Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department made of the potential benefits to the economy of using Department for International Development funds for scholarships and grants for students and young people from developing countries to study at UK universities.

There is a growing body of evidence that suggest that good quality Higher Education (HE) can make vital contributions to economic growth by developing the business leaders who create jobs and the skilled workforce needed to fill these. In addition, HE plays a key role in developing future leaders who can think critically, solve development problems and drive peace, stability and good governance.

A review of spend across the Department for International Development (DFID) revealed that, during the financial year 2016/17, it was estimated that DFID supported 9,066 individuals through tertiary education scholarships in the form of:

1. DFID programmes that provide tertiary education scholarships directly for students in developing countries to study in the UK; in home countries, or a 3rd country.
2. Any programmes where DFID support other organisations to provide tertiary education scholarships.
3. DFID’s provision of core funding to an organisation (which provides scholarships), but the funding provided by DFID is not specifically to support the scholarships.