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

[Berlinerschnauzer]

So said my son’s dad on learning DS2 failed to be offered a place at Cambridge…
I don’t know enough to confirm whether it’s sour grapes or he actually has a point.
Was looking at figures for Oxbridge and was surprised to find that something like 60 odd percent of students (under and post grads) are international. For undergraduates it’s nearly a quarter.
Likewise Edinburgh has 30% international students and is one of the wealthiest unis.
Unlike lower tier unis which don’t have the same deep financial pockets and have to attract foreign students to survive, surely these unis don’t. They could be attracting home grown, talented students who in years to come will contribute massively to the economy rather than returning to their home countries and taking their skills with them. My question is does ex DP have a point or is he spouting bollocks
as per usual ?

Surely they are wealthy because they attract the international students who pay more?

because universities at the end of the day are a business and International students pay more money than UK students.

Agreed. All about the money!

Money.

Because the fees for international students subsdise the home students. Fewer internationals does not translate into more places for home students.- quite the opposite. Unis are suffering financially from attracting fewer internationals these days. Also universities thrive on exchange of ideas.

As everyone has said, money money money.

Money.

I have up on masters course because the majority of the students seemed to be only there for their student visa and would turn up to about one lecture in 10. It made for a really odd experience..there were other reasons to stop too but this was part of it.

They pay a hell of a lot more, obviously that’s why.

It's very simple. The international students subsidise the domestic students' places.

Without so many international students, fees would be much higher.

Because they pay the full fees upfront.

I like the exchange of ideas as a concept but most of the students on my masters course had incredibly poor English skills

International student fees subsidise home students. 9k isn’t enough to cover course fees and hasn’t kept up with inflation.

Yes it is the catch.

I'm sure it is about money to a certain extent, but these universities have an academic prestige to maintain, and that means accepting the best from around the world.

How does that observation answer the question?

At postgraduate the prestige and quality are maintained by attracting the best students (not for taught masters but for research) so being the best means attracting the best internationally to stay the best.

At undergraduate I don’t know which came first - financial solvency or international students. I know nothing about oxbridge but I’ve worked at Edinburgh and they have a lot of estate and facilities to maintain. Whichever came first the international student fees are now essential.

C and O jointly have 21 billion in the form of art works, estates and endowments. As of 2018. Not sure whether that includes property though.

I’m actually talking about the best unis. The prestigious already massively wealthy unis. Not Bolton or Derby.

Wrong. The visa for an undergraduate degree requires at least B2 English which is between 500-600 study hours.

Money money money .. that’s it really. Not just Oxford & Cambridge, all uni’s - even the ones that aren’t very good. People who come over an a student visa, and never leave

All universities need to attract foreign students . They need the money and wouldn't exist without them.
It's a false argument to say they are taking places from home grown students because without the foreign students that course might not exist. That applies as much to Oxbridge and the Russel Group Universities as to other universities

70% of UK universities are in deficit - the ones that aren't are the ones that can attract international students. It's not realistic to think that Oxford and Cambridge are going to eat into their endowments when they can balance the books by recruiting international students.

Despite being rich in assets Cambridge has about a £15m deficit...

But yeah, money.