Universities offer to cut overseas numbers in return for rise in fees
Universities will offer to curb the rise in overseas students in return for greater stability and the chance to increase tuition fees as part of a plea for the government to ease the sector’s growing financial crisis.
A “blueprint” to be published by vice-chancellors will call for tuition fees in England to rise in line with inflation and for greater government financial support.
The Universities UK (UUK) offer also includes proposals on institutions voluntarily “managing international student population” growth, particularly for areas facing accommodation shortages or pressure on local services. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, has committed to reducing immigration to the UK.
Domestic undergraduate tuition fees in England have been capped at £9,250 since 2017 but have been eroded in value by high inflation, forcing universities to rely on uncapped fees from international students to balance their books.
Vivienne Stern, UUK chief executive, said the sector needed to think about the impact of international students and take into account potential flashpoints, such as availability of rental accommodation and the support universities give when increasing intake. “We don’t want to restrain growth in international student numbers but we need sustainable and well-managed solutions,” Stern told the Guardian.
According to the blueprint, each domestic undergraduate costs universities in England between £12,000 and £13,000 a year to teach and support. While the document does not ask for a specific amount, it says that a tuition fee increase and greater government investment is needed to halt the sector’s “slide into decline”.
Downing Street declined to answer questions about Starmer’s position on increasing fees or say when the government would complete its promised review of funding.
Earlier this month Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, told UUK’s annual conference that she was considering “all the options” but that there were “no easy answers or quick fixes” on funding.
Professor Duncan Ivison, vicechancellor of the University of Manchester, warned the UUK conference: “The Labor government in Australia has just introduced caps on international students, which will result in a roughly 30% cut to international students at most of the research-intensive universities in Australia, and Labor is a progressive-left government which is very close with the Starmer government.”
Ivison, previously a senior academic at the University of Sydney, said populist concerns on migration remained a “disruptive force” that universities needed to address.
UUK also wants maintenance grants reinstated in England for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and for maintenance loans and eligibility to rise with inflation.
The full proposals, to be published shortly, include detailed chapters on regulation, local growth and opportunity. Because university funding is devolved, the proposals vary according to national policies.
On international students, the plan is for the government to maintain “stability” in its visa regime, in contrast to the restrictions imposed by the Conservative government that led to falls in overseas recruitment.
A Department for Education spokesperson said after “inherited a challenging set of circumstances” the education secretary had “taken the crucial first step of refocusing the role of the Office for Students on key areas such as monitoring financial sustainability, to ensure universities can secure their financial health.
“By bringing economic stability and growth, we can fix the foundations of our economy, strengthen our higher education system and rebuild Britain.”