Charter flights for Chinese students

MORE than 50 top universities are chartering flights for Chinese students to come to Britain to study next month, it has been claimed.

The institutions reportedly fear their income from overseas students could be hit by travel restrictions. Overseas students currently make up more than £1.3billion of funding annually.

The universities – including many of the elite Russell Group such as Imperial College London, Exeter and Bristol – have already chartered four flights for 1,200 Chinese students.

More are expected and many students will have to self-isolate on arrival to comply with Covid travel rules.

Transfers between Heathrow and UK campuses have also been organised, in addition to accommodation and food, reported The Sunday Times.

Vivienne Stern, international director for Universities UK, said flight availability was a ‘big issue’ for students ‘especially from mainland China’.

All direct flights to the UK from mainland China have been cancelled but students have been coming via Hong Kong, which is on the UK’s green list.

Approximately one in every ten Russell Group students is from China, and there are some 220,000 Chinese students in the UK.

Overseas tuition fees can be up to £35,000 a year, it has been reported.