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Foreign Students: UK Varsities May Fall Into Deficit, Says Report

Published

1 year ago

January 12, 2024

Editor

Many universities in the United Kingdom are at risk of falling into financial deficit due to the astronomical decline in international students after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ban on bringing dependants into the country.

The PUNCH reports that the Home Office of the United Kingdom announced that it had commenced the implementation of its policy banning Nigerian students and other overseas students from bringing in dependants via the study visa route.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Home Office reiterated that only those on postgraduate research or government-sponsored scholarship students will be exempted from the development.

“We are fully committed to seeing a decisive cut in migration. From today, new overseas students will no longer be able to bring family members to the UK. Postgraduate research or government-funded scholarships students will be exempt,” the Home Office said.

Meanwhile, Financial Times on Friday reported the chief executive of Universities UK, Vivienne Stern, who represents more than 140 universities, said the sector was facing the prospect of a “serious overcorrection” thanks to immigration policies that deterred international students from coming to study in Britain.

“If they want to cool things down, that’s one thing, but it seems to me that through a combination of rhetoric, which is off-putting, and policy changes . . .[they have] really turned a whole bunch of people off that would otherwise have come to the UK,” Stern told the Financial Times.

Stern’s plea came as it emerged that some top universities, including York, which is a member of the elite Russell Group, were being forced to soften their entry requirements in order to maintain numbers of overseas students.

“The government needs to be very careful: we could end up with, from a policy point of view, what I would consider a serious overcorrection,” she added.

With the £9,250 domestic tuition fee effectively frozen for the past decade, UK universities have increasingly relied on non-EU students to make ends meet, with fees from non-EU students now accounting for nearly 20 per cent of sector income.

Universities are warning privately that numbers have softened sharply this year following a series of hostile policy moves by the government, with indications that enrolments may have fallen by more than a third from key countries, including Nigeria and India.

One senior university insider told the FT that the sector as a whole had been “spooked” by data that showed the number of international students taking up places in January 2024 was “way below the bottom end of projections for everyone”.

In January, Sunak highlighted changes in government policy to stop international graduate students from bringing family members to the UK, adding the policy was “delivering for the British people.”

The government also announced in December that it was reviewing the so-called “graduate route” enabling international students to work in the UK for two years after they graduate and announced a crackdown on “low-value courses”, even though only 3 per cent are failing to meet criteria set out by the regulator.

Data from Enroly, a web platform used by one in three international students for managing university enrollment, showed that deposit payments were down 37 per cent compared to last year.

A new analysis for UK by consultants PwC found that the combination of falling international student numbers, frozen tuition fees, rising staff wage bills, and a softening in UK student numbers was leaving the sector facing a perfect storm.

“You take those things together, and you’ve got a big problem,” Stern said, warning that the government needed to wake up to the risk posed to a sector that contributes £71bn to the UK economy every year.

The PwC analysis was based on 2021-22 financial returns for 70 UUK members in England and Northern Ireland and found that about 40 per cent are expected to be in deficit in 2023-24, falling to 19 per cent by 2025-26.

However, Paul Kett, a former senior Department for Education official who now advises PwC on education, said the numbers reflected assumptions about spending and income growth that now looked highly optimistic given the policy environment.

The PwC analysis found that if the growth in international students stagnated in the 2024-25 academic year, the proportion of universities in the financial deficit would rise from 19 per cent to 27 per cent — but if numbers started to fall between 13 and 18 per cent then four-fifths would be in deficit.

On the other side of the ledger, it found that increasing fees by 10 per cent for UK undergraduates in 2024-25 would shrink the share of universities in deficit from 19 per cent to 7 per cent.

The report said the effects of declining international enrolments could be compounded by other negative shocks, such as a rise in spending growth or a fall in domestic student numbers. It warned that mounting financial pressure could force universities to cut provision and delay investment, compromising quality for students.

Stern argued three interventions were necessary to put the sector on a stable footing: uprating tuition fees in line with inflation, increasing government teaching grants and stabilising the international market by dialling down negative rhetoric and ending question marks over the graduate route.

“You can take these individual scenarios that PwC looked at, and think that any one of them could tip a large number of institutions into a very difficult position, but the problem is that lots of those things are happening at once,” she said.

Robert Halfon, higher education minister, said: “We are fully focused on striking the right balance between acting decisively to tackle net migration, which we are clear is far too high, and attracting the brightest students to study at our universities,” he added.

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JUST IN: Court Grants Senator Natasha N50m Bail, Slates Date For Trial

Published

1 hour ago

June 19, 2025

Editor

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, sitting at Maitama, has granted bail to the suspended Senator for Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, to the tune of N50million.

The court, in a ruling that was delivered by Justice Chizoba Orji, rejected application the Federal Government made for the defendant who was arraigned on a three-count charge, to be remanded in prison custody pending the determination of the case against her.

Justice Orji held that she found no reason to deny the defendant bail, saying there was sufficient evidence that she is willing to face her trial.

