UK universities offer fee discounts to overseas students in ‘pricing war’

{"text":[[{"start":8.76,"text":"UK universities are handing automatic tuition-fee discounts of up to £8,000 to overseas students as tighter visa rules and fiercer competition add to pressure on a sector increasingly reliant on foreign income."}],[{"start":22.2,"text":"At least 22 universities offer postgraduate-taught students blanket tuition-fee discounts, which are applied automatically without a separate application, according to a review of 90 institutions by consultancy S Squared Insights."}],[{"start":36.32,"text":"The reduced net fee at these providers — whose scholarship web pages were checked by the FT — is likely to fuel concerns about the sector’s approach to recruiting overseas students, on whose fees it already depends."}],[{"start":48.12,"text":"Most foreign students come to the UK to study postgraduate courses, but a ban on bringing family members in 2024 and visa compliance reforms have hit postgraduate enrolment, which is down 17 per cent in the two years to March."}],[{"start":61.92,"text":"Scholarships for international students are common in the UK and rival study destinations such as Australia. But the number available in the UK has often been capped, with applicants required to meet extra criteria beyond minimum entry and tariff requirements."}],[{"start":76.4,"text":"Julian Westwood, director of S Squared Insights, said British providers had “shifted from smaller scholarship schemes to broad, overly simple cohort discounts”."}],[{"start":86.76,"text":"“The risk is that along with a decline in the number of international students, the fee for each is also reduced — a scenario that may be beyond the stress-testing of some [universities’] financial plans,” he added."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":97.82,"text":"Overseas students who enrol on a taught master’s course at the University of Nottingham in 2026 will automatically receive a £3,000 scholarship, with “no application needed”, according to the Russell Group institution’s website."}],[{"start":110.88,"text":"This replaced a “postgraduate excellence” scholarship that was awarded on academic merit. The cost of a one-year master’s degree at Nottingham, which in May set out plans to cut more than 600 jobs, ranges from £9,700 to as high as £39,600."}],[{"start":126.84,"text":"Last year the University of Aberdeen, where 100 jobs could go as part of a £10mn savings plan, began offering international postgraduate students an £8,000 scholarship automatically deducted from the tuition bill."}],[{"start":139.6,"text":"Zeenat Fayaz, founder of The Brand Education, which advises universities on branding, said this “pricing war” could backfire by sparking competition between institutions on the basis of a degree’s cost rather than their own strengths."}],[{"start":156.24,"text":"“Higher-tariff universities are not only offering scholarships, but they’re also reducing their grade requirements to allow students in . . . It’s a race to the bottom.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":163.68,"text":"In England, postgraduate taught students generated about £5bn in tuition fees in 2024-25, down from £5.5bn a year in 2023-24, according to the Office for Students, the sector regulator."}],[{"start":179.6,"text":"The sector forecasts a 19.9 per cent increase in UK students and a 22.5 per cent increase in international students by 2028-29, from which point universities will pay a new international student levy. But the watchdog warned in its financial stability report in May that these projections were “overly optimistic”."}],[{"start":199.98,"text":"Successful entrants from 14 countries, 12 of which are in Asia, to master’s courses at Kent University will receive an automatic £5,000 discount this September, for the first time in the provider’s history."}],[{"start":212.76,"text":"From September 2027 the scholarship would be “automatically awarded” to any foreign applicant to make the process “simpler and fairer”, Kent said in a statement. It was “carefully calibrated to balance our competitiveness against other universities while ensuring a net fee that is financially appropriate”, the university added."}],[{"start":232.48,"text":"Aberdeen and Nottingham did not immediately respond to requests for comment."}],[{"start":236.48,"text":"Finance directors at 16 institutions told the OfS in roundtable meetings this year that the sector was “crowded”, with many universities “competing for fewer students”. Narrower margins and limited ability to cut costs had left them more dependent on international fees, the OfS said."}],[{"start":253.96,"text":"At the same time, providers noted that students were accepting multiple offers and then withdrawing from courses at the last minute, making the budgeting of resources much harder."}],[{"start":265,"text":"Jamie Arrowsmith, director of Universities UK International, which represents vice-chancellors internationally, said global competition had driven universities towards scholarships and discounting."}],[{"start":274.48,"text":"Prospective overseas students were increasingly searching for the “best deal that they can get”, intensifying “really difficult” uncertainty for institutions, he added."}],[{"start":286.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1786946500_3776.mp3"}