alliance is calling for the
students enrolled with UK higher government to implement a group travel
Teducation institutions increased Tscheme for European under-18s amid
by 8.7 per cent to a new record high concerns that groups will travel elsewhere.
of 605,130 in the 2020/21 academic year, according to the annual From October 1st 2021, the UK stopped allow-
data report by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). ing the use of ID cards by EU citizens, and also
It means the UK government’s International Education Strategy withdrew from the ‘List of Travellers’ scheme for
target of 600,000 students by 2030 has already been reached. EU group travel. As well as some students not
The growth in international students was mainly driven by possessing passports, stakeholders say there is
enrolments from outside the EU, which increased by 10.6 per cent an issue with non-EU students who are resident
to 452,225, while EU student numbers grew by 3.5 per cent to in an EU country and may require a visa.
152,905. The 2020/21 academic year is the last in which EU stu- The proposed Youth Travel Scheme would
dents can pay domestic student fees and receive tuition loans. allow supervised groups of EU nationals and res-
Top source China increased slightly over the previous year to idents under the age of 18 to travel to the UK for
143,820 students. Second-placed India, meanwhile, increased by up to six weeks to take part in group education
52 per cent to 84,555 students, and Nigeria registered growth of tours, school exchanges and English courses.
63 per cent to 21,305. Read the full story at: bit.ly/3BAY34u The British Educational Travel Association
(BETA) www.betauk.com commissioned a public
opinion poll of 1,515 UK adults, and 61 per cent
UCAS launches new platform for agents believed it was right to exempt children on
and international postgraduate students school trips from passport rules.
Xavier Obert, CEO of France-headquartered
tertiAry AssociAted Go&Live Group www.goandlive.com, which
U CAS, the UK higher education admissions service, has includes Nacel www.nacel.org, told StudyTravel
Magazine that the organisation sent more than
launched a new platform for postgraduate programmes.
Myriad by UCAS https://myriad.ucas.com, available in-
browser and as an app, provides support and guidance on post- 2,000 groups to the UK in 2019, and that the
issue will be very serious in the French market.
graduate courses, accommodation, scholarships and local jobs. “Many teachers do not want to organise group
Agents can use the student platform to assist their clients, travel that could discriminate some students.”
but a dedicated agent-facing Myriad portal is also currently in Pina Foti, President of Italian agency associa-
development and due to go live this month. tion IALCA https://ialca.it, said that they would
Des Cutchey, Managing Director of UCAS International, told welcome a group travel system. She explained,
StudyTravel Magazine that a pilot is currently being finalised, “Many of the requests for school groups cur-
following conversations with hundreds of agencies to ensure it rently are for Ireland or Malta - probably 30 to 50
meets needs. For more information: bit.ly/3JSue2o per cent,” she added. Full story: bit.ly/34UV1MA

4 Studytravel Magazine