Europe needs to co-operate on student visas 

DG Education’s Director General Nikolaus van der Pas told a Friends of Europe seminar entitled ‘Can Europe close the education gap?’ that co-operation among member states is key to avoid the scenario in the US where student numbers have dropped dramatically.

His comments come with widespread terrorist security concerns prompting some member states to clamp down more in terms of visas. The fear is that this may deter students from applying to European universities, as has happened in the US. So far the UK and Australia have benefited in particular from the US problems, said Mr van der Pas.

During the debate, on 27 September, Mr Van der Pas also explained that a ‘China window’, with special funding coming from DG External Relations, had been set up within the Erasmus Mundus programme, to encourage Asian students to come to European universities.

Reacting to a question from EurActiv, he said that the Commission was not concerned that private funding in member state educational systems could lead to undue interference in syllabuses because “quality assurance was dealt with under the Bologna Process and this will increase”.