Postgrad news in brief: Trump’s travel ban deters international students

Diverse portfolio
The MSc finance programme at Imperial College has achieved an equal gender split among its students this year. It’s recently taken steps to encourage more diversity, including women’s information and career sessions. Interim associate dean of programmes Fiona Sandford says: “Developing students to be inclusive future leaders is important to the business school and the wider college. Having a more diverse student cohort makes for a more enriching study experience for both male and female students and helps all students become better team players and future leaders.”

Activist honoured in Hull
A group of 30 former University of Hull students has provided more than £65,000 worth of funding for a new PhD research scholarship for the study of slavery and emancipation. The scholarship, at the University of Hull’s Wilberforce Institute, will examine the links between migration, human trafficking and contemporary slavery. It is inspired by the memory of prominent anti-apartheid activist Wiseman Khuzwayo, who graduated from the university in 1981.

Travel ban bites
Donald Trump’s travel ban could be responsible for a fall in the number of applications and enrolments from international students to the US – the first decline in both numbers since 2003. New figures from the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) show that first-time enrolments have dropped by 1%, and final application counts by 3%.

Master’s and certificate programmes have shown the biggest falls, and the numbers of students coming from Iran and Saudi Arabia are down by 18% and 21% respectively. CGS president Suzanne Ortega says: “While the declines we see this year are concerning, the good news is that the application acceptance rates and admission yield rates are comparable to last year. This suggests that prospective international graduate students remain highly likely to accept offers of admission to US universities.”

New faces
A PhD candidate at Nottingham Trent University is aiming to change how people with facial injuries are depicted in cinema. Siân Liddle’s research focuses on soldiers in the first world war who were treated by Sir Harold Gillies, a pioneering plastic surgeon. She has unearthed documents and photographs of patients at the hospital to develop an account of their experiences, which she intends to use as the basis for a screenplay.