In 2023, UK Universities spent £28 millions on scholarship programme agents fees to attract international students.
According to data gathered by the Observer from the universities of the UK that accepted to provide data, agents receive between £2,000 and £8,000 per student.
According to a report by Campus France, the United Kingdom is the second largest hosting country for international students in the world, with over 550,000 students hosted last in 2022.
Since the 2019/20 academic year, the number of international students has risen by 179 per cent.
Read More: UK visa reforms announced to cut migration
The Student carried out a survey of University of Edinburgh students, to which one quarter responded they heard about the University of Edinburgh because of a program promoted by their home school.
UK Parliament noted that a large majority of these international students are from China and India, with 184,000 students coming to the UK.
Over the past few years, concerns have been raised by analysts from London Economic and the UK Government about the reliance of some universities in international tuition fees income.
Overseas students account for at least 30 per cent of the income of UK Universities.
Since Brexit, in which the UK left the European Union, the number of European students in UK universities has declined by 40 per cent, leaving universities reliant on students from further afield.
More from news: Private members Bill introduced to split Lord Advocate role
According to The Student’s survey, more than one quarter of EU students declared to have chosen the university because it was free before Brexit, a choice they might not have made after.
International students are a huge net contributor to the UK economy, The Guardian reports that it forms one fifth of UK universities income.
According to a report published by London Economics, the economic benefit of international students was £41,9 billion for 2021/22.
Professor Quintin McKellar, the University of Hertfordshire’s vice-chancellor said in The Guardian:
“They [international students] support courses which we would be unable to offer to our UK students without their recruitment and they greatly support our university finances”.
This week in Westminster: Sunak’s Rwanda bill passes third reading despite Tory rebellion
The UK Government strategy has been to increase the total number of international students in the UK each year to 600,000 by 2030, met for the first time in 2020/21.
One of the core ways international students are attracted is through scholarship programmes.
One programme is Chevening, which counts £22 million per year, completed by private funding of 120 partners.
The Commonwealth scholarship has a budget of about £28 million per year.
Commenting on the increase in international student agent fees, A University of Edinburgh spokesperson told The Student:
“The University of Edinburgh has a long history of building international partnerships through our collaborative research, exchange programmes and global networks. We will continue to be a beacon of excellence, with a determinedly international outlook”.
“Passport with money” by wuestenigel is licensed under CC BY 2.0.