Thousands of overseas students unable to enter UK

Universities could lose thousands of high fee-paying overseas students because of new visa system

Thousands of university places could be left unfilled and institutions millions of pounds out of pocket, because high fee-paying international students are being blocked from starting degrees under a new visa system, vice-chancellors warned yesterday.

Universities fear wealthy foreigners, who can pay more than £20,000 a year for degree courses, according to data compiled for the Guardian, will be put off studying in Britain by massive delays in processing visa applications, prompting a funding crisis. In Pakistan alone, a backlog of 14,000 applications has caused havoc for students who had been due to start courses this term.

For further details and full article see the following link: www.guardian.co.uk 

More primaries failing to teach majority of pupils the basics, league tables reveal

• More than half fell short of Sats level 4 in 885 schools

• Opposition parties say standards are slipping

Growing numbers of primary schools are failing to teach children to write a proper sentence using commas or tackle basic arithmetic in their heads, primary school league tables published today show.

In just under 900 primaries – 100 more than last year – the majority of pupils leave without mastering these skills, which are expected of their age group, analysis of the data reveals.

The tables are compiled from government statistics on 10- and 11-year-olds' scores in English, maths and science tests, known as Sats, taken at more than 15,000 state primaries in England last May.

They show that at 885 schools, none of which are specifically for pupils with special needs, more than half of pupils failed to reach the standard expected of them – national curriculum level four – in English and maths. Last year the figure was 798 schools.

For further details and full article see the following link: www.guardian.co.uk