EUNICAS, European University Central Application Support Service

BBC News 01 November

People who don't seize the chance to study or work abroad risk regretting it later in life suggests a poll from the British Council.Only 21% of those surveyed had lived abroad for six months or more.Of the remaining 79% more than a third said they thought they would have had better job prospects had they done so.

Dr Jo Beall of the British Council said: "People are beginning to realise how vital international skills are for enhancing their careers."

More than 2,100 UK adults took part in the online poll conducted by Populus last month. The survey suggests the under-25s are most likely to feel they have missed out, with more than half (54%) saying their lack of international experience has held them back.

The British Council says it commissioned the survey as part of its work to help young people in the UK develop the skills they need to compete in a global economy. Dr Beall said recent research has shown that UK employers are increasingly looking for an international outlook above academic qualifications.

Above: Jagiellonian University, Cracow

"The bad news is that not enough people in the UK are taking opportunities to gain international experience. That needs to change if the UK will successfully compete in the global economy.Our recent research showed that while almost two-thirds of students felt they had an international outlook, they failed to see the potential career advantages to be gained from international experiences."

The Guardian, 28 October 2012. About a third of universities in the elite Russell Group have suffered a drop in their undergraduate intake this year, after government changes to the way institutions recruit students.Vice-chancellors at the universities concerned fear they may have to cut spending on widening access to poorer students.

Wendy Piatt, the Director-General of the Russell Group, which represents 24 of the UK's most sought-after universities, told a BBC Radio 4 documentary that about a third of the group's English institutions had lost out.She said: "Having far fewer students than planned does create a real financial hit. It's hard to give a very accurate number, but across the Russell Group it may amount to something like £80m. It's a significant amount of money."

Universities can now recruit an unlimited number of the highest performing students, those who achieve A-level grades of AAB or above, under coalition changes intended to give more students their first choice.However, all English universities are capped on the number of students they can recruit at lower grades.After A-level results were published this summer, there was fierce competition for a small pool of high-performing students in clearing. Some leading universities have been left with spare capacity after failing to attract enough of these students.

Next year the government will take deregulation of student numbers further. Universities will be allowed to recruit as many students as they like from the wider pool of school-leavers with A-level grades of ABB or equivalent. Many vice-chancellors welcome the prospect of greater freedom, but warn of the consequences of an unexpected dip in income after this year's changes. Piatt said: "There'll be lots of efforts to make sure the students don't notice that, but it will have an effect.

Record numbers of students have applied for the most competitive university courses, according to figures from the admissions service Ucas.

Almost 57,000 applied for dentistry, medicine, or veterinary science courses or to study at Oxford or Cambridge, before their 15 October early deadline.

Ucas says the numbers are 2% higher than for the same courses this time last year.

Chief executive Mary Curnock Cook said the figures were "encouraging".

"Not only are they up against last year but also on 2011. Although this is a subset of applicants for higher education at the highest levels of achievement, I remain optimistic about overall demand in the 2013 cycle", said Ms Curnock Cook.

EUNiCAS is visiting a lot of towns and cities before Christmas, and is available to talk to you about the huge opportunities represented by Studying In Europe.

Our first schedule includes the following dates, though more will be added soon:

Belfast: 6-7 Sept

Dublin 19-21 Sept

Limerick 25 Sept

Manchester 27-29 Sept

London 4-6 Oct

Cork 16-17 Oct

Liverpool 17 Oct

Other dates and locations will be added but, meanwhile, feel free to request a 1:1 clinic with us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The University of Groningen, in the Netherlands, announced recently that, for the academic year 2013-2014, it is launching ten new undergraduate Science programmes, taught through English.

Full details will be announced in the autumn but EUNiCAS understands that the university will be launching the following:

BSc Applied Mathematics
BSc Applied Physics
BSc Artificial Intelligence
BSc Astronomy
BEng Chemical Engineering
BSc Chemistry
BSc Computer Science
BSc Mathematics
BSc Physics
BEng Technical Engineering & Management

This announcement is timely in the context of increasing numbers of UK and Irish students applying for Science programmes and the recent declaration, in the UK, by The Lords Science and Technology Committee which says that universities are not producing enough science graduates with the skills needed by UK industry. It calls for immediate action to boost student numbers in science, technology, engineering and maths at undergraduate and postgraduate level.