Hansard - United Kingdom Parliament

117W
Written Answers
20 JUNE 2011
Written Answers
118W
Mr Willetts: Legal advice obtained by the Department
is confidential and the subject of legal professional
privilege.
It will be for universities themselves, as autonomous
institutions, to obtain their own legal advice to ensure
that their provision in respect of fee waivers and fee
discounts conforms to current legislation.
Foreign Students
Mr Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for
Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has
made of the number of British citizens who attended
university in (a) EU countries and (b) the US in the
last academic year for which figures are available.
[60899]
Mr Willetts: In 2008, it is estimated that 24,750 UK
students were enrolled at institutions outside the UK,
and studying for a degree awarded by an overseas
institution. Of these, an estimated 10,250 UK students
were studying in EU-27 countries, and 8,400 were estimated
to be studying in the USA. These figures exclude students
who undertake short-term exchange programmes as
part of their UK degree.
Source:
OECD online database and Eurostat online database.
Please note, there is no common basis for the collection
of data on ‘foreign/mobile’ students—countries use one
or more of the following classification criteria:
citizenship;
usual/permanent residence; and
country of prior education.
Each method has its own strengths and weaknesses
but they will give different results in each country, so the
figures quoted above need to be treated with caution.
BIS-commissioned research concluded that OECD data
tend to over-estimate the true number of diploma-mobile
students by up to 10%.
Green Investment Bank
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for
Business, Innovation and Skills what meetings he has
had with representatives of potential locations on the
proposed location of the Green Investment Bank.
[60974]
Mr Prisk: I have met with the Secretary of State for
Scotland, my right hon. Friend the Member for
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Michael Moore)
on 5 April and representatives from the Edinburgh
Green Investment Bank Group on 30 March both at
their request.
Higher Education: Admissions
Mr Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for
Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer
of 24 May 2011, Official Report, columns 645-46W, on
higher education: admissions, how many UK-domiciled
full-time first degree qualifiers at UK higher education
institutions who previously attended (i) maintained schools
and (ii) sixth-form colleges achieved each degree
classification in the academic year 2009-10. [60245]
Mr Willetts [holding answer 16 June 2011]: Data on
previous school type are available from the Higher
Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and cover state
schools, independent schools, FE institutions, HE
institutions and those with unknown or missing
information. They do not identify separately those who
attended maintained schools and sixth-form colleges.
Higher Education: Anti-Semitism
Mr Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for
Business, Innovation and Skills (1) what information
his Department holds on the use of the Working
Definition of anti-Semitism; whether he has had recent
discussions with universities on the definition; and if he
will make a statement; [R] [60422]
(2) what definition of anti-Semitism his Department
uses; what recent discussions he has had with the
Jewish community on its definition since May 2010;
and if he will make a statement; [R] [60423]
(3) whether (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department
and (c) officials in his Department have had recent
discussions with the Union of Jewish Students; and if
he will make a statement; [R] [60534]
(4) what recent representations he has received from
the Union of Jewish Students; what response his
Department gave to such representations; and if he will
make a statement. [R] [60535]
Mr Willetts: The Department does not hold information
about the use of the European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights (FRA) working definition of anti-
Semitism. It is public knowledge that it has been adopted
by the National Union of Students. We have not held
discussions with universities about definitions of anti-
Semitism, or about any specific definition used by the
Department with the Jewish community.
The UK Government currently uses the Macpherson
definition of a racist incident which is an incident that is
perceived as racist by the victim or any other person,
and this would include anti-Semitism.
I met with the Union of Jewish Students (UJS)
towards the end of last year, alongside the hon. Member
for Bassetlaw (John Mann) (as the Chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism), the
Community Security Trust and Higher Education (HE)
sector bodies such as Universities UK (UUK) and the
Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) to discuss the experiences
of Jewish students in HE. My officials have met with
the UJS to discuss the Prevent strategy, and the recent
motion concerning the European Monitoring Centre
on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC, now the FRA)
working definition of anti-Semitism agreed at the University
and College Union’s annual congress.
The Government’s position is clear, anti-Semitism
and intolerance have no place in our society and no
place in higher education. Staff and students from all
backgrounds, cultures and communities must be welcome
in our higher education sector.
The UK has in place one of the strongest legislative
frameworks to protect people from harassment and
abuse, and specifically racial or religious persecution.
This framework provides protection to Jewish people
alongside other ethnic and religious groups. As independent
organisations, higher education institutions are directly