Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reforming university funding models to reduce dependence on the income of international students.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
It is important that there is a sustainable system to support students and support higher education (HE) that is responsive to the needs of the labour market and the wider economy, and that is fair to students and fair to taxpayers. The government keeps the higher education (HE) funding system under continuous review to ensure that it remains sustainable and provides many different opportunities for learners to acquire vital skills. Longer-term funding plans for the HE sector will be set out at the next multi-year Spending Review, in line with the approach to long-term public spending commitments across government.
In 2021/22, the total income of the HE sector in England was £40.8 billion, up from £28 billion in 2014/15, including £8.8 billion income from international student fees. Of the £40.8 billion, approximately £16 billion was provided by the government. Over the current spending review period, both the Department for Education and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology are investing £1.3 billion in capital funding to support teaching and research.
The department is proud that the UK is home to some of the world’s top universities who benefit from strong international ties, so much so that the UK HE system has educated 58 of current and recent world leaders and has 4 out of the top 10 globally ranked universities. Attracting the brightest students internationally is good for the UK’s universities and delivers growth at home.
Education policy is a devolved matter, and different HE funding arrangements apply in the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received from UK universities proposing the relaxation of restrictions for overseas students, such as rules relating to their employment in the UK after graduation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government seeks to ensure that the UK has a fair and robust migration policy whilst maintaining the UK’s place as a top destination for the best and brightest students from around the world. The UK has four universities in the top 10, and 17 in the top 100. The UK has a highly sought after higher education (HE) experience, which is respected by students across the globe.
The government recognises the significant economic and cultural contribution that international students make to the UK’s HE sector and their positive impact on society as a whole.
Ministers and departmental officials regularly engage with the HE sector on a range of issues, including on international students.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to expand their GREAT campaign, and whether they have evaluated options for additional or alternative international brand marketing campaigns for the United Kingdom.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The GREAT brand has proved to be highly effective. On average for every £1 spent GREAT returns £15 to the UK economy. In the last year we estimate that GREAT has helped to generate over £900 million of foreign direct investment, £548 million of additional expenditure from international students, £210 million of additional expenditure from international tourism and over £90 million of export wins for UK companies.
The GREAT brand was successfully refreshed in Summer 2021 to better reflect the diversity of the UK and update our offer to the world. It is designed to promote the UK as dynamic, outward-looking, confident and collaborative and is used in 164 countries by 26 government departments and ALBs.
The GREAT Ministerial Programme Board meets quarterly to agree the strategic direction of the campaign, including new markets and sectors. As well as continuing to drive economic growth for the UK through existing campaigns, in 2024/25 the GREAT campaign looks forward to delivering new initiatives such as a GREAT FUTURES event in Saudi Arabia and a new marketing campaign in the US.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many students applied to take part in the Turing Scheme in (1) 2021–22, (2) 2022–23, (3) 2023–24 and (4) 2024–25.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Students cannot apply directly to the Turing Scheme. Education providers and other eligible organisations can apply to the scheme for funding towards the costs of their students’ international study and work placements. These organisations are responsible for planning placements on behalf of their students. This includes recruiting students and disbursing Turing Scheme funding to them.
However, 21,353 pupils, learners, and students participated in international work and education placements in the 2021/22 academic year through the Turing Scheme. The scheme provided funding for 38,374 placements during the 2022/23 academic year, but the actual number of participants is not yet known. The department expects to publish data for the 2022/23 academic year this autumn.
For the current academic year (2023/24) the Turing Scheme is providing funding for 41,175 pupils, learners and students across the UK. Final data will not be available until after the academic year ends on 31 August 2024 following the submission of providers’ final reports.
No data is available for the 2024/25 academic year as applications from providers are currently being assessed. The department will inform providers about the outcome of their applications in June 2024 and will announce results publicly shortly thereafter.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the contribution of international students to the UK economy.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises the significant economic and cultural contribution that international students make to the UK’s higher education (HE) sector.
International tuition fee income at HE providers can be found on the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/finances/income.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of findings from a recent IDP Connect survey which found that nearly half of prospective students surveyed were reconsidering or unsure of their plans to study in the UK following changes in policy and rules regarding international students.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government seeks to ensure that there is a fair and robust migration policy while maintaining the UK’s place as a top destination for the best and brightest students from around the world. The department remains committed to the ambitions set out in the government’s International Education Strategy to host 600,000 international students per year and to increase the value of our education exports to £35 billion per year, both by 2030.
The department expects the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. The UK has four universities in the top 10, and 17 in the top 100. The UK has a highly sought after higher education (HE) experience, which is respected by students across the globe. The department is hugely proud to have met its international student recruitment ambition two years running, with 679,970 international students studying at a UK university in 2021/22.
However, the level of legal migration remains too high. As a result, on 4 December 2023, the government announced a new package of measures to reduce net migration and curb the abuse and exploitation of the country’s immigration system. The department continues to work closely with the Home Office, the Department for Business and Trade, and other governmental departments to assess the impact of these changes on HE providers.
HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent of government. As such, they are responsible for their own admission decisions. The government takes a close interest in ensuring that the HE admissions system is fair and works closely with HE providers and sector bodies to make sure the system works well for students.
Asked by: Baroness Gohir (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of students in the UK who are on a student visa from Gaza and what support is being provided to them.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), now part of JISC, is responsible for collecting and publishing data about UK higher education (HE). The latest statistics refer to the 2021/22 academic year.
Table 28 of HESA’s ‘Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2021/22’ reports the number of non-UK domiciled HE students by country of domicile. This data is accessible at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-28.
