Vice-chancellors to request ministers to stabilize the visa regime and permit them to address the sector’s financial crisis
English universities will offer to curb the rise in international students in return for greater stability and the chance to raise tuition fees as part of the bargain for the government to ease the sector’s growing financial burden.
A blueprint to be released by the vice-chancellors will seek to raise tuition fees in England in line with inflation and obtain greater government financial support.
The Universities UK blueprint will include a proposal for universities to voluntarily “manage international student population” growth, mostly in areas facing accommodation shortages or pressure on local services. The prime minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, has committed to cutting net migration across the United Kingdom.
The tuition fees for domestic undergraduate students have been frozen at £9,250 since 2017; however, they have been eroded in value by high inflation, compelling universities to rely on uncapped international student fees to balance their finances.
The chief executive of UUk, Viviene Stern, stated that the industry needs to consider the impact of international students and the potential flashpoints, such as what the universities provide when increasing student intakes and the availability of rental accommodation.
Stern stated: “We don’t want to restrain growth in international student numbers but we need to have sustainable and well-managed solutions.”
The blueprint says each local undergraduate student costs academic institutions in England between £12,000 and £13,000 for tuition and support. Though the document didn’t specify the amount, it says the tuition fee increase and greater government investment are needed to stop the sector’s “slide into decline”.
Earlier this month, the education secretary, Bridget Philipson, told Universities UK’s annual conference that she was considering “all the options.” However, she said there were “no easy answers or quick fixes” on funding.
Vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester, Prof Duncan Ivision, told the conference that: “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, who was previously a senior academic at the University of Sydney, stated that populist issues about migration remained a “disruptive force” that the universities needed to address.
The National Union of Students vice president for higher education, Alex Stanley, stated that students were also in a financial crisis.
Stanley stated: “Students must not be expected to foot the bill for the university funding crisis. Increasing tuition fees would only up the debt burden on students, especially those from the poorest backgrounds, and further punish students who are investing in their futures and the future of the country.”
“Our institutions clearly need more money but so, too, do students.”
Regarding international students, the proposal is for the government to keep stability in its visa regime.
The Department of Education stated: “We have taken a challenging set of circumstances in higher education. The education secretary has 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 in the long term.
“By bringing economic stability and growth, we can fix the foundations of our economy, strengthen our higher education system and rebuild Britain.”