Studenten uit nieuwe lidstaten schrijven zich massaal in bij Ierse en Engelse universiteiten (en)

Profiting from their status as EU citizens, students from the new EU member states are eager to study in the UK and Ireland, new figures show.

A report to be released today (15 July) by the British Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) shows that applications of students from the new EU countries to UK universities have shot up this year by almost 140 percent.

Since 10 countries joined the EU on 1 May this year, applicants from these countries fall under the category "EU students" - who pay the same limited tuition fees as their British counterparts.

Overseas students generally pay much higher rates.

However, the relatively high costs of studying in the UK still seems to scare off many "new" Europeans, as their number of applications remained relatively small - 3,174 out of a total number of 66,275 applications from abroad.

Free fees in Ireland

In Ireland, a similar rise in university applications from the new EU countries is expected, according to the Irish Independent today (15 July).

This follows a decision by the Irish government this week that students from the newly acceded countries will be eligible for the so-called "Free fees scheme" as of next September.

Under the Free Fees scheme, Irish and EU undergraduate students are waivered from having to pay tuition fees.

According to the Irish Independent, the admissions officer for the National University of Ireland, John McGinnity, said recently that there had been a steady flow of enquiries to the colleges from the new EU states.

But Mr McGinnity stressed that they did not expect the "floodgates" to open as the English language would still constitute a barrier for many students.

It had remained unclear until this week whether new EU students would profit from the Irish Free Fees scheme this year, as the scheme formally requires students to have lived in the EU for a minimum of three years.

This requirement has now been scrapped for the 10 new countries.