The Independent today reports that civil servants have contradicted assurances from science minister Lord Sainsbury that foreign students would not face "licence to learn" under the Export Control Bill.

Under the bill, export controls will be extended from physical goods to ideas, both physical or electronic, prompting fears that foreign students would have to be "licensed to learn" in scientific subjects, and giving the government powers to suppress research.

The claim has been denied by Lord Sainsbury - although in a meeting with Universities UK, Bridget Butt of the DTI is reported to have said: "The proposed legislation is intended to enable government in a limited number of cases to inform an institution that an export licence would be needed to control the transfer of a particular sort of information to a particular individual."