For many years the PBSA sector has relied on the seemingly ever-increasing number of international students coming to the UK.  There has been the occasional blip, but a growing international student population and positive forecasts have given investors confidence to build in most university cities.  But should we be concerned about recent trends and an apparent stall in growth?

Imagine yourself as part of a family in India sat around the table for a meal when discussion turns to your highly capable daughter’s wish to study overseas.  She has been looking at the so-called Big Four - the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia and is keen to gain a degree and work experience before returning home.  You have done your own research and have been struck by President Trump’s recent statement that “Part of the problem with Harvard is they are almost 31% of foreigners coming to Harvard……it’s too much, because we have Americans that want to go there”.  Your contacts tell you that the recent spat between the White House and academia has unsettled a lot of your countrymen already studying in the US. You look at Australia and see that a cap on international student numbers is to be introduced with new enrolments being limited to 270,000 for 2025 with each institution having an individual restriction so competition for places will be fierce. Canada has also made recent changes to immigration rules around international students and you see that their own “Immigration News” states that “the changes may appear more restrictive….”

You have also looked at the UK thinking that with a new labour government some student friendly policies were inevitable, and you have therefore been alarmed at recent announcements.  You had heard about the restriction on dependents introduced last year by the previous government but that won’t impact your family.  However, your daughter wants work experience after her degree, and it looks like the relevant visa will now limit her stay to 18 months rather than the original 2 years.  

In addition, feedback from your friends who have sent their children to the UK indicates that securing graduate level work experience is proving problematic.  You also hear that the government may introduce a 6% levy on international fees, but surely this won’t impact your daughter as she will already be in the country?  However, you learn from relatives already in the UK that they had been expecting to get citizenship after 5 years, but this has now been lengthened for them to 10 years so it would appear that any UK rule can change at any time.  What might happen during a 3-year undergraduate degree? A move abroad for your daughter represents a substantial investment for your family but none of the Big Four seem to be going out of their way to make the decision easy.  You decide to research more affordable alternatives nearer to home and encourage your daughter to look at the Middle East, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan all of which seem to have more welcoming policies and a growing academic reputation. A simplistic scenario perhaps but you can see the point.  International students’ fees have kept the UK HE sector afloat for many years, initially merely subsidising research and then as the fee for UK undergraduate study devalued in real terms, subsidising teaching as well.  

Unfortunately, the focus on immigration numbers and the fact that students are included in United Nations measures means that they are a soft target and reducing them is judging by recent events seen as a positive by politicians of all parties.  This action is being taken despite the fact that a number of polls confirm that, for the general public, international students are not an issue. Universities seem to have few friends in Whitehall.  We hear that “growth” is the number one priority and yet here is an example where an industry, the HE sector, has grown through international student numbers to the benefit of the institutions themselves, UK students, the future soft power of the country as well as the international students themselves.  The PBSA sector has only developed as a result of demand from international students.  So, whilst some might argue that international students add to the undeniable housing crisis in this county, the case could also be made that the hundreds of thousands of PBSA beds that have been developed over the last two decades have also benefitted some UK students. Where would the sector be financially without international students?

  But perhaps more importantly where would universities be culturally without international students?  Less than 200 years ago human interaction fundamentally remained at a local level, many did not ever venture out of their village, but today the world comes to the village through the internet.  We are truly global citizens if for some this is merely from their sofa!  Surely universities in their make-up should reflect society so international students should be seen as an essential ingredient not as an add on. As Harvard so eloquently put it in their one sentence response to the President on X “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard”.

If you want an in-depth analysis of trends in the international student market then join us for the sector leading Student Accommodation conference at Wembley on December 4th.