That was the question which prompted the Franco-British Council to launch this investigation as a contribution to the European Year of Languages. 'By 2010, higher education in Europe should be borderless. There should be a European Higher Education area'. This is the declared aim of European ministers of higher education. With forewords by Jack Lang, French Minister of Education and Margaret Hodge, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning and Higher Education, the report challenges the conventional wisdom that Britain's role as a net importer of overseas students is solely due to the importance of English as a lingua franca and the quality of our universities. It seeks to identify barriers to British student mobility.
 
All the major players in the field have contributed their analysis of the question in the form of specially commissioned articles. They include those responsible on both sides of the Channel for the Socrates/Erasmus programme, the Assistants' programme, the Entente Cordiale scholarships, the Nuffield Language Inquiry, HEFCE, the British Institute and the British Council in Paris, and other French programmes in Britain.
 
The report, edited by Anne Corbett and Hiliary Footitt, will entertain as well as inform, and includes a set of delightful 'postcards' from people - well-known public figures as well as some very recent graduates - who crossed the Channel as students and never regretted it.
 
The report (B5: 90 pages, ISBN 0 9540118 2 1) costs £8.00 and is available from 16 October. To order a copy, contact:
 
Franco-British Council
British Section
16-18 Strutton Ground
London SW1P 2HP
 
Tel: +44 (0)20 7976 8380
Fax: +44 (0)20 7976 8131
Email: fbc@cix.co.uk
 
Cheques should be made payable to the Franco-British Council
 
Extracts from the report will be available free of charge from the Franco-British Council website from late October: http://www.francobritishcouncil.org.uk