British sixth-formers will be able to apply to continental European universities through the UK admissions system for the first time, under a landmark reform that will transform the higher education market, the Guardian can reveal.

The change, promoted by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) as extending student choice and reflecting the increasingly globalised nature of higher education, is likely to accelerate the steady increase in the number of young Britons studying abroad. The trend has already been boosted by a boom in the number of courses taught entirely in English by continental universities and priced well below the maximum £9,000-a-year annual UK tuition fee or, in some countries, with no fee at all.

Students due to leave school this summer will have the option of applying to a handful of European universities via Ucas after it reversed its opposition, providing the universities meet equivalent quality standards to the UK.

Maastricht University is planning to use Ucas mailings this summer to target students with information about its courses. Other continental universities have also held discussions with Ucas and are expected to follow suit.

The reform will also put pressure on the government to extend tuition fee loans, currently available to English and Welsh students only for courses in British universities, to courses taught overseas. Scottish students already have this option: under a two-year “portability pilot” scheme launched this academic year, they can claim grants, bursaries and tuition fee loans for study at five approved continental universities.

We are rather thinking of brain circulation, not brain drain

Denying students access to portable tuition loans risks shutting poorer students off from overseas study, according to Peter Lampl, chairman of education charity The Sutton Trust. He said: “There’s no doubt that overseas study holds real benefits and is a realistic option. The problem is that many young people, particularly those from low- and middle-income families, just don’t consider it as a feasible choice for them.



“More must be done to ensure that all teenagers are aware of their options and given the best possible advice. US students can access US government grants and loans for study abroad and our government should accord British students the same rights.”

Latest Ucas figures show British universities – many ranking among the best in the world – are far from threatened by the rise in British students heading abroad, mainly to the US but also to continental institutions, primarily in Holland. Despite fears that the introduction of £9,000 fees in 2012 would see a fall in applications, more than half a million British and European Union students – a record – took up a place at a UK university this academic year, while only about 30,000 left Britain to study.

However, while British students have always been able to apply to foreign universities directly alongside their domestic Ucas applications, and will still be able to do so, a shift to include approved continental universities on the Ucas form will greatly raise the profile of overseas study as a viable option. Dutch universities such as Maastricht and Groningen, already with about 400 British undergraduates and masters students apiece, charge £1,500 a year in tuition fees and boast of more contact time than equivalent UK courses. Their application deadlines are later than British universities, so they can still accept UK applicants for study this autumn.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ucas said the change reflected the increasingly globalised nature of higher education. Photograph: M4OS Photos /Alamy

Ucas said its decision to open its service to approved overseas universities – who must pay a joining fee understood to be as much as £25,000 – reflected new trends in higher education. A spokesperson said: “We will … consider requests from European higher education providers to use Ucas services if they can demonstrate that they meet equivalent standards to those in the UK. The inclusion of a wider range of higher education providers in the Ucas system offers students more choice about where and what to study.”

A spokesperson for Groningen University, which has 23 undergraduate programmes taught in English and is 90th in global rankings, said the university was in the process of giving evidence of its accredited status and financial stability to Ucas. If approved as expected it would be on the admission service’s lists of institutions by the summer.

David Willetts, former coalition universities minister and a vocal supporter of overseas study as beneficial to the future economy, said he “warmly welcomed this opening up of the system”. Rejecting fears of a brain drain from the UK, he echoed calls for portable loans to ensure students could access continental courses.

Michael Geary, chair of Maastricht’s student recruitment team, said the university was unlikely to apply to be a full Ucas member university for the time being but was planning to use the service to advertise its courses directly to potential applicants. “We are facing more and more competition from American and European universities and we can’t rest on our laurels,” he said.

Martin Paul, Maastricht University president, said European higher education institutions gained mutual benefit from movement of students as well as partnering and exchange schemes. He said: “We are rather thinking of brain circulation, not brain drain.”

He said: “The decision to have higher tuition fees was some sort of wake-up call in the UK where students and their parents began to think what is on the other side of the sea.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alec Denniff with his mother, Alison. He has made Maastricht University his first choice of study. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Visiting Maastricht from Sevenoaks on an undergraduate open day this month, Alec Denniff, 17, confirmed his decision to make Maastricht his first choice above his five UK university offers to study European law next autumn. Lower fees were not the main attraction, he said. “I like travel and when it comes to employment I think living in a different culture will help make my application stand out more,” he said.

His mother, Alison, a single parent who works in a school kitchen, said she would try to help Alec finance his studies, since he would not be eligible for a loan. She said: “My daughter is at Exeter where she’s paying £9,000 a year and when you compare that with the Dutch fees it’s an incredible saving.”

British students are becoming increasingly comfortable with the idea of overseas study, according to Guy Flouch of European university applications support service Eunicas. Just under 1,000 courses are now taught exclusively in English in continental universities, Eunicas calculates, with Dutch universities the biggest providers.

Numbers have grown fastest in medical courses, where extreme competition for UK university places has led some applicants to look overseas. Martin Hyde, of study abroad agency The Student World, said his service had placed more than 300 British students to study medicine in Bulgaria, where they can access Bulgarian government-backed loans.