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Plans take shape for a tax on international student fees
When it was first mooted in May’s immigration white paper, the possibility of a levy on the fees that international students pay in England actually coming to fruition was played down. After all, the idea was floated in Australia and subsequently ditched. Since then, there has been a steady trickle of detail leaking from Whitehall to suggest this isn’t just kite-flying. Home Office modelling has placed the levy at 6 per cent, which the vice-chancellors’ group Universities UK has estimated would raise £600 million. Now we know that the Department for Education is taking the proposal very seriously indeed—in fact, future predictions of the income were included by the Treasury in the Comprehensive Spending Review documents. As Sophie Hogan reports on our news pages, plans appear to be accelerating, with the education department revealing in its submission to an education committee inquiry on higher education finance that more details about the levy will be unveiled in the autumn budget on 26 November. Not such a flash in the pan, then. In what is becoming a frustratingly predictable state of affairs, the department’s evidence gives no clue about the government’s long-term higher education funding plans. It says, familiarly, that ministers “will set out more detailed plans shortly as part of the forthcoming post-16 education and skills white paper”. The message that details of post-16 reforms are just around the corner has now become akin to having a few too many in the pub and sending a text home saying: “I will be leaving in five minutes, and will be home in about 20 minutes. If I am not home in 20 minutes, please re-read this message.” Still we wait. Knock-on effect The thing about the international fee levy is that it holds both literal and political currency for the government. While student immigration is not the main concern of voters who feel the UK needs to cut net migration, subsequent governments have made a play of the fact that some students (albeit a proportionally small number) do overstay their visas and claim asylum. The levy would be a way of demonstrating the financial benefit that international students bring to the UK, skills minister Jacqui Smith has said. “We thought it was worth exploring a way that you could more clearly demonstrate the contribution that international students make,” she said before the summer parliamentary recess, adding that if the government were to go ahead with the levy, it would “really demonstrate that [contribution] in terms of money that could then…be reinvested”. Therein lies more political currency, because while it is apparent that higher education institutions across the UK are battling to make ends meet, the vast majority of UK voters probably couldn’t give two hoots. However, a government announcement of a fresh £600m investment in state schools would appeal to far more voters. There are, after all, a lot of parents out there. So if the levy does come to pass, universities will have a tough job convincing ministers to keep even a sprinkling of that cash in the higher education sector. That’s maybe why the lobbying has already started. The UPP Foundation has said that income from the proposed levy should be used to help universities expand access and participation, while the British Academy has said the plans show a “lack of understanding” of the financial pressures universities are under. London mayor Sadiq Khan (presumably concerned about the capital’s 30+ universities) says the levy is “an act of immense economic self-harm”. As Sophie reports, Universities UK says in its submission to the inquiry that 42 per cent of its members in England were in deficit by the end of the 2023-24 academic year, and it estimates that applying a 6 per cent levy on international fees “would push an additional 14 English universities into deficit”. The Russell Group of research-intensive universities, meanwhile, told the committee that the modelled levy “could push three more of our universities into deficit”, which would take the total to 10 in the group. An analysis by the Higher Education Policy Institute in August suggests large metropolitan universities stand to lose the most. Because of their high international student numbers, Hepi found that University College London could be hardest hit (£42m), followed by the University of Manchester (£27m), King’s College London (£22m), Imperial College London (£21m) and the University of Leeds (£20m). Other submissions to the inquiry warn that the levy could jeopardise UK research and innovation ambitions, slow down or possibly pause key investments in institution-level infrastructure and have “far-reaching consequences” for R&D. It’s all pretty grim. All of this means that universities will be unimpressed to hear that chancellor Rachel Reeves’s next budget is set to offer further detail on a plan designed to raise £600m for the Treasury by taking £600m out of higher education. And finally… YouGov has published a survey of almost 1,000 domestic undergraduate students in England and Wales, finding that the majority don’t think university is good value for money. While they do think they are going to make more money in the long term as a result of getting a degree, they don’t feel it is enough to justify the costs incurred. Two-thirds (66 per cent) said the standard of education and the wages graduates earn are not enough to warrant the cost of tuition, with only 15 per cent saying the opposite. It’s not exactly a message that freshers making their way to campus for the first time over the next few weeks will be encouraged by. However, while they may see university as poor value for money, 80 per cent of students said they were satisfied with the quality of their degree course, with 18 per cent saying they were dissatisfied. Students starting university in England now will be charged the highest fees ever, with some of the least favourable repayment terms and conditions. It is hard to see the gap between perceptions of teaching quality and value for money closing any time soon. The same survey found that more than a third of students don’t expect to ever fully pay off their student loan. Some would argue that this means the loans might be better value than the sticker price suggests. On Research Professional News today Chris Parr hears from a philosopher that trusting in science is “a bit naive”. Sophie Hogan reports that the government’s proposed levy on international student fee income could push a further 14 English universities—including three research-intensive institutions—into deficit, university groups have warned MPs. Sophie also tells us that the European Commission has repeated its invitation for India to consider associating to Horizon Europe. Frances Jones writes that a member of the European Research Council’s governing scientific council has stressed that the funder’s model should be retained. Craig Nicholson tells us that the European Commission will unveil a strategy next month to support the uptake of artificial intelligence in science and the use of science to spur developments in AI. He adds that the US administration’s punishment of organisations that make efforts to support diversity and equity is “suicidal” due to the loss of talent it will incur, the head of the EU’s flagship innovation funder has warned. In the news The BBC reports that University of Bradford staff are to strike again over course cuts, and a student explains why she is happier living at home. In the Financial Times, a data centre frenzy plays to the UK’s strengths and weaknesses. In the Telegraph, the business secretary has said British students lack the drive of their American peers, Edinburgh students have formed a new debating society amid free speech fears, and a little-known university department is ‘behind the war on hate crimes’. The Times publishes its Good University Guide 2026, with Oxford and Cambridge falling out of the top three for the first time. Related articles look at the rise of undergraduates paying £90 an hour for private tuition, what to study at university, what an apprenticeship is, how open days work and the new rules of dating at university. The paper also gives its view on how Britain can be a leader in artificial intelligence. The Scotsman reviews Scottish universities’ performance in the Times Good University Guide. In the National, Scottish politicians are to debate independence at the Edinburgh Union, and an archaeology student has unearthed a rare stone carving. Wales Online picks out the best Welsh universities from the Times Good University Guide, and there is ‘chaos’ at Bangor University as staff ‘claim not to know who is teaching what’. The day ahead The Institute for Fiscal Studies publishes the first of its annual Green Budget chapters, examining the government’s plans for improving public sector productivity. The Playbook would not be possible without Martyn Jones, Harriet Swain and Isaac Barbosa. 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