Universities in the UK rely heavily on international student fees to maintain their teaching and research budgets. Now uncertainty about the impact of the Coronavirus is creating shockwaves as universities face the very real prospect that students will not be able to take up places on courses this year.
Coupled with this is uncertainty about the future status of international study abroad schemes like Erasmus which is due to end when Britain leaves the EU at the end of this year. According to Universities UK International (UUKI), the umbrella group representing higher education providers, membership of Erasmus gave a bonus to the British economy worth £243m a year, after subtracting membership costs from the £420m generated by EU students visiting the UK under the programme. It also said the 17,000 British students and young people who use Erasmus for work placements and study would also lose out, particularly students from disadvantaged backgrounds who would struggle to fund their travel and expenses without it.