Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, rejects the suggestion some overseas students are being allowed on courses with poor English language skills as a way of boosting income.
She says universities carry out strict checks on those they enrol – including minimum language levels, as set by the UK government.
“Students will need to be able to afford the fee to study in the UK, but beyond that it’s a question of taking students who apply, and applying a merit-based criteria,” she says. “It is absolutely central that this is a system that people trust.”
Ms Stern says international students are attracted by the quality of the UK’s universities and says it would be “unwise” to rely on international income to fund domestic education and research, because overseas student numbers could be affected by geopolitics or shifts in exchange rates.
Meanwhile, international student numbers are falling. Data on UK student visa applications from the first half of this year shows there has been a 16% decline in applications, resulting in a loss of income for some institutions. This drop is, in part, being attributed to changes in UK student visa rules preventing most postgraduate students from bringing dependents.
It is contributing to the worst financial crisis for universities since fees were first introduced. Last month, the government regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), estimated that by 2025-26, 72% of universities could be spending more money than they have coming in, and warned that “rapid and decisive action is necessary”.
The Department for Education told the BBC a reliance on overseas students has been identified as a risk, and many universities will have to change their business models, adding that the government is committed to managing migration carefully.
