This blog has been kindly written for HEPI by Professor Nic Beech, Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University, Commissioner on the International Higher Education Commission, Chair of the UK Standing Committee for Quality Assessment and Executive Board Member of University Alliance.
The International Higher Education Commission (IHEC), chaired by the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore MP, will develop recommendations for a new International Education Strategy 2.0 in partnership with the higher education community. Among the issues it will address are future student number targets and how the UK can remain competitive in its international offer to students.
Arguments in favour of international students are well rehearsed. A HEPI report in 2021 estimated that international students are worth almost £26 billion net to the UK. Articles in the Guardian and Financial Times recently reported on university leaders’ fears for the UK economy if numbers of overseas students are reduced and how key Government departments oppose restrictions and also that the Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, is resisting cuts and has described our universities as a ‘hugely valuable’ export success.
I would argue that the success that Gillian Keegan describes goes further than our traditional understanding and is also about universities’ role in nurturing international entrepreneurship which has a key role to play in opportunities for growth in the UK.
