Of course it is true that income from international students enables more home students to study at university rather than “crowds them out”.
Yes it is true that undergraduate courses with foundation years enable students with lower grades than those entering directly to get onto them – regardless of whether those students are home or international.
And of course it is true that schemes that enable home students from disadvantaged backgrounds to enter HE through foundation years are even harder to run these days now that the government has resolved to slash funding/fees for such schemes.
The original version of the Sunday Times’ splash on international students was even framed around the idea that “Cash for Courses” is bad – enragingly ironic when the whole system is set up around fees.
