UK postgrad shortage prompts scholarships

By David Matthews

Glyndŵr University is to offer half-price postgraduate degree courses to British students in what it called an attempt to “stop knowledge and skills leaving home
soil”.The deal will apply to those students who have completed their undergraduate studies at Glyndŵr.

The head of the institution’s business school, Chris Jones, said in a statement: “It’s fantastic to have so many overseas students here in the UK but when they go back to China, or South America or elsewhere in Europe they take their skills and what they’ve learnt with them. “If students joining Glyndŵr University know they can carry on and study for a master’s degree for half of the price, or even for free, then that will hopefully keep many of them here and benefit the economy of north east Wales and other areas of the country as well.

“At the moment there is a big black hole, a knowledge void, and we’re doing our best to fill it.”The university cited the fact that growth in overseas postgraduate numbers had massively outstripped those from the UK over the past ten years. In 2011-12, there were slightly more full-time postgraduate students from outside the EU enrolled in UK universities than there were from the UK, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

With half of the cost of a postgraduate course covered, the price of a master’s course at Glyndŵr will be less than £2,000. In addition, 15 full-time students from the UK will have all their postgraduate fees covered. Glyndŵr is currently awaiting the recommendations of a review into its future carried  out by Sir Adrian Webb, the former vice-chancellor of the University of Glamorgan.

Source: Times Higehr Education http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/uk-postgrad-shortage-prompts-scholarships/2006390.article