Hood hits back
Oxford University Vice-Chancellor Dr John Hood has hit back at criticisms that proposed increases in international student numbers, outlined in the Academic Strategy Green Paper last week, are motivated by financial reasons.
In an interview with The Times, Hood cited diversity as the reason behind the new drive to recruit students from overseas, together with a desire to improve the overall quality of the undergraduate body.
The Green paper suggests international student numbers be increased over the next few years by around five per cent to match national averages of 18 per cent.
At the same time, the undergraduate population as a whole would be reduced. Currently there are around 11,000 undergraduate students in comparison with the Ivy League average of 7,500.
The report received widespread media coverage, with many newspapers focussing on the cuts in student numbers and drawing a link with the deeply problematic funding environment and deficits the University is facing.
However, both the Vice-Chancellor and the Pro-Vice Chancellor Bill Macmillan have stressed the potential income from international students is negligible. MacMillan told The Oxford Student last week to make this assumption would be "frankly absurd".
In response to the coverage, a Press Office spokeswoman said: "Though it is inevitable that the national media will gravitate towards the attention grabbing headline, we felt that in much of the coverage there was was an undue focus on the proposals relating to student numbers to the exclusion of the many other important proposals put forward in this consultation document."
3rd Feb 2005