Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of changes to (a) tuition fees and (b) student loans for EEA students after the UK has left the EU on the number of those students studying in the UK.

EU students make an important contribution to the UK’s higher education sector, both financially and culturally. On 28 May 2019, we announced guarantees on student finance for EU nationals. EU nationals (and their family members) who start a course in England in the 2020-21 academic year or before will continue to be eligible for ‘home fee’ status and undergraduate and postgraduate student financial support from Student Finance England for the duration of their course, provided they meet the residency requirement. Any potential effects of changes to tuition fees and loans for European Economic Area students from the 2021-22 academic year will be considered as part of wider discussions about the UK’s future relationship with the EU. The government will continue to work towards the ambitious goals set out in our International Education Strategy, to host 600,000 international students per year by 2030, an increase of 30%.