UK Universities Losing Thousands on Each Undergraduate Student

The Vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex, Sasha Roseneil, has said that the higher education sector in the United Kingdom is facing financial struggles this year, losing thousands for each undergraduate student.

Roseneil revealed that UK universities are losing a total of £3,500 this year for every undergraduate, according to a report by BBC.

The university is also facing a decrease in the number of international students, with enrollment down 40 percent, Roseneil said. According to the university’s data, 70 percent of its student population are domestic students at the university and 30 percent are international.

To address this loss, the school had to make cuts amounting to £44 million to balance its books. The vice-chancellor said that “vast numbers of students and their fees” were lost following the last government’s decision to ban international students from bringing their family members to the UK.

“Basically overnight, we’ve lost vast numbers of students and their fees, which were subsidising UK students,” she told BBC.

UK universities have seen a drop in international student applications this year. Specifically, from January to September 2024, there were 350,7000 sponsored study visa applications submitted, 16 percent fewer than in the same period in 2023, Home Office data shows.

According to the same, between July and September 2024, applications also dropped 16 percent compared to the same three months a year ago, Erudera.com reports.

Commenting on the drop, George Blake, Policy and Networks Officer at London Higher writes in a blog for HEPI that if this trend continues for the next few months, it could lead to 60,000 fewer students studying in UK universities.

In January this year, the United Kingdom decided to ban international students from bringing dependents with them, unless they are on postgraduate research courses or programs or government-sponsored scholarships.

The rule initially introduced last year by Rishi Sunak's government to reduce immigration levels, prompted a drop in the number of visa applications for family members of international students as well.

Applications from dependents of students dropped 85 percent between January and September 2024 and January and September 2023.

“There were 17,800 applications from dependants of students between January and September 2024, 85 percent fewer than January to September 2023.

This followed the rule changes that came into effect in January 2024 which prevent students from bringing dependants, apart from those studying postgraduate research courses or courses with government-funded scholarships,” the Home Office explains.

Although international student applications in the UK have declined this year, the country hosted 758,855 students in the previous academic year, 2022/23. Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) showed India, China, and Nigeria were the biggest contributors of international students to the UK.