Students and staff from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are visiting Limassol in Cyprus to demonstrate to prospective students why DMU is so popular with students across the EU.
Despite an overall fall in applications to British universities and the political uncertainty around Brexit, DMU has seen an increase of 40% in EU students starting this year.
Cyprus is one of DMU’s largest European markets and there are currently more than 200 students from the country studying at DMU.
In the last year, DMU was ranked as the UK’s best university for getting graduates into highly-skilled employment or further study and was awarded gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework, the UK government’s first official ranking of universities. Many Cypriot students have identified these successes as a key reason for choosing to study at DMU.
DMU is also one of the UK’s most vibrant and multi-cultural universities and welcomes students and staff from more than 130 countries, another factor which has appealed to international students.
DMU has a strong connection to Cyprus and this visit, which will be held at the Crowne Plaza in Limassol on 16 November 2017, is the second time in the last 18 months that the university has travelled to Cyprus.
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Current Cypriot students will join senior staff – including the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Andy Collop – in an event and reception open to Cypriot media, where DMU’s work will be presented and discussed. The students will talk about the benefits of studying abroad and their experience of international education.
The visit follows the launch of a new campaign by DMU, which aims to ‘Keep Universities for the Many’, and international students are an important part of it.
Amidst talk of a review of how higher education is funded, DMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard has called for a Royal Commission to take the issue of higher education funding out of the political sphere to ensure the best possible model for students from the UK and abroad.
Professor Dominic Shellard said: “DMU has always been a vibrant community, with many of our students and colleagues coming from diverse backgrounds and cultures. We wanted to reaffirm that our international students and staff are a vital part of what makes us special – perhaps now more than ever. We also believe they will remain essential in the future, no matter how the Brexit process unfolds.
“Following our last visit to Cyprus, it has been hugely reassuring for us to know that you took us at our word. In our September 2017 cohort, we overcame a national decline in numbers to enjoy a 40 per cent increase in EU students.
“That is astonishing and we could not be more delighted to be back here, to celebrate old friendships that are stronger than ever while building new ones that transcend politics and borders.”
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Andy Collop said: “I’m delighted to be leading this DMU visit to Cyprus. This is a great opportunity for us to explore DMU’s popularity with international students and hear the first-hand experiences of Cypriot students studying at DMU.”
Posted on Wednesday 15 November 2017