Dear Mr Griffiths,

Thank you for your e-mail with a FOI for the Commission. I have added our
response against your questions below in order to make the response as
clear as possible for the period since 2021:

1) Pertaining to Master's Study

(1A) The number of students who after completion of masters level
programmes funded by commonwealth scholarships that applied to remain in
the UK for PhD study or other reasons – we don’t collect data on how many
Scholars apply to the CSC to remain in the UK for PhD study or any other
reason up on completion of Master’s study.

(1B) The number of students who were granted an exemption from the
requirement to return home after master's study funded by the commonwealth
scholarships – 26 requests were approved during the period

(1C) A list of reasons these exemptions were granted for (1B) – the only
circumstance where CSC gives permission for Scholars to remain in the UK
is where Scholars have been accepted for PhD study in the UK which is
fully funded and where they have approval by the organisation which
nominated them for the CSC Scholarship.

2) Pertaining to PhDs funded by Commonwealth Scholarships

(2A) The number of students who after completion of PhD level programmes
funded by the commonwealth scholarship applied for exemption from the
requirement to return home after PhD level studies – we don’t collect data
on how many Scholars ‘apply’ to the CSC to remain in the UK upon
completion of PhD study.

(2B) The number of students who were granted an exemption from the
requirement to return home after master's study funded by the commonwealth
scholarships – we presume you mean PhD and not Master’s in this question
in which case the answer is 0.

(2C) A list of reasons these exemptions were granted for (2B) – the CSC
did not grant any exemptions as our policy is not to give permission to
Scholars to remain in the UK after PhD study.

3) Pertaining to PhDs funded by an alternative funding body immediately
after completion of a Commonwealth-Scholarship funded master's degree

(3A) The number of students who after completion of PhD level programmes
funded by an alternative funding body, but after completion of a previous
master's funded by commonwealth scholarships, applied for exemption from
the requirement to return home after PhD level studies – CSC funded
Master’s Scholars who go on to undertake a PhD programme not funded by the
CSC are not required by UKVI or CSC to get permission from CSC to remain
in the UK so 0.

(3B) The number of students who were granted an exemption from the
requirement to return home after completion of PhD level programmes funded
by an alternative funding body, but after completion of a previous
master's funded by commonwealth scholarships – CSC funded Master’s
Scholars who go on to undertake a PhD programme not funded by the CSC are
not required by UKVI or CSC to get permission from CSC to remain in the UK
so 0.

(3C) A list of reasons these exemptions were granted for (3B) – There is
no requirement for CSC to grant exemptions and therefore none were
granted.

With best wishes,

Eleanor​​​​   Gough
Governance Officer
CSC
ACU
The Association of Commonwealth Universities
Woburn House
20‑24 Tavistock Square
London
WC1H 9HF
United Kingdom
Telephone: [1]+44 (0)20 3903 2346
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[4]@The_ACU
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