Government must act to address fall in international students at UK universities, experts say

Nicola Hart of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, was commenting on the publication of new research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) showing a drop of nearly one third in the number of international students coming to the UK to study since the Coalition Government came to power in 2010. The left-leaning think-tank said that the Government’s “confusing” immigration policy was creation “perverse incentives” for it to reduce the number of international students at the same time as its “incompatible” drive to attract more students to the UK.

“Funding for teaching now depends heavily on private input from students - UK, EU and beyond - rather than the state,” Hart said. “Last week, a report by the National Audit Office showed that the Government’s miscalculation on state-subsidised student loans for UK and EU students poses a risk of £5 billion in terms of irrecoverable, taxpayer-funded student debt. As a result, it is likely that in the medium term, state funding for universities will be further cut to balance the books - which could affect research; or result in students or graduates being asked to pay more, or student numbers being reduced.”

“The UK is an exceptionally attractive venue for international students and our university system has a truly global reputation. However, to keep up that reputation, the system needs funding - and Bahram Bekhradnia, Director of the Higher Education Policy Unit, argued last week that the new funding regime is unsustainable. When international students are reckoned to be an export industry worth £13 billion to the UK, as well as propping up the UK’s universities as individual institutions, it is hard to understand where Government policy is leading,” she said.

Home Secretary Theresa May has set a net migration target of 100,000, to be achieved before the next general election in 2015. This figure is calculated by subtracting the number of people leaving the UK to live or work abroad from those arriving to live or work in the UK for longer than 12 months. Last week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that net migration had increased by 15,000 to 182,000 over the past year; a rise which it attributed to a fall in emigration as well as a rise in migrants coming to work from southern European states where economic growth has been slow.

According to the IPPR, international students are now officially counted as 'migrants' if they stay in the UK for more than one year. This gives the Government a reason to discourage international students from studying in the UK as part of an overall drive to reduce the number of migrants, it said. However, doing so risked damaging the UK's economic recovery, given the importance and value of the UK's international education sector, it said. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) anticipates that international students in higher education will increase by 15-20% over the next five years, it said.

"International students are vital to the UK," said Jenny Pennington, one of the authors of the report, writing in the Independent. "BIS has estimated that they contribute over £13 billion to the UK economy each year. This vital funding pays for new facilities in university labs and ensures the viability of subjects like maths and engineering. International students generate 70,000 jobs in towns and cities throughout the UK and they build crucial links with emerging economies like China."

"Abuse [of the student visa system] was a problem in the past, but there is limited evidence that it has been a problem recently ... While there is an argument to be had about reducing migration for other reasons, reducing the number of genuine students is directly against the UK's best interests and is causing profound damage to a vital export industry," she said.

In its report, the IPPR makes a number of policy recommendations which would enable the Government to balance its desire to reduce net migration with its need to encourage more international students into the UK. These include abandoning the net migration target altogether; introducing more selective and targeted screening of prospective international students; and greater support for the higher education institutions that are licensed to sponsor them. It also proposes the introduction of a "modest levy" on international students for NHS coverage; the burden of which would be offset by allowing students to work while studying.

Research carried out by Pinsent Masons earlier this year showed that more universities were considering establishing an overseas presence or increasing international expansion as a result of the change in Government policy. The firm's findings showed that universities were focusing on areas with an expanding middle class and relative shortage of higher education places, including China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil and the Middle East.

"The drop in numbers of international students represents a loss in revenue for universities and one that they need to replace," said Martin Priestley, a universities law expert with Pinsent Masons. "These latest figures go some way to explaining the increased impetus by universities to invest in relationships and campuses overseas to attract foreign students that are unable to study in the UK itself."

Nicola Hart said that although universities generally did not make a lot of money directly from international campuses, the trend was a "recruiting tool" for students who would perhaps complete two years of study overseas and one or two years in the UK.

"It is also a brand and reputation-building exercise and is mainly focused in countries where the visa problems are less pronounced – China and Singapore, as opposed to places that are treated more negatively such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nigeria," she said.

According to the IPPR report, there has been a 62% fall in the number of students coming to the UK from Pakistan during the course of this government. This was the greatest fall within a 29% overall decline, it said. The number of students coming from India and Bangladesh has also dropped markedly, by 38% and 30% respectively, it said.