The UK’s higher education regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), has warned that the country’s universities are relying too heavily on tuition fee income from Chinese students, which could put their financial stability at risk.
Chinese students make up the largest proportion of international students attending British universities, but tensions between the UK and China have been rising in recent months. As a result, OfS pointed out that the future of some universities could be at risk due to the sudden loss of international students and the resulting decline in tuition revenue. The 23 universities in the country with large numbers of Chinese students have been asked to consider contingency plans to prepare for a sudden drop in income.
OfS CEO Susan Lapworth said that “international students provide significant economic, cultural, and educational benefits to higher education in England,” but “we remain concerned that some universities are overly dependent on tuition revenue from international students, and that international students from one country may be a significant part of their financial model. We remain concerned that some universities are over-reliant on tuition revenue from international students, and that international students from one country may be a significant part of their financial model. Universities need to know what to do if international student enrollment falls short of expectations,” and revealed that it has written to several universities requesting that they pay attention to these risks and prepare contingency plans to protect their universities in the event of a sudden drop in revenues.
Approximately 150,000 Chinese students are enrolled at UK universities. They account for more than a quarter of all students from outside the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU) and are a major source of tuition revenue for universities. For example, at the University of Manchester in the UK, one of the universities with the largest number of students from China, Chinese students account for about half of all international students. Fifty-five percent of the university’s tuition revenue is generated by students from abroad, accounting for half of the university’s total revenue.
In recent years, however, there has been growing concern about the costs of accepting students from China, particularly the risk of political interference and the erosion of academic freedom. A report by the British House of Commons warns that China is attempting to undermine academic freedom in the UK by influencing the content of university lectures and who is invited as a speaker.
Tensions between the U.K. and China were further heightened in Manchester last year when a Chinese man participating in a pro-democracy demonstration in front of the Chinese Consulate General was dragged into the building’s premises and beaten. The British government has taken a more robust stance on relations with China in recent years amid growing concerns about trade imbalances and weak supply chains due to human rights issues in Hong Kong, security issues in Taiwan, and accusations of genocide against Uyghurs in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. During a visit to Taiwan last week, former Prime Minister Liz Truss drew the ire of the Chinese government when she called for an “economic North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)” to counter the Chinese threat.
For universities, the concern is that the worsening bilateral relationship will significantly reduce the number of international students China sends to the UK. This is highlighted in the OfS report as follows. “Over-reliance on international student intake is a significant risk for the various universities, and a sharp reduction or cessation of tuition fees paid by international students could raise sustainability concerns. Such discontinuation may result from, for example, changes in the geopolitical environment, which could have an immediate and significant impact on (university) revenues.”
In response, the Association of British Universities, the governing body of 140 universities, recognized the dangers of relying on limited funding sources and explained that it is working to diversify its student population.
While the Chinese continue to make up the largest percentage of international students within British universities, the most significant increase in recent years has been from India, rising from about 15,000 to nearly 90,000 students over the past decade.
