Half of places at top university ‘to go to foreign students’

Edinburgh said the move was motivated by an attempt to “attract the best students from around the world” – with many given bursaries to attend – and insisted there would be no reduction in the raw number of school leavers recruited from within the UK.

The move came as new figures from Universities UK showed that universities were more reliant than ever on fees from foreign students.

According to a report, some £3.5 billion in fee income was received from students outside the EU in 2012/13 – almost triple the number just a decade earlier.

In all, they accounted for 12 per cent of universities’ total income of £29.1bn, up from less than 10 per cent four years ago.

The sheer rise in the number of overseas students has sparked claims that foreigners are being used as “cash cows” to prop up budgets in the face of brutal cuts in central government grants.

One academic has told how large numbers of students have been recruited with a poor grasp of English, often unable to keep up with the academic demands of courses.

But university leaders defended the rise, insisting that recruitment processes were rigorous and international students provided huge cultural and educational benefits to the country.

Mike Boxall, a higher education expert from PA Consulting, said overseas students were “very attractive to universities” because they can be charged unlimited fees.

He also said there were reputational benefits, with some international league tables giving credit to universities that have a higher proportion of overseas students and staff.

But he added: “If you have over 40 per cent of your students from overseas on some courses it is going to change the student experience.

“Some academics and registrars believe that they have as many international students as they want and universities must manage this process carefully to ensure they don’t almost exceed a cultural limit.”

Foreign student numbers have boomed in the last three decades. In the early 80s, fewer than 50,000 students were from outside Britain, but by last year it increased to 425,000 – 18 per cent of the total student population.

According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, 33 per cent of Edinburgh’s 28,000 students were from outside the UK in 2012/13, the latest available figures. This includes undergraduates and postgraduates. Edinburgh said the most recent figure was actually 41 per cent.

By comparison, the highest proportion was at the London School of Economics, with 67 per cent. Numbers are also high at some specialist institutions, with 71 per cent at the London Business School and 54 per cent at Cranfield University, which focuses exclusively on postgraduate courses.

Numbers were 32 per cent at Cambridge and 27 per cent at Oxford.

Sir Timothy O’Shea, Edinburgh’s vice-chancellor, told a recent meeting of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference that it was the university’s “long-term aspiration” to increase the proportion to 50 per cent. The university denied it was a “target”.

According to HESA, 9,145 of Edinburgh’s students were from outside the UK in 2012/13, including just over 6,000 from beyond the EU.

The university’s strategic plan for 2012/16 says it wants to “Increase our headcount of non-EU international students by at least 2,000”.

But Edinburgh insisted there would be no cut to student numbers from Scotland or the rest of the UK. It also said it would not impose further targets such as limiting the proportion of students from Scotland to no more than 25 per cent – with another quarter coming from elsewhere in the UK.

Foreigners can be charged higher fees than UK and EU students, with undergraduate charges ranging from £15,850 for most classroom-based courses at Edinburgh to £29,000 in the case of veterinary medicine.

Scottish and EU students are currently given free tuition while those from elsewhere in the UK pay £9,000.

At postgraduate level, overseas students pay £37,200 for clinical sciences, compared with £16,500 fees for UK/EU students.

Two years ago, Prof Susan Bassnett, a former pro-vice chancellor of Warwick University, said foreign students were being used as “cash cows”, with some being admitted with such a poor grasp of English that they “wouldn’t scrape a GCSE”.

But an Edinburgh spokesman said: “As a university with a strong international reputation, rooted firmly in Edinburgh, we want to attract the best students from around the world. We also want to encourage our students to enhance their wider skills and career prospects through work or study overseas during their degree.

“Looking forward, we do not intend to reduce the numbers of our Scottish-domiciled or [rest of the UK] domiciled students. As the university continues to grow, we will seek to offer opportunities to more students from outside the UK, many of whom will be supported by our generous bursaries programme.”

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, said: “There is growing global demand for quality higher education and the UK is one of the most attractive destinations in the world for international students.

“It is widely accepted that international students bring a wide range of benefits to the UK. Increasing the number of international students coming to the UK could bring enormous benefits to economies in all corners of the country. Income from universities’ international activities is projected to grow considerably in the coming years.

“However, it is not only about economic benefits. International students, researchers and staff also make an enormous contribution to the academic and cultural life of the UK.”

TOP 20 UNIVERSITIES FOR OVERSEAS STUDENTS*

London Business School 71%

London School of Economics 67%

Cranfield 54%

Royal College of Art 53%

Royal College of Music 50%

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 49%

Royal Academy of Music 48%

School of Oriental and African Studies 47%

Buckingham 47%

St Andrews 46%

Imperial College 43%

University of the Arts, London 43%

Glyndwr University 43%

University College London 41%

Heriot-Watt 36%

Essex 33%

Warwick 33%

Edinburgh 33%

Sunderland 32%

Lancaster 31%

*Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency 2012/13. Includes undergraduate and postgraduate.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/11246750/Half-of-places-at-top-university-to-go-to-foreign-students.html