Article
The £925 levy on international students is not about "Investing in domestic students" or "vital financial support".
Originally posted on LinkedIn on November 28, 2025.
The £925 levy on international students is not about “Investing in domestic students” or “vital financial support”. That’s pure soundbite 💩 It has very little to do with how public finance – or universities – actually work. International students already pay substantial visa fees and an Immigration Health Surcharge that far exceeds their likely cost to the NHS. Now they’ll be asked for a flat £925 on top, whatever the course fee. That is a textbook regressive tax: the lower the fee, the higher the effective rate. There is no meaningful “ring fence” between this levy and spending on home students. You can announce a new tax and a new spending line in the same press conference, but over time those numbers drift apart. Governments spend before they tax; the idea that one specific levy “funds” one specific group is political storytelling, not accounting. 📊 International students are, like tourists, an export. They bring in foreign income, prop up course viability, cross-subsidise home students and research, and contribute to local communities. In any other sector, government would be running trade missions and offering incentives. Here, we are quietly making the UK less attractive while talking loudly about skills, AI and global competitiveness. 🌍 Government spin doctors say (with a straight face) it’s only fair that the “benefits” of the lucrative international market are directed toward “disadvantaged students” who have struggled with the cost of living. The International education market is not that lucrative right now, in case they hadn’t noticed, and what about the lucrative international financial, industrial and pharmaceutical markets? Could their “benefits” perhaps be directed more to disadvantaged students? Just a thought. University leaders now have to navigate not just recruitment risk, but a widening gap between the rhetoric and the financial reality. When the public story about funding is this far from the truth, planning becomes guesswork. How are you explaining this inside your institution – to colleagues, councils and governors – when the household-budget fairy tale just will not do? 🧮 #HigherEducation #InternationalStudents #UniversityFunding #AIinEducation #UKPolicy #EdTech #AcademicLeadership