According to a previous universities minister, the Liberal party’s “scorched earth” immigration policies could lead to an increase in UK universities becoming more dependent on students from China to evade a financial crisis.
It comes as it is believed that 25 % of the cost of tuition at prestigious American universities now comes from China.
The government’s individual training method and efforts to expand university recruitment were being undermined by Chris Skidmore, who resigned as a Conservative MP earlier this year, who claimed the new restrictions on issuing international student visas and subsequent threats to remove the “graduate route” work visas.
International students have been available for a two-year immigration since graduating from a British school since 2019, according to the Traditional general election declaration, which claims it will “help universities attract talented young people and allow those students to be on to apply for work here.”
However, home director James Cleverly told the Migration Advisory Committee to look into the student path visa for “evidence of abuse,” provoking concerns that the Liberal party would use it as a platform for election debate. The potential for foreign students to bring family members was made illegal in January by the state.
Skidmore claimed that criticizing the student path visa was” totally destructive” for the UK and was already causing a decline in student programs after being widely reported elsewhere.
” This]visa] was a statement commitment, this is what the Republicans stood on as a system in 2019. And to try to have a scorched earth policy of changing it at the last moment, as a kneejerk response, is the Reform]party ] tail wagging the dog”, he said.
When there are so many constituencies and local economies dependent on them, the Tories ‘ use of their last few months in power to try to raise the bridge will cause the country to suffer financially.
Skidmore added:” I do n’t want the Tories, in their dying days in government, to toxify and to contaminate and poison, permanently, a sector that contributes more than the oil and gas industry in this country, and is so important for the future”.
The caution comes as relationships between the UK and China are at a disturbed state, with Conservative MPs last year urging the government to take tougher measures against Beijing, and universities warned to develop emergency plans for geopolitical events like a Taiwan issue immediately cutting off students from China.
Skidmore is the head of the International Higher Education Commission, an independent body made up of vice-chancellors who are developing a new foreign education strategy, including the immediate need to expand international recruitment.
The majority of its pupil selection is “worryingly dependent” on a shrinking number of nations, according to the payment. Kids from China are enrolled in “high price” or careful programs at institutions like Oxbridge, Glasgow, and University College London, among others. In 2021, 80 % of PhD students from China studied at Russell Group institutions.
Many colleges have been forced to pay foreign students unlimited tuition fees. While home undergraduate tuition fees have been frozen at £9, 250 since 2016, leading universities are able to charge about £26, 000 a year for each foreign undergraduate.
According to Mark Corver, the managing director of dataHE, which analyzes university finances and student recruitment, 25 % of the total tuition revenue at the Russell Group of world-renowned research universities was generated entirely by Chinese students alone.
” We think that China accounts for about 25 % of all tuition fees paid by Russell Group employees. So with 25 % of income based on a single overseas country, there’s no doubt about it– however you look at the data – the institutions have become overexposed or dependent”, he said.
Corver claimed that the “political logic” of frozen domestic income and unrestricted international fees had contributed to the reliance on foreign students, with China seen as a long-term and trustworthy source of students.
” This is what the funding model has shaped universities into doing,” Corver said,” but I ca n’t, off the top of my head, of a single Russell Group institution that could happily withstand a 20 % to 25 % reduction in tuition fee income, which the group as a whole has an exposure to.”
The Russell Group’s spokesperson stated that the income was needed to” coach the significant and growing deficits in the government’s funding system for UK students,” leaving the sector vulnerable to unexpected shocks.
Our universities are actively working to diversify student cohorts because it is important to have a diverse international intake in order to be financially resilient. In many instances, institutions have canceled or reduced marketing activities in some nations while looking for new growth opportunities, according to the spokesperson.
” Russell Group’s efforts to recruit in new markets have been boosted by government policy choices, such as the reintroduction of the graduate route visa. In the last five years, our members have increased growth in students from India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and a range of other countries.
Early data this year, sadly, suggests that recent changes in government rhetoric and policy, including the ban on postgraduate taught students from bringing dependents, are having an impact on international student numbers. Further restrictions, such as changes to the graduate route visa, could further threaten diversification efforts and the sector’s financial resilience.”
The issue extends beyond the Russell Group, with Skidmore’s commission projecting that 50 % of higher education will be funded by international student funding by 2026. Additionally, it was discovered that” a gradual or unexpected decline in international student numbers” would cause four out of five higher education providers to have budget deficits.
