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

This. As various pp said international fees are very high

Definitely money! My DS is at a v good RG uni and in his halls last year (7 in his flat), 3 were international students who didn't really mix with the rest of them. Funnily enough another international student in a different flat was v friendly and is one of their housemates this year, he's been to our house as he only goes home in the summer holidays so sort of travels around in the other breaks. Lovely guy, his parents must be absolutely loaded cos they have to pay the rent upfront for the whole year.

On paper you are correct. In practice it is easy to cheat for the test. Many international students do not speak good enough English.

That’s not entirely true either. More and more Chinese students are seeking to stay.

And if ability to remain post-degree is an important factor, the UK is surely more attractive than the US, where postgraduate work visas are capped at 65,000 a year, and progress towards permanent residency and citizenship is far less certain (there’s currently a waiting time of decades for Indian citizens to obtain green cards, for example).

Oxbridge have always taken a lot of foreign students (Rhodes scholarships for instance) long before funding was a big issue. International prestige and British influence around the world were always considered important. As well as academic excellence.

Capybara75 · Today 19:31

Because admission is merit based and the international students are often stronger than their domestic counterparts. I’ve done admissions at both Oxford and Cambridge for the last twenty-five years, so I am speaking from personal experience/knowledge

That must be partly down to the UK students schooling. I mean, intelligence is spread evenly across all nationalities so presumably British people aren’t more stupid than other nationalities.

OMG what kind of question is this? I did a brief Uni course ages ago (over 20 years ago) and it was £600 for home students and £4000 for overseas students. That's the kind of difference we are talking about. Do your maths!

Globalisation has come to its end, it seems. Even on this thread you can see the Chinese being accused of stealing secrets. There is no global competition for talent anymore, I guess...

I'm surprised by that. Has that remained the case?

Because admission is merit based and the international students are often stronger than their domestic counterparts. I’ve done admissions at both Oxford and Cambridge for the last twenty-five years, so I am speaking from personal experience/knowledge.

The Eton experience doesn't always translate outside the UK, however, so they're going to be aiming for only UK universities but now against stiffer and more competition.

@Onlyonekenobe In 2021 39 Eton leavers received offers from US universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Brown and Dartmouth in 2021/22.
It would be interesting to know how many British students applied for overseas universities.

Also if you are paying international prices surely you choose to go to the one with the most prestige. Maybe it would be a fairer comparison to see if they still get in despite having lower grades (or not).

Well you’re wrong about the leaving age. It’s actually 16 and 18 (unless you’re born in August).

And a high proportion of students from around the world studying at conservatoires and the like.
DS was in a class of American, Spanish, French, Malaysian, Dutch and German students.
Includes Masters in varying music and performing arts, gained through audition.

Their fees are a large amount.

I made the point at the start of this thread that Chinese PhD students have no interest in staying in the UK and also that their presence raises concerns about the theft of valuable research intellectual property but my comments were taken down for some reason, even though this is widely documented and has been for years.

Other countries consider it worthwhile investing in their bright young people’s future.

It doesn't just pay for the hours they are in class though. The lecturers have to be paid for the teaching time, of course, but there is also prep and marking time to account for, plus consultation hours and the like. Then there are departmental support staff involved in day to day things like managing assignment submissions, extensions, admin related to processing results etc. Some departments will have specialist support staff such as lab technicians, learning technologists.
Then there are the additional university services such as the library, mental health support, disability support, careers guidance, campus security (who play a huge role in mental health crisis intervdmtion) and maintenance. Then add the non-departmental admin areas such as admissions/registrations/graduations, governance teams, legal, finance, HR.
They are large, complex organisations that are hugely expensive to run.
I won't lie and say there isn't fat to trim and that all universities run efficiently (sector staff would laugh at you), but the £9k home fee doesn't touch the sides in terms of how much it costs to actually provide the degree.

Wrong about what?

If students and teachers have similar qualities in two countries, the 17 yo will inevitably be less mature and know less than the 19 yo.

STEM - of course.
Classics - I agree with you. Query utility of this education on the global stage (given competition is global).
Humanities - disagree. Some of the North American liberal arts degrees put UK universities to shame. Of course, depends on the college and depends on the degree, but students are on it and they know where the UK is lagging.

I work at a university. International students pay about three times as much as British students. Most of our income comes from foreign students.

DC2 went to a selective private school that used to be in top-15. It's not a public school so no aristocracy as far as I know.
Ukrainian refugee children from ordinary schools are much better educated than our cohort.

I was wondering if this thread was a thinly veiled excuse for 'forriners are stealing our education'. When I was a student, my foreign classmates enhanced my university experience. I learnt a great deal from them.

Yes, that's exactly right.

Those of us who were around when O Levels became GCSEs will recognise this.

Globally, by which I mean comparing the best of the UK with the best of [insert country name], Harrow is mediocre. Eton turns out some incredible students every year, and more just "excellent" or "very good" students. The Eton experience doesn't always translate outside the UK, however, so they're going to be aiming for only UK universities but now against stiffer and more competition.