Nicola Woolcock, Education Editor, Thursday January 11 2024, 6.50pm GMT, The Times
A Russell Group university is introducing lower entry requirements for international students in response to financial pressures, a memo suggests.
The University of York will admit overseas students to some courses with A-level grades of B-B-C, or a 2:2 degree for its postgraduate courses.
Universities can charge far higher tuition fees to international students, while home student fees have been frozen at £9,250 since 2017 and have risen only once in the 12 years since they trebled to £9,000. The domestic tuition fee is now worth about £6,200 in 2012 prices.
The typical A-level requirement is three A grades for courses including computer science, medicine, physics, history and English.
An email sent last month from the deputy head of York’s computer science department to some academics and postgraduate researchers set out the decision to lower the bar, according to the Financial Times.
The newspaper claimed it said: “In response to the current financial challenges, the university has decided to lower its tariff for all departments and programmes for overseas applicants.”
It added that the department was “supportive” of the move and did “not see it as a significant change from current practice” and that the university would organise “centralised support for students that need it”.
A spokeswoman for the university denied that it had lowered its entry grades for international students and said that “they remain as advertised” but added that it was introducing more flexibility.
She said: “The change in ‘tariff’ refers to a more flexible approach we are adopting to international offer holders who miss their grades. We already take a flexible approach for home students after we receive their results.
“This enables us to remain competitive in a global market. It also allows us to take context and individual circumstances into account. This is important for both UK and international students, as we recognise that inequalities of place and background limit opportunities to evidence ability and potential.”
Students can enter university through clearing if they have not achieved the grades to take up offers from their first-choice university and need to find a place elsewhere. This can already be used by international students who have applied via UCAS, the admissions service, but not by those who have applied directly to institutions.
York is one of the 24 research-intensive UK universities that make up the Russell Group of top-tier British higher education institutions. Universities have become increasingly reliant on international students to cross-subsidise domestic students.
Some claim that this takes places away from British students but universities argue that they could not afford to run some degrees without foreign fees.
In a letter sent in October 2022 to Suella Braverman, who was home secretary at the time, Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said that its research showed international students made a net positive contribution of at least £25.9 billion per year to the UK economy and were the source of almost 70 per cent of the UK’s education export earnings.
It added: “The negative rhetoric suggesting a need to reduce international student numbers is unhelpful and counterproductive. It stands to directly impact on the continued success of one of the UK’s premier export industries and restrict economic growth. Such rhetoric is also quickly reported on around the world, sending a message overseas that the UK is unwelcoming and hostile to international students.”
The University of York’s most recent annual report and financial statement says that one of its principal opportunities is recruiting international students and diversifying the sources of intake.
It says: “A positive financial outcome has been achieved for 2021/22, following planned previous investment, focused particularly on international students.
“Total income increased by 14 per cent to £472 million. The main components of the growth of £58 million were increased international student tuition fees (£19 million), research income (£10 million), and residential income (£21 million).”
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said that while universities did alter entry requirements to manage course demand, he was surprised by the “blanket nature” of the change across all departments and the link to its finances.
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