According to a recent edition of the Daily Telegraph “record numbers of students are shunning British universities to study in the United States”. The US-based Institute of International Education, reports the top destinations for British students were Harvard, Central Florida, New York University, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania. This disclosure follows claims last week that the academic “brain drain” could increase in coming years unless British institutions are allowed to charge similar tuition fees as those in the US. Some Ivy League universities charge as much as £20,000 a year, although many also offer lucrative scholarships – I think £20,000 a year is something of an understatement for an Ivy League university. According to a spokesman for the US-UK Fulbright Commission, which promotes overseas study, there has been increasing interest in the US study for some time thanks partly to improvements in the US visa application process. In the 2008-09 academic year, just over 8,700 British students studied in the US. This included a 3% rise in undergraduate students and a 20% increase in demand for non-degree programmes, including short-term placements and visiting student schemes.
The head of King’s College School, Wimbledon said that “it is clear that UK universities have been bullied not into a corner but on to the very edge of a precipice. It is depressingly easy to see a future where other countries will ensure their universities will sweep ahead of UK names who were once known to be amongst the best in the world.”
St Paul’s School, west London said 28 school-leavers to US universities this year, up from 20 in 2009. Numbers have also grown at St Paul’s Girls School, Cheltenham Ladies College, King’s College School and Wellington College, Berkshire.
