Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to promote closer links between UK and non-EU universities.

The Government recognises the important contribution that universities bring to the UK through engagement with their international peers.

The Government is promoting the international success of UK universities through bilateral engagement with overseas partners, the ‘Britain is GREAT’ marketing campaign, which has an education pillar, and the Chevening and Commonwealth scholarship schemes.

Programmes such as the UK China Partners in Education programme and the UK India Education Research Initiative have brought long-term international collaboration.

Our international research is being enhanced through the Government’s Newton Fund, a £735 million UK investment matched by partner countries, linking our universities with researchers in sixteen major emerging economies. Our £1.5 billion Global Challenge Research Fund and £1 billion Ross Fund support universities engaging in global challenges including health, agricultural technologies and water research.

British universities have a world-class reputation for both education and research. Globally, the UK has four universities in the top ten and nine in the top fifty in the QS rankings, has a 10% share of the international student recruitment market, and 15.9% of the world’s most highly-cited research articles.