Universities in the UK and US look set to lose ground among international students, thanks to their countries’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic. Anglosphere nations which had better records containing the virus are likely to benefit from this, with a new report suggesting Canada, New Zealand and Australia are in line for a windfall of foreign enrolments.
Having enjoyed a boom in funding thanks to the marketisation of higher education, a huge number of universities across England and Wales have been placed under major financial stress by the Covid-19 lock-down. Mass redundancies and attacks on staff pay and conditions are reportedly on the cards at many institutions, as they prepare for a funding shortfall of £2.5 billion in the next academic year.
According to one study, performed by consultant London Economics for the University and College Union (UCU), the lion’s share of this drop will come from a massive reduction in the number of international students – who pay inflated tuition fees in the UK – arriving in the system. An estimated 47% drop in international student numbers will cost the university sector £1.5 billion – and coupled with a fall in domestic intake, this could jeopardise 60,000 jobs across the UK.
Read the full story from Consultancy UK.
Join the AppliedHE Squaring the Circle Debate online with the motion “International Students Will Become an Extinct Species Post Covid-19” on 8 July at 21:00 Singapore time (13:00 GMT). To participate, register here.
This debate is sponsored by the City University of Hong Kong and Indonesia’s Universitas Airlangga.
