Wednesday, November 22, 2006

LONDON, England: Britain's Higher Education Minister, Bill Rammell, has announced proposals to enable students from the British Overseas Territories, including those in the Caribbean, to be treated as home students for fee purposes at institutions in the United Kingdom.

The proposal means that from 2007/08, students from specified territories will be charged the home fee rate for their Further Education and undergraduate degree courses at colleges and universities in England.

Rammell said: "This is a long awaited change for the Overseas Territories, which do not have their own higher education provision. It is a move that will help them to improve their self sufficiency."

Foreign Office Minister Lord Triesman added: "This change will have long-term benefits in terms of self-sufficiency of the Overseas Territories and it fits well with the commitments we gave in the 1999 White Paper on the Overseas Territories."

DFID Minister, Gareth Thomas also welcomed this announcement: "This is a significant decision for the future of Overseas Territories. It will help increase the educational options for students from Britain's remaining overseas territories, and in turn help to boost the long term prosperity of the Territories."

The change will be implemented through amendments to the Education (Fees and Awards) and the Education (Qualifying Courses and Persons) Regulations and implemented in time for the 2007/08 academic year.

According to a press release from the British government, the UK has an obligation under the United Nations Charter to promote the well-being of the inhabitants of its Overseas Territories and it is committed under the White paper "partnership for Progress and Prosperity - Britain and the Overseas Territories" to ensuring their social and economic development.

Because some of the overseas territories of EU countries are themselves in the EU, students from there qualify for the home fee rates, but students from Britain's Overseas Territories are treated as international students and are charged higher fees. Gibraltar is the only British Overseas Territory whose students currently qualify for the home fee rates. This proposed change will mean that students in the overseas territories of EU Member States will be treated equally.

This change also reflects the changed citizenship status of the territories. Under the 2002 British Overseas Territories Act British citizenship was extended to all people in the British Overseas Territories who qualified for it on the basis that they were British Overseas Territories citizens (BOTCs) from particular territories. In practice not all, but the majority of British Overseas Territories Citizens automatically became British Citizens on 21 May 2002 when the Act came into force. The exception was those deriving their BOTC status from the Sovereign Base Areas of Cyprus.

Children born after 21 May 2002 to those British Overseas Territories citizens that became British citizens become British citizens themselves.

The specified territories to which the change will apply are British Overseas Territories: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands, St Helena & its Dependencies, Turks & Caicos Islands.

Overseas territories of other EU member states: Greenland & Faeroe Isles (Denmark), Netherlands Antilles (Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, St Eustatius and St Marten) and Aruba (Netherlands).

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