Report: British universities get most of their fees from foreign students

Britain’s leading universities are increasingly relying on fees from international students to sustain their operations, with some institutions obtaining over three-quarters of their income from students abroad. This underscores the growing significance of overseas cash influx to the financial well-being of British universities.

As per a report in The Times, there has been a 50 per cent surge in the number of foreign students in British universities over the past five years. The report highlights that Russell Group universities now derive 57 per cent of their fee income from overseas students, a notable increase from 49 per cent in 2016-17.

Institutions such as University College London, Imperial College, and the London School of Economics are particularly reliant on international student fees, with as much as 76-79 per cent of their fees coming from students abroad.

The report also notes that newer British universities are significantly dependent on international tuition. Institutions like Roehampton, Bedfordshire, Central Lancashire, and Northumbria have witnessed a doubling of their overseas income proportions to 30 per cent or higher, while Hertfordshire experienced a 48 per cent surge.

In 2022, the number of overseas students studying in UK universities reached a record high of 679,970, constituting approximately 24 per cent of the total student population.

This trend signifies that foreign students often pay substantially higher fees compared to their UK counterparts for the same course, contributing significantly to the revenue of Britain’s leading universities. Despite tuition fees for local students in the UK remaining frozen at £9,250 for the past seven years, the income from international students continues to rise.

A spokesperson from UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government emphasized that significant financial support, nearly £6 billion annually, is provided to the higher education sector, along with over £10 billion per year in tuition fee loans. While British universities operate independently from the government, domestic students are prioritized, according to the spokesperson.