Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that the government of the United Arab Emirates will not provide scholarships to students seeking to attend UK universities on the grounds that they might be subject to radicalisation by Islamic extremists on UK campuses.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The UK offers one of the best education systems in the world, especially teaching and research in high growth sectors of the future. We welcome high quality students from across the world, including from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
No form of extremism has any place in our society, and we have some of the strongest laws in the world to protect our citizens from hatred and terrorism. The government maintains stringent measures to safeguard all students and our Prevent strategy, recently updated to address evolving threats, and our consistent review and proscription of extremist organisations, underline our ongoing commitment to student welfare and campus safety.
The education sector continues to play a vital role in safeguarding learners from radicalisation, being the highest contributor of referrals to the Prevent programme. To support this effort, we provide resources through the Educate Against Hate website, helping pupils and staff understand terrorism risks and challenge extremist views.
The UK and UAE have a deep and long-standing bilateral relationship and we will continue to discuss this matter with their government.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why (1) paramedic science degrees are excluded from the Equivalent or Lower Qualifications exemption list, and (2) paramedic science students with previous degrees are denied access to student finance; and what assessment they have made of whether this exclusion is consistent with the inclusion of paramedics on the list of allied health professionals who are eligible for NHS grant funding.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
As part of the reforms to healthcare education funding, we provided an exemption from equivalent or lower qualification (ELQ) rules for new students starting undergraduate pre-registration nursing, midwifery and certain allied health profession courses from academic year 2017/18 to allow students to receive support for these courses as a second course.
Paramedic science courses were not included in the reforms noted above as they were not previously part of the NHS bursary system (paramedic science students were already part of the standard student finance system) and therefore they were not included in the list of allied health professions exempt from the ELQ rules.