Universities seem to have more places

[Possiblynotever]

Just read an article in The Times: there is a 56% decrease in application by EU students due to Brexit and Covid. Applications from non EU students ar up, but only by 5%.

There should be more places available, right?

Either more places or more likely redundancies.
Overseas students bring in more ££ than U.K. students.

I think that depends - is that 56% decrease in EU students but for example only 100,000 EU students a year (so 56,000 less) then a 5% uptake from non EU students if usually 1,000,000 is 50,000 so that could only be a small difference of 6k spaces.

Unless you say the number each % relates to pre change then it's impossible to say!

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/details-english-student-number-controls-unveiled

UK universities have always been able to take as many overseas students as they want because they pay there has never been a cap. There is central funding for UK students from Government so if you went over you didn’t get the money. I was an admissions officer but retired a few years ago

My friend still works in the RG University I worked in and there have been some changes so my knowledge is not up to date but that was what what happened.

I wonder if EU students are now charged overseas fees. I know it’s just under 10k for Brits and that would have been what EU students paid. Post Brexit if they pay international fees they are around 15k pa. can anyone confirm?

I know that EU students now pay the same as international students, unless they have settled status AND were resident in the UK for the past 3 years....

Agreed about the percentage but I believe that those should refer to the number of students enrolled in the past years.

At the end of the day, I cannot really believe that Universities will want to increase the number of students coming mainly from certain geographic areas, as this would somehow disrupt the balance.

But I know nothing about the admission process

There are more people trying to get into university at the moment they are paying people to defer one 18 year old was offered 12 months free accommodation if they deferred a year another was offered a couple of thousand pounds same deal they both took the offer

I think the EU fee status is still being recognised for a few years , in Scotland at least.

I think many had to take on far more students than usual this year, because more people than expected got their offer grades, because they couldn’t sit exams. So they probably are trying to keep the numbers down a bit the next year.

@LIZS

I think the EU fee status is still being recognised for a few years , in Scotland at least.

In England they are paying international fees from 21/22 academic year. And with Masters programmes now being £30K to £40K / year, US universities offer serious competition, and home options (often free) start looking more attractive too.

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I wonder if EU students are now charged overseas fees

They are, and that's exactly why numbers are down.

As others said, yeah. Eue atudents are now charged obersees fee.
To be frank, unless you get to oxbridge, it's not worth it for Europeans who have a large number of amazing unies to choose from for much less money than here. MUCH less.

Here are actual figures:

Overall there was a decrease in international student applications from 138,770 in 2020 to 130,390 in 2021. In 2019 international student applications were 131,990 and in 2018 there were 125,510.

Despite the slight drop in application numbers for international students, the number of UK students increased from 514,020 in 2020 to 551,620 2021, bringing the total number for the year up to 682,010.

Demographics are at play here too. Number of UK-based 18 year olds is on the up again, after a dip.

I work at a UK top 10 and we largely select rather than recruit at a UG level. We very very rarely have courses in clearing.

We’ve never had that many EU students but the reduction is a crying shame from a campus diversity point of view. One of the attractions/benefits is to meet people from all over the world, gain different perspectives etc.

Bear in mind that statistics for admissions are split between Overseas, European and Home so the term “international students” is an ambiguous one.

Our campus at the moment is quieter than the norm it very much feels like. Still lots of students around but it's normally rammed to the rafters. It's the lack of overseas students I think plus people not coming onto site as much. Also a fair few on my course have dropped out or back a year because of Covid and online learning.

Very much a uni that goes into clearing a lot though (ex-poly)

I don’t think is the lack of overseas students, much more than most universities are now doing lectures online. Gone are the days when you could see 200 students walking on the corridor on the hour, every hour. They are now mostly working from their own rooms

@Theunamedcat

There are more people trying to get into university at the moment they are paying people to defer one 18 year old was offered 12 months free accommodation if they deferred a year another was offered a couple of thousand pounds same deal they both took the offer

I don’t think there are far many more wanting to go to university, although there is a small increase as we are heist coming out of a demographic dip.

Universities who are paying to defer are doing so as grade inflation meant a lot of people who wouldn’t have got their predicted grades, did. So the most competitive universities are having an increase while those who rely more on applicants coming to them after they were rejected by their first choices may be wondering where the students have gone.

So, if I understand it correctly, the division is now between UK and International students.
EU students with settled status and three years of residence are considered as UK ( but this number is probably not influential).
UK students are more because of the inflated predicted grades of the past two years and some had -to be deferred ( at cost)...which means next year A levels will have to be quite tough to avoid further oversubscribtion from UK students.
In the meantime, the International students will probably be mainly from the Far East and possibly US as Europeans will go to cheaper pastures.
Will the number of International students satisfy the needs of universities? With Covid probably not.
I fear there will be a steep raise in fees for UK students.

It's also for pre-settled status (less than 5 years resodency).

I really don’t think universities would need to avoid further over subscription next year provided exams go ahead.

For starters, less than 1 in 5 students achieve their predicted grades.

Universities that are currently oversubscribed would have adapted to provide for the big numbers and once that such capacity has been created, I doubt very much they would decrease it back to previous numbers.

Losing the favour of international students is a problem as they bring so much in that helps Home students see the world from different perspectives but, they also bring considerable income that universities need to make ends meet.

Tuition fees going up may be an issue but looking at this government’s shambles, and previous disregard for inclusion when it comes to student funding, as a parent, I am more concerned about the Conservatives charging the terms of the student loans than the the tuition fees going up.

Last year EU and further afield students were kicked off campus as universities closed and they didn’t refund the cost of accommodation and as there were no flights they couldn’t get hone. They ended up in homeless shelters and food banks. Could t work as no jobs in closed shops and leisure

They were treated appalling! Who would send their kids with these stories going back home?

Not sure about others but I am sure many universities kept accommodation open for those students who couldn’t travel home (mostly care leavers and international students)

It was on the news - a London shop owner had to set up a food bank to feed these people. The community was asked to open their homes to them. A lot had paid for food as well as accommodation. The staff were sent home. Look it uo

No, not necessarily more places because we work on separate quotas for Home/Domestic student places and international student places.

Lower numbers from one part of the world will mean we have to find students from other parts of the world.

International student fees massively subsidise UK student costs.