Brazil nuts for Blighty

I read with interest "Steep costs deter Brazil's experience seekers" (News, 8 November).

The UK Higher Education International Unit runs the Science without Borders (SwB) UK programme, under which 10,000 Brazilian students will come here to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and creative industry subjects. The UK currently has more than 500 Brazilian SwB students studying at over 70 universities. We are currently processing applications for the January 2013 intake, for which we expect to place another 500 students. This demonstrates just how attractive the UK offering is: indeed, the SwB UK team exhibited at the British Council fair in Rio de Janeiro cited in the article and was inundated with enquiries, with long queues of students eager to find out more.

The UK offers a unique experience for Brazilian students, not just because of the high standards and diversity of its higher education sector but also because of its other qualities: with a cosmopolitan, international student community, it offers foreign students an excellent base in which to practise English. We look forward to welcoming many more of these talented Brazilians to our shores.

The International Unit is keen to build on the success of SwB and develop further collaborations to support increasing two-way traffic between the UK and Brazil.

Joanna Newman, Director, UK Higher Education International Unit.