Consequently, aside from the N50m, the court held that the defendant must produce one surety who must be a person of integrity that owns a landed property in Abuja.

The court based its decision on section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, as well as section 163 and 165 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

The case was subsequently adjourned till September 23 for trial.

FG is prosecuting the lawmaker for allegedly making a false claim that the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and a former Governor of Kogi state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, were behind plot to assassinate her.

In the charge marked: CR/297/25, FG alleged that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was listed as the sole defendant, made the false and defamatory remarks when she appeared as guest on live television.

It specifically accused her of making “imputation, knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person.”

According to the charge, by making such false imputation that tarnished the image of others, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, committed an offence under
391 of the Penal Code, Cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990.

It added that the alleged offence is punishable under section 392 of the same law.

Giving particulars of the offence in count-one of the charge, FG, told the court that the defendant committed the alleged crime on April 3, during a live broadcast on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

Among those listed as witnesses in the matter, included the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and a former Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who were cited as nominal complainants.

Other witnesses billed to testify in the case are two police officers that investigated the matter, Maya Iliya and Abdulhafiz Garba; a Senator, Asuquo Ekpenyong and one Sandra Duru.

The charge, dated May 16, came on the heels of a letter Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan wrote to the Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, wherein she accused police of exhibiting bias in the investigation of her petitions against the Senate President.

It will be recalled that the Federal High Court in Abuja had fixed June 27 to determine the legality or otherwise of the six-month suspension that was slammed on the defendant by the Senate.

Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan approached the court after she was summoned to appear before the disciplinary committee following a faceoff she had with the Senate President during plenary on February 20.

While protesting alleged arbitrary change of her seating position, she repeatedly raised a point of order to be allowed to speak, even though she had been overruled by the Senate President.

Irked by her conduct, the Senate President referred her case to the Ethics Committee.

In a television interview she granted on February 28, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan alleged that her travails in the Senate began after she rejected unwanted advances from the Senate President, Akpabio.

In an ex-parte application she brought before the court, she applied for an order to declare any action the Senate Committee took within the pendency of her suit, including her suspension, as, “null, void, and of no effect.”

News

Fidelity Bank Delivers Renovated Classrooms To Bauchi Govt

Published

1 hour ago

June 19, 2025

Editor

As part of its commitment to enhancing access to quality education, leading financial institution, Fidelity Bank Plc, has renovated three blocks of classrooms at the historic Kobi Government School in Bauchi State.

Speaking during the handing over ceremony on Thursday, the Regional Bank Head, North-East Fidelity Bank Plc, Dr. Musa Tarimbuka, said the project was executed under the Bank’s Fidelity Helping Hands Programme (FHHP).

This, he said, was made possible through voluntary contributions by staff of the bank’s Bauchi, GRA Branch whose contributions were matched by the Bank’s Management for the execution of the project.

Represented by Mr Ibrahim Aliyu, the Relationship Manager, Fidelity Bank, Bauchi GRA Branch, Tarimbuka described the initiative as a testament to Fidelity Bank’s dedication to improving the lives of residents in its host communities.

“This initiative underscores our belief that our success is deeply connected to the well-being of the communities we serve.

“The renovated classrooms are a testament to the power of collective impact and our ongoing efforts to improve access to quality education and youth empowerment”. He said.

Receiving the renovated blocks on behalf of the Bauchi State Government, the Commissioner for Education, Dr. Lawal Mohammed, expressed appreciation to Fidelity Bank for the generous intervention and encouraged other corporate organizations to follow suit.

“This is a commendable contribution by Fidelity Bank, and we assure you that the facility will be put to optimal use.

“I encourage other organizations in Bauchi to follow suit in supporting the development of education and infrastructure across the state,” Dr. Mohammed stated.

News

PAP Boss Felicitates Oborevwori @62

Published

2 hours ago

June 19, 2025

Editor

Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Dr Dennis Otuaro, has congratulated Delta State governor, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, on the occasion of his 62nd birthday.

This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen by Mr Igoniko Oduma, Special Assistant on Media to the PAP boss.

Otuaro described the governor as a worthy leader who, according to him, has been providing exemplary leadership, resulting in speedy development in the state.

He stressed that Oborevwori has strengthened the existing peace, development and unity in the state.

The PAP Administrator said that the people of the state believed in the governor’s ability to lead the state, and they were satisfied with his sterling performance.

He said the state was on the march to a great future with Oborevwori in the saddle.

While celebrating the governor, Otuaro said, “I wholeheartedly felicitate His Excellency, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, Governor of Delta State, on the occasion of your 62nd birthday.

“Your Excellency has provided a remarkable leadership, strengthening the existing peace, development and unity in the state.

“It is a fact beyond contestation that Deltans are satisfied with your sterling performance.

“With you in the saddle, Delta State is assured of a great future.”

Otuaro prayed to the Almighty God to sustain His blessings of wisdom and good health upon Oborevwori so that he can continue to render service to Delta State and indeed Nigeria.