Why do our most prestigious and wealthiest Unis accept so many international students ?

I suppose my colleague was a summerborn, because I remember how surprised I was when he told me his age, and I combined it with few other anecdotal pieces to imprecise observation.

I did try to check that before posting, but both Reddit and Wikipedia gave me maps where the whole UK was marked as 17. (Looking at them now, they aren't really trustworthy, for my country they show 16 which would be true for someone in special needs vocational track, not in A-level equivalent track)

Anyway. It still means that in standard situation British teens leave school one year earlier than I am used to (school year when people reach 18/19), and with an epidemic of deferred school entry we face now (we have the same cut off at August/September, but April/May born boys are routinely being deferred now to not be the youngest) we are getting 20yos high school graduates (which I see as a problem, not as an advantage).

However, together with keeping the general education the whole high school (for the academic track), the students really end up on average 1 and something year older with a full extra year of learning.

I am not saying our system is necessarily better, it has it's disadvantages and problems. My point is that international students are coming at different ages and from different learning paths, and some of them are older.

I would hope that the UK universities are starting at the level expected at UK high schools, so international students having a slight advantage doesn't really matter.

Yes, I acknowledged my error upthread. The poster I was replying to said England and I typed the UK automatically.

That was only allowed for a couple of years.

The number of places in Scottish Universities for Scottish Students is set by the Scottish Government. They are not missing out due to international students, or rUK students, they are missing out because of the cap on places funded by the Scottish Government.

Either
a) to gain foreign student fees
Or
b) they are hoping to get the best brains from around the world (Oxford and cambridge).

They can't get their whole families into the UK as dependents any more.

Not in Scotland. Scottish govt has barely raised University funding 8n years. Scottish students are missing out on places because the universities need the money they can get from o/s students. However, rhetoric on immigration and the state of the UK generally will be putting international students off. We will start to see universities fail. Many are already existing on a knife edge.

There are also other factors. For example a lot of Nigerian students used to come to UK universities but cannot afford it anymore due to the fall in the value of Nigerian currency.

Yes I hold my hands up there, I missed that part, then re-read and replied again to Ubertomusic

I think the PP was saying that her autistic child is unable to complain. Mine wouldn’t be able to do it either.

Ok sorry I read that in a hurry and totally missed that your son wouldn't be able to complain. My fault there. Maybe you could help him make a complaint in his own name?

Thank you loonyloo that’s very interesting.

Ok, I was trying to be helpful. Your son could complain, it doesn't have to be "you"

A mixture of both. A lot of the Asian market are looking to Australia (UK unis also benefitted from a temporary bump during Australia's longer pandemic lockdown that is now reversing).

China has invested heavily in its universities so they have been getting better and the appeal of studying abroad is lessening. The strategy is similar to one pursued by Japan, which used to send a much higher proportion of students abroad. Their universities got better, a lot of their academics would've been educated abroad at prestigious institutions but then taught the next generation and they moved up the rankings, so more students stayed at home, and so on.

Plus there's been a tightening of the belt for a lot of the Chinese middle class making tjeir kids studying abroad for less viable.

If you think UK universities are businesses, you can't know much about how businesses work.

We only have 5 or so private uni's that are indeed businesses, you wont have heard of any of them, perhaps Regents University you might have heard of. That is indeed a businesses Oxford, Hull , Bristol, none of the usual Unis are businesses and its nonsense to call them such.

It doesn't work like this - parents can't complain and are effectively cut off when a child turns 16 or 18 (depending on circumstances). My autistic DC is unable to complain about anything.

Anyway, it's derailing the thread.

Thats' strange as every UK uni has a disablity officer and the student union even can provide support.

I know cut backs are severe, but support for young people is far superior in Uni than it is in the real world.

Going back 20 years but even when I was an A-level student at my local town college I remember someone asking our tutor why our relatively small college had so many students from China and they explained it’s because they pay a bloody fortune to attend.

I'd suggest you complain about the lack of disability support as it should be provided. I'm sorry to hear it wasn't. Info about making a complaint can be found at https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-students/ofs-and-students/complaints/complaints-about-a-university-or-college/
And info on what should be provided for disability support is here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/equality-of-opportunity/support-for-disabled-students/

About the fact it was a pure Maths degree and should've cost less - the fees for home students are the same across the board, regardless of course and uni ranking, to avoid a situation where students from low income backgrounds are effectively locked out of certain degrees and universities. Basically cheaper-to-teach courses (pure Maths, history for example) subsidise the more expensive ones (engineering and languages for example)

Lots of unis are struggling financially because they have lost out in the competition for foreign students.

Is that because the foreign students are studying at universities in their own country or because they are choosing other countries apart from UK?

Most of which they couldn't just sell.

Oxford, Cambridge and all the Uni's you are thinking of are PUBLIC RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, not corporations.

I have one DC who won’t be going to university due to academic ability. Further education colleges make universities seem like the promised land.

True. The original poster said England specifically. I should have followed my own advice and checked my facts.

International brain power makes every country more vibrant and interesting

Why would you have deprived yourself of a masters degree just because others aren’t making the most of it? Other students not turning up to lectures (which aren’t interactive typically) doesn’t impact your learning.