§ 26. Mr. Beithasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what progress she has made in implementing her policy of cutting the numbers of overseas students to be enrolled in universities and polytechnics for 1979.
§ Mr. OakesMy right hon. Friend has approved, for the purposes of Section 41(2) of the Race Relations Act 1976, arrangements intended to restrict the total number of overseas students at any particular establishment in the academic year 1978–79 to the total reached in the academic year 1975–76. It is too early to judge how effective these arrangements will prove to be.
§ 44. Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will make a statement on her policy regarding overseas students.
§ Mr. OakesI attach great importance to the presence of overseas students in this country as being of mutual benefit to them and to our own academic and social communities. Current restraints on resources oblige us to follow a policy of limiting their numbers and of charging them higher, though still subsidised, fees; but we are now considering for the future 187W how available resources can best be channelled to those overseas students most in need of assistance.