UK

The University of Birmingham has won the Outstanding International Strategy award out of six shortlisted institutions for its work in Brazil during 2012-2013 and for having "the most innovative internationalisation policy”, at the THE Leadership and Management Awards (THELMAS) in London.

The UK’s Universities & Science Minister David Willetts has today announced in a written statement that £8m was paid in maintenance loans to potentially bogus EU students at Alternative Providers (APs) and is threatening legal action against private colleges found to be involved.

In a combative exchange of views this week at the Association of Colleges (AoC) International Conference, Minister for Skills and Enterprise, Matthew Hancock MP, challenged the FE colleges present not to use difficulties with the visa system as an excuse for not being able to invest in delivery of education and training in-country.

English UK welcomed education agents from across Europe to Scotland on its recent spring inward mission, soon after Scotland's External Affairs Minister spoke out in favour of plans to re-introduce the two-year Post-Study Work visa should Scotland gain independence. Six Scottish centres were showcased to the visiting agencies.

This year's NUS Internationalisation Awards were hosted at The Warwick Integration Summit, a unique event that examines how universities and students' unions can best work together to promote integration between domestic and international students. There were winners in eight categories, including a new Careers Advising award.

Student weeks at private UK English language providers increased by only 1.03% in 2013, showing that expected growth after 2012's Olympic malaise hasn't happened yet. State sector providers fared slightly better, but the incoming CEO wants to focus on growth and new ways to engage directly with students.

A Lords Select Committee wants a new strategic government unit to safeguard the UK's soft power assets and called for foreign students to be omitted from the net migration count. Other recommendations include the British Council and overseas embassies becoming more engaged in promoting British English and culture.

The UK government has ended its licence agreement with ETS to provide Secure English Language Testing as required by UKVI. This means that TOEIC and TOEFL scores are no longer valid as proof of English level – ETS confirmed it made the decision after TOEIC fraud was uncovered in UK testing centres.

The University of Birmingham and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a strategic partnership that will provide a framework for collaborative research, teaching and boost study abroad exchange.

Four UK education consortia have won contracts to run 12 technical and vocational training colleges in Saudi Arabia as part of the government's Colleges of Excellence programme. The deals will take the total contribution of the programme's contracts to the UK economy to over £1 billion.

The UK's "unwelcoming" immigration policy is largely to blame for an unprecedented fall in the number of incoming international STEM students, a House of Lords report has concluded. The Lords have called for a "simpler" immigration policy that excludes overseas students from net migration figures and the reinstatement of the post-study work visa.

A study has shown UK independent English language schools outperform proprietary chain schools based on scores ranked against national averages from the British Council-endorsed accreditation rankings. It also revealed that experience can lead to excellence, with most top-ranked ELT players over 20 years old.

The total revenue earned by UK universities amounted to £27.9 billion in 2011-12 with international revenues amounting to nearly £5.7 billion, accounting for over 20% of all university income, according to a new Universities UK (UUK) report unveiled today at “The contribution of UK universities to national and local economic growth” conference.

Despite the familiar "no cap" mantra, minutes from the latest meeting of the UK's International Education Council (IEC) reveal that there is in fact a clear government commitment to removing barriers to enhancing international education exports.

More than 80% of 14,000 prospective UK-bound international students surveyed said they choose their study destination based on the quality of the education on offer over factors such as job opportunities in the destination country, or even which country they preferred, a new survey reveals.