Attention Economy


Friday, June 2, 2023

Challenges Facing UK Higher Education

British universities can no longer financially depend on foreign students. They must reform to survive
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/02/british-universities-foreign-students-deficits-government-higher-education
Some universities, including Manchester, Glasgow, Sheffield, UCL and Imperial, rely on Chinese students alone for between a quarter and a third of their income. This means that any Beijing sanction on Britain – such as for mentioning the Uyghurs too often – could turn off this tap at source. Chinese numbers are already falling, by 4% last year, and are compensated only by soaring numbers for Indians, Nigerians, south-east Asians and 135,000 dependents. This last figure the Home Office is eager to cut.
This situation is highly unstable. The number of EU students has plummeted by more than half since Brexit. International students pay between £10,000 and £38,000 a year – the highest fees in the world – and are in effect super-taxing their own, often poor, countries to cross-subsidise UK students. 

Oxford Business College and others like it make millions, largely by recruiting immigrants. They operate in an opaque corner of the British education system.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/05/world/europe/oxford-business-college.html