Reducing Foreign Students May Bankrupt UK Universities, Chief Migration Advisor Says

A graduation ceremony at the University of Suffolk's campus in Ipswich, England, in October 2015. (PA)

The UK government’s chief migration advisor on Friday said universities may go bankrupt if the government limits the number of foreign students.

It comes after Downing Street said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is considering “all options” to control immigration, including “looking at the issue of student dependants and low-quality degrees,” as official data revealed record-high net migration in the year ending June 2022, with foreign students being one of the biggest driving forces.

Brian Bell, professor of Economics at King’s College London and chair of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), said he believes limiting the number of family members students can bring to the UK is “certainly worth looking into,” but pushed back on the idea of cracking down lower quality courses, saying non-elite universities may go bankrupt without these students.

In response, Downing Street said it supports British universities and will “always act in the best interest of the UK.”

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday said an estimated 1.1 million people moved to the UK during the year, 504,000 more than those who left.

The estimated net migration figure more than doubled the number in the previous year (239,000) and increased by almost a third (33 percent) compared to the pre-Brexit record of 379,000 set in 2015.

Non-EU immigrants are the driving force behind the increased net migration, while UK and EU nationals made a negative contribution to the number.

The ONS said the sharp increase occurred in a “unique” year when a number of “simultaneous factors” contributed to the change, including the continued recovery in travel following the COVID-19 pandemic, a new post-Brexit British immigration system, and several humanitarian visa programmes for Ukrainian nationals, British National (Overseas) from Hong Kong, and Afghans fleeing Taliban rule.

Among the estimated 704,000 non-EU immigrants who moved to the UK in the year ending June 2022, almost four in ten (277,000 or 39 percent) arrived on study visas, almost double the number in the previous year (143,000).

The ONS said part of the increase may be explained by the arrival of existing foreign students who previously took online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It also said the UK’s new graduate visa which allows students to work in the UK for up to three years after completing their studies may have attracted more students.

According to previously published Home Office data for the same year, 486,868 sponsored study visas were granted to EU and non EU students and their dependents.

Following the publication of the record numbers, Downing Street said Sunak was committed to eventually reducing the overall numbers.

His official spokesperson said the government is considering “all options to make sure the immigration system is delivering, and that does include looking at the issue of student dependants and low-quality degrees.”

This would be in line with proposals being explored by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who has previously complained about foreign students “bringing in family members who can piggyback on to their student visa” and “propping up, frankly, substandard courses in inadequate institutions.”

Undated handout photo issued by the UK Government of Professor Brian Bell, who has been appointed chair of the Migration Advisory Committee. (UK government via PA Media)

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme on Friday, Bell said universities are relying on higher fee-paying international students because fees for British students had been frozen for years.

“You cannot think of this as an immigration policy. It is also an education policy. For example, are you going to massively increase the fees that UK students pay to offset the losses if you close down the international student route,” the MAC chair said.

Asked if universities would go bankrupt without international students, he replied, “Yeah. Most universities and most courses lose money on teaching British students and offset that loss by charging more for international students.

“If you close down the international route, I am not sure how the university continues to survive.”

Bell also said restricting foreign students may disproportionately impact non-elite universities outside the south east. But he didn’t oppose the idea of limiting foreign students’ right to bring dependents, particularly for single-year masters courses.

A spokesman for Downing Street declined to clarify what constitutes a “low quality” degree or to “pre-empt” any policy.

He said the government supports British universities, which are “some of the very best in the world.”

“And of course we will always act in the best interest of the UK,” he added.

PA Media contributed to this report.