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English universities that have shifted their recruitment towards international students are not “lining their pockets” but rather are barely managing to maintain their unit of resource, research shows.

Analysis by consultancy dataHE estimates that 54,000 UK 18-year-old applicants were left without a university place at the end of this summer’s admissions cycle after rejection rates reached a new record among the most highly selective institutions. The school-leavers who did get in were more likely to have had to settle for a place in a lower-tariff university.

While this comes after high-tariff universities significantly expanded their intakes over the Covid-19 pandemic, when the use of estimated marks rather than exam scores led to significant grade inflation, these prestigious institutions have been criticised for shifting their recruitment pronouncedly towards international students, who pay tuition fees that have risen rapidly to average £23,750 a year at the most selective campuses.

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