Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the net economic impact international students have on the economy of (a) Coventry (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK.

The Department for Education estimates that the export income to the UK from international students in the form of tuition fees and living expenditure is around £11.5 billion – this analysis is not disaggregated at a local level. The department has not, however, estimated the net economic impact of international students in the UK (nationally or at a regional or local level).

​The Migration Advisory Committee’s report, ‘International Students in the UK’1, published in September 2018, found that international students make a positive economic contribution to the UK, and that there is no evidence to suggest they negatively impact local communities. The report found that where international students do study, they support local employment, and have a direct, positive impact on the UK through tuition fees and living expenditure.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisory-committee-mac-report-international-students.