American universities are embarking on a major recruitment drive in Britain amid a surge in demand for degree courses on the other side of the Atlantic.
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| More American universities are set to attend the US College Day fair in London this week. |
The number of US institutions marketing themselves to British students has almost doubled in just four years in a bid to capitalise on mounting interest in overseas study combined with a backlash over rising tuition fees in the UK.
More than 9,000 British students took higher education courses in the US in 2011/12 – the latest available data – but it is believed that numbers will soar much higher in 2013 and 2014.
More than 9,000 British students took higher education courses in the US in 2011/12 – the latest available data – but it is believed that numbers will soar much higher in 2013 and 2014.
Figures show that the number of students taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) – the main US college entrance exam – in Britain has risen by a quarter in the last three years.
Experts warned that many of Britain’s brightest sixth-formers were being attracted to the US by the breadth of the liberal arts curriculum, in which students take a range of subjects before specialising in the third year.
It was also claimed that a near tripling of tuition fees in England last autumn to £9,000-a-year combined with the lure of more generous scholarships in the US had made overseas study a more realistic option.
The disclosure was made as a record 170 universities prepared to exhibit at Britain’s biggest US higher education recruitment fair tomorrow.
Institutions such as Harvard, Yale, New York, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will feature at the USA College Day event in Kensington, west London, on Friday and Saturday.
The number of exhibitors is up by 84 per cent in four years, with at least 4,000 people set to attend.
For the first time, a tailored programme – University Prep – that seeks to prepare teenagers for courses at top US universities will feature at the fair after announcing it was to expand into the UK.
It is currently staged at Columbia, Yale, Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, showing prospective students how to improve their SAT scores, write a CV and practice interview technique.
But in the summer 2014 the course will also be staged at Richmond, The American International University in London.
Kate Wallace, London director of admissions for the programme, said: “There is an increase in the number of UK students seeking alternatives to British higher education.
“There is a demand that is now going beyond those families who already had connections with the US. The gap between costs for studying in the US and the UK is narrowing and the choice to stay in the UK is not so clear cut.”
Lauren Welch, director of marketing for the US-UK Fulbright Commission, which organises the recruitment fair, said: “After several years of rising interest in US study amongst British students, American universities are eager to connect with UK pupils.”
Many leading US universities have already reported a rise in the number of British students admitted in the last academic year, 2012/13.
It emerged that Yale admitted 114 undergraduates and postgraduates, up from 106 a year earlier and 102 two years’ ago.
Princeton gave places to 131, compared with 110 in the two previous years and just 64 in 2005. Columbia took 198 British students compared with 192 a year earlier and 180 in 2010.
At Pennsylvania, 86 places went to UK-based students, up from 73 a year earlier, while Chicago said numbers increased from 83 to 95 in the last year.
Harvard admitted more British students than any other institution – 211. It was its third-highest annual intake on record but was actually down on the 242 a year earlier.
Institutions such as Harvard, Yale, New York, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will feature at the USA College Day event in Kensington, west London, on Friday and Saturday.
The number of exhibitors is up by 84 per cent in four years, with at least 4,000 people set to attend.
For the first time, a tailored programme – University Prep – that seeks to prepare teenagers for courses at top US universities will feature at the fair after announcing it was to expand into the UK.
It is currently staged at Columbia, Yale, Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley, showing prospective students how to improve their SAT scores, write a CV and practice interview technique.
But in the summer 2014 the course will also be staged at Richmond, The American International University in London.
Kate Wallace, London director of admissions for the programme, said: “There is an increase in the number of UK students seeking alternatives to British higher education.
“There is a demand that is now going beyond those families who already had connections with the US. The gap between costs for studying in the US and the UK is narrowing and the choice to stay in the UK is not so clear cut.”
Lauren Welch, director of marketing for the US-UK Fulbright Commission, which organises the recruitment fair, said: “After several years of rising interest in US study amongst British students, American universities are eager to connect with UK pupils.”
Many leading US universities have already reported a rise in the number of British students admitted in the last academic year, 2012/13.
It emerged that Yale admitted 114 undergraduates and postgraduates, up from 106 a year earlier and 102 two years’ ago.
Princeton gave places to 131, compared with 110 in the two previous years and just 64 in 2005. Columbia took 198 British students compared with 192 a year earlier and 180 in 2010.
At Pennsylvania, 86 places went to UK-based students, up from 73 a year earlier, while Chicago said numbers increased from 83 to 95 in the last year.
Harvard admitted more British students than any other institution – 211. It was its third-highest annual intake on record but was actually down on the 242 a year earlier.
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