BVI looks to UK as Trump fights foreign enrolment

The Ministry of Education recently engaged several UK tertiary schools as part of efforts to create new pathways for BVI scholars amid the United States’ new aversion to international students in its universities.

Education Minister Shari de Castro and the president of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College, Dr. Richard Georges recently travelled to the Education World Forum in London, where they engaged in a series of meetings with institutions that could serve as alternative schools for BVI scholars.

The institutions include: Barnet & Southgate College, London Metropolitan University, Morley College, the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering (NMITE), Richmond American University London, and the University of Westminster.

de Castro said these engagements with schools were serious and essential as the BVI and other Caribbean countries are being affected by Donald Trump’s closed policy on foreign students.

“They represent a proactive, forward-looking response to recent and concerning developments in the United States, where the current US administration has temporarily halted certain categories of student visa processing—a move that has disrupted educational planning for many families and has, understandably, cast uncertainty over the future of Caribbean students seeking study in the US,” De Castro told the House of Assembly recently.

She said that any new collaboration with UK universities would be fitting for Virgin Islanders who are either British citizens or citizens of British Overseas Territories, and would not be subjected to high fees because they’d be classified as home students when studying in the United Kingdom.

“This means that our students pay the same tuition as UK nationals—currently capped at £9,250 per year for undergraduate programmes—whereas international students in the UK may pay £15,000–£30,000 per year or more, depending on the course and institution,” de Castro explained. “When compared with the rising cost of tuition in the United States and the current visa uncertainty, UK study offers both affordability and stability for Virgin Islands families.”

In the meantime, de Castro said their efforts to forge new partnerships with UK universities have already yielded results. She said HLSCC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Richmond American University London, marking a major milestone.

With this new arrangement, HLSCC graduates—whose degrees are accredited by the American Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)—can now for the very first time enter directly into the third year of a bachelor’s programme at Richmond.

The minister said MSCHE also accredits Richmond, and this ensures strong academic alignment and facilitates seamless credit transfer. This development means a faster, more affordable, and academically efficient path to completing a full degree for BVI students.