Students travelling to Britain down 16%

FEWER Irish students crossed the Border or the Irish Sea to take college courses last year because of the introduction of college fees in Britain, a report has found.

Only 2,675 students from the Republic accepted places last year through the Universities and Colleges Applications System (UCAS) — Britain’s equivalent of the Central Applications Office (CAO) system here. This was a drop of 16% from the 3,177 acceptances in 2005 and compares to 3,384 a year earlier, meaning numbers taking places in Britain and the North fell by more than one-fifth in just two years.

According to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) report which reveals the figures, this may be due to the introduction of tuition fees of up to €4,500 a year for new entrants to British colleges from last September.