Student visas down, public funding tied to good conduct, open-access approach…

This week in UK&I in brief: Student visas down 20 per cent; Public funding tied to good conduct; University funder proposes open-access approach; Horizon 2020 action plan launched; €300m for Ireland’s research centres.

Student visas down 20 per cent

Twenty per cent fewer visas were issued for study in the UK in the year ending December 2012 than in the previous year, according to figures released on 28 February. The Migration Statistics Quarterly Report shows that this drop was accounted for by falls of more than 50 per cent in visas issued to Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan nationals. There was a 9 per cent increase in the number of visas issued to Chinese nationals. There was an overall drop in net migration of 34 per cent between the years ending in June 2011 and 2012.