STUDENTS from the European Union generate more than £400 million for the Scottish economy, new analysis has shown.
Research by Universities UK, which represents the higher education sector, also found EU students support 3,743 jobs north of the Border.
The positive impact of EU students in Scotland has been highlighted at a time when there are concerns over the rising numbers - with around 20,000 students currently studying at universities here.
Under EU law students from the rest of Europe have their fees paid for them by the Scottish taxpayer and they compete for the same places as Scottish students.
Professor Anton Muscatelli, principal of Glasgow University, said: “These figures reveal that Scotland and the UK have benefited enormously from the EU students who come to study here.
"I am proud that students from across Europe choose to study at the University of Glasgow. They make an enormous contribution to academic life and to the student experience, and they support our economy by boosting growth and creating jobs in the Scottish economy.”
Dame Julia Goodfellow, president of Universities UK, said: "EU students make an enormous contribution to British university life and local communities.
"The figures show clearly that EU students spend money and create jobs in all regions and corners of the UK and EU students also make a very important academic and cultural contribution to university life."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel