Student loses battle for home status

Student Craig Mitchell faces a £14,000 fees bill after a High Court judge upheld Coventry University's view that he is from "overseas". Mr Mitchell, 21, does not qualify as a home student, having been born, brought up and educated in Hong Kong, where his father was a colonial policeman. He has to pay fees at the rate for overseas students. Mr Justice Collins said he could find nothing unlawful in the university's stance.

Mr Mitchell began an engineering degree at Coventry in October 1999, but last year the university's academic registrar informed him he would not be treated as a home student because he had not been resident in the UK for a full three years.