British Universities to Pay Students
Competition for the best minds in the United Kingdom has never been fiercer. The “arms race” for the students now sees the nation’s top universities paying top dollar, for top minds.
Schools are now offering major cash incentives to steer students away from their competitors, in hopes of building the strongest student body.
Some of these measures include:
- City University London offering scholarships of £3,000 to AAB plus students in each year of a three or four year degree
- Surrey University offering £2,000 to candidates who achieve three A grades who select the university as their firm choice
- Northumbria is offering £1,000 a year to AAB+ students.
- Leicester offering £2,000 awards each year over three years for students gaining three A grades
These rewards will naturally put smaller schools at a serious recruitment disadvantage. However, some experts feel it will hurt middle-sized institutions more.
“They are vulnerable to losing some of their AAB+ students to more selective, more prestigious, institutions,” said Bahram Bekhradnia, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute.
“This is likely to give rise to an arms race of ‘merit-based’ scholarships – if one university offers them others will be obliged to do so.”
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