The British Government is aiming to encourage more international students to study in the UK by expanding the Chevening Scholarship programme, easing restrictions on taking paid employment and making visa arrangements more user-friendly.

Will you pay the 'home' or 'overseas' fee?
Only certain categories of students will be charged the 'home' fee. In very general terms, these are:
*persons who have permanent residence in the UK and have been resident in the UK for three years;
   * EEA and Swiss migrant workers and their spouses and children in the UK who have been resident in the EEA or Switzerland for three years;
* EU nationals and their children who have been resident in the EEA or Switzerland for three years;
* refugees (recognised by the UK government) and their spouses and children; and
* persons who applied for asylum and as a result have been granted Exceptional Leave, Humanitarian Protection or Discretionary Leave, and their families.

How much will the 'overseas' fee for my course be?Overseas fees can range from £4,000 to £18,000 per year, depending on the institution, the level of course and the type of course. Some institutions give details of the fees they charge on their websites.

How can you get details of scholarships that are available?You should contact your local British Council office about any scholarships that are available to students from your country wishing to study in the UK. British Council offices in the UK are not involved in the scholarship process and therefore do not hold information or scholarship application forms. Please note also that the scholarships administered by The British Council are allocated more than one academic year in advance of the start of the course, so you should start enquiring at least eighteen months in advance.

New fees and student support regulations
The fees regulations for England and Wales, which are also followed in Northern Ireland, have been amended. The main changes, which come into effect on 31 March 2006, apply to EEA and Swiss nationals and their family members. These new provisions appear in the student support regulations too, but for England only.

In summary, some of the main changes are:
* the spouse or civil partner of an EU national can now be eligible for 'home' fees and fees-only student support
* to qualify for 'home' fees and fees-only student support as the child of an EU national, you must be under 21 or dependent on your EU national parent or that parent's spouse or civil partner
* all direct descendants, eg grandchildren, of an EU national or of an EU national's spouse or civil partner can qualify for 'home' fees and fees-only student support if they are under 21 or dependent (as above)
* the dependent direct ascendants, eg parents and grandparents, of self-sufficient EU nationals and of EEA migrant workers and EEA self-employed people can be eligible for 'home' fees and, in the case of an EU national, fees-only student support or, in the case of migrant workers and self-employed people, full student support
* the child of a Swiss national can be eligible for 'home' fees and full student support, even if the Swiss national is not working in the UK.

In all the above categories, the student must also have been ordinarily resident in the EEA or Switzerland for three years before the start of the course and, in some cases, that residence must not have been wholly or mainly for the purpose of receiving full-time education.

The cost of living in England.
This will vary according to where in the UK you decide to study. London and other big cities will be more expensive than other areas.