Student levy could cost our universities millions

THE North East economy is at risk of losing tens of millions of pounds if a new tax on international student fees is imposed, university and business leaders have warned.

- DANIEL HOLLAND Local Democracy Reporter [e-mail]

Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson

Labour ministers have proposed charging a 6% levy on tuition fees paid by overseas students in England, which education secretary Bridget Phillipson, the MP for Houghton and Sunderland South, announced will be used to pay for the return of means-tested maintenance grants for some learners from lower-income households.

But the organisation representing some of England's top universities, including Newcastle and Durham, claims that the move is the "wrong way" to reintroduce the grants abolished under the Conservatives in 2016 and risks doing "more harm than good".

There are concerns that universities would pass the impact of the levy onto international students through tuition fee hikes, rather than absorbing the costs at a time when the higher education sector has been experiencing major budget cuts, resulting in a fall in the number of people coming from overseas to study in the UK.

The Russell Group said that international students currently make up almost a third of the student population at its universities in the North East and account for over a quarter of their collective income.