In the 2021/22 academic year, there were 245 student enrolments at UK HE providers who were domiciled in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (formerly the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip) prior to their studies.
Universities offer a range of dedicated support to their international students before they arrive in the UK, on arrival and during their studies. This includes both pastoral care and financial support. If a student is experiencing difficulties, they should contact the university to discuss their circumstances.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent data by Enroly published on 27 March which showed that issuance of certificates of Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies has significantly reduced, with overall deposits down by more than a third on the same point in 2023.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government seeks to ensure that there is a fair and robust migration policy, whilst maintaining the UK’s place as a top destination for the best and brightest students from around the world. The department remains committed to the ambitions set out in the government’s International Education Strategy to host 600,000 international students per year and to increase the value of our education exports to £35 billion per year, both by 2030.
The department expects the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. The UK has four universities in the top 10, and 17 in the top 100. The UK has a highly sought after higher education (HE) experience, which is respected by students across the globe. The department is hugely proud to have met its international student recruitment ambition two years running.
However, the level of legal migration remains too high. As a result, on 4 December 2023, the government announced a new package of measures to reduce net migration and curb abuse and exploitation of the country’s immigration system. The department continues to work closely with the Home Office, Department for Business and Trade, and other governmental departments to assess the impact of these changes on HE providers.
HE providers are autonomous bodies, independent from government. As such, they are responsible for their own admissions decisions. The government takes a close interest in ensuring that the HE admissions system is fair and works closely with HE providers and sector bodies to make sure the system works well for students.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings of the study funded by the Nuffield Foundation entitled A generation at risk: Rebalancing education in the post-pandemic era, published in April 2024.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Predicting GCSE results is very difficult as there are many drivers that can interact in unforeseen ways. However, as the Nuffield Foundation’s report indicates, the pandemic deprived children of the advantages of studying together within the safety and support of their schools.
The pandemic created a unique challenge for teachers, staff, students and families. Minimising its impact on education and tackling the challenges has been the department’s priority from the start. Almost £5 billion was made available specifically for education recovery, with support focussed on those who needed it most, while giving education providers as much flexibility as possible to tailor-make help for their own circumstances. This includes the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), which focuses on disadvantaged pupils and those who have fallen behind, and has seen nearly five million tutoring courses start since it launched in November 2020.
The department knows that disadvantaged children and pupils with a special educational need or disability were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The department continues to take a range of steps to give priority support and deliver programmes to help them, including improving the quality of teaching and curriculum resources, strengthening the school system and providing targeted support where needed. The department is also supporting disadvantaged pupils through the pupil premium, which is rising to almost £2.9 billion in 2024/25, which is the highest in cash terms since this funding began.
Further to this, latest results from 2023 show that over 45% of pupils sitting GCSEs achieved a grade 5 or higher in both English and mathematics, which is an increase of more than two percentage points compared with pre-pandemic 2019 levels and almost three percentage points when compared with 2017.
England recently came fourth in primary reading out of 43 countries which tested pupils of the same age in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). Despite disruption from the pandemic, England’s score remained stable and well above the international and European averages.
Furthermore, the department has committed to making schools safe, calm and supportive environments, which promote and support mental wellbeing alongside delivering an excellent education.
Enrichment activities can deepen children’s in-school experience while supporting them to develop their socio-emotional skills. The department is now delivering the vision set out in its Schools White Paper, which states that every child and young person will have access to high-quality extra-curricular provision, including an entitlement to take part in sport, music and cultural opportunities.
Monitoring and measuring wellbeing in schools strengthens this, which is why the department’s guidance on promoting a whole-school approach to pupil wellbeing includes this as one of its eight key principles. You can find out more here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/614cc965d3bf7f718518029c/Promoting_children_and_young_people_s_mental_health_and_wellbeing.pdf.
The department is supporting all state schools and colleges with a grant to train a senior mental health lead. To date 15,100 settings have claimed a grant so far, including more than 7 in 10 state-funded secondary schools.
Intervening early is critical. To expand access to early mental health support, the department is continuing to roll out Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) to schools and colleges. MHSTs deliver evidence-based interventions for mild to moderate mental health issues, support the senior mental health lead (where established) in each school or college to introduce or develop whole school or college approaches and give timely advice to school and college staff, and liaise with external specialist services, to help children and young people get the right support to stay in education. The department is extending coverage of MHSTs to cover at least 50% by the end of March 2025.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential financial impact of trends in the level of enrolments of international students on universities.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The government seeks to ensure that there is a fair and robust migration policy, whilst maintaining the UK’s place as a top destination for the best and brightest students from around the world. The department remains committed to the ambitions set out in the government’s International Education Strategy to host 600,000 international students per year and to increase the value of education exports to £35 billion per year, both by 2030.
The department expects the UK to remain a highly attractive study destination. The UK has four universities in the top ten, and 17 in the top 100, worldwide. The UK has a highly sought after higher education (HE) experience, which is respected by students across the globe. The department is hugely proud to have met its international student recruitment ambition two years running.
However, the level of legal migration remains too high. As a result, on 4 December 2023, the government announced a new package of measures to reduce net migration and curb abuse and exploitation of the country’s immigration system.
The Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of the HE sector in England, continues to work closely with the Home Office, Department for Business and Trade, and other governmental departments to assess the impact of these changes on HE providers.
Universities are autonomous institutions responsible for managing their own budgets. The department also works closely with the OfS to understand the evolving landscape, including on risks relating to international students.