Australasian universities bid for British students

New Zealand and Australian universities are pitching for British students who have missed out on a place at UK universities, the Times newspaper reports in London.

Canterbury University is offering two $4000 scholarships - each the equivalent of £1500 a year - on tuition fees per year for up to three years, the Times reports.

The Australasian universities have offered financial assistance after reports that up to 60,000 UK school-leavers may fail to gain a university place in Britain this year because of a rush to avoid scheduled £3000 top-up fees.

With a lower cost of living, academics said that it was now academically and financially worthwhile for British students to study in the Southern Hemisphere, the newspaper reported.

"Tuition fees are the biggest change British universities have had in years," said Chris Madden, pro-Vice-Chancellor of Griffith University in Queensland.

"Before they were importers, but now with tuition fees, and given the exchange rates, the cost of studying here is not much more than staying at home."

Griffith University, which has 30,000 students, of whom 7000 are international, is offering a full scholarship for tuition fees, which is open to all except medical students.

Gemma Shaw, 21, from Ipswich in Britain, has just completed a six-month exchange in psychology at Griffith, and said that in spite of the cost of flights, living next to Surfers' Paradise was cheaper than Oxford and there was a far stronger sense of service to students in Queensland.

She said: "I had an amazing apartment on the beach and we paid £45 a week each, compared to my tiny room in Oxford for £80."

She travelled around the country over the holidays and worked as a waitress twice a week during the term to pay her way.

Last year about 1400 British students chose to study in New Zealand and Australia.

Many were attracted to courses, such as dentistry, veterinary science and physiotherapy, that were oversubscribed in Britain.

Exchange students pay no more than they would to their own university, but those studying abroad pay a year's fees upfront in order to qualify for a place and a student visa.

Sarah McCulloch, 36, who moved with her husband and three children to Tasmania to take a degree in education, said: "International students come a week before term starts, so that they can show you around, take you on day trips and to barbecues, so that no one feels left out," she told the Times. "They make a real effort for you to get to know the Australian way of life."

- NZPA