Why all the panic over international students?

The much-feared ‘Brexodus’ of Britain’s universities has failed to materialise.

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

In Britain this year, wannabe students keen to secure a university place have found themselves in competition with a record number of international applicants. British universities are reported to be taking up to 40 per cent more overseas students than five years ago, with some universities offering close to half of all places to foreign students. Elite Russell Group universities have awarded roughly a fifth of places to international students, while 54 per cent of those studying at the London School of Economics come from outside of the UK.

These figures must have come as a terrible shock to our universities. After all, just a few years ago, following Britain’s vote to leave the EU, academics, administrators and higher-education journalists alike were all busy predicting a huge decline in the numbers of international students wanting to come to the UK – with inevitably disastrous consequences for university finances, campus diversity and academic standards.

In short, a ‘Brexodus’ was coming. Dire predictions of empty British campuses were commonplace.