The risks of international higher education

The benefits of international collaboration for the UK higher education sector are well-documented in Universities UK’s (UUK) “Blueprint” report (published September 2024) which notes that:

• 60% of the sector’s research output involves international collaboration; and
• £24bn is contributed to the economy’s exports through international and transnational education.

International higher education activities, as the UUK Blueprint report states, enable UK students to “develop the knowledge and cultural competencies required to prosper in a globalised world”, noting that UK “universities are pivotal players in attracting global talent and foreign direct investment to the UK and play a critical role in supporting global development.”

During my own professional career, I have seen first-hand how the international higher education community collaborates across borders for the advancement of education, research and knowledge dissemination.

Many of the world’s challenges require global engagement and solutions.

UUK’s Blueprint report called for a new global strategy to harness the “reach, reputation and impact” of UK universities in the national interest. The recent white paper on Post-16 Education and Skills which was published in October 2025 notes that the “Government will set out our approach to growing the UK education sector’s international partnerships and impact in the forthcoming refresh of the International Education Strategy.”

We await the Government’s new International Higher Education Strategy. In the meantime, in the remainder of this article, we highlight some of the risks involved in international higher education.

Financial risk

It is well known that the fee income from international students has become significant to the financial sustainability of many UK universities. In its recent report “Financial sustainability of higher education providers in England (November 2025 update), the Office for Students (OfS) noted that “significant numbers of universities will face deficits by the end of 2025/26”. In respect of international student recruitment, the OfS report notes as follows:

“Indications from Home Office data suggests that international student recruitment has returned to year-on-year growth after the significant decline in visa applications in 2024, although not back to previous levels. Data shows an increase of 6.3 per cent in the number of [Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies] issued in the period before the September 2025 intake. However, this falls below the sector’s forecast international student growth of 8.6 per cent.”

The OfS report also notes that there is considerable variation between providers and that there is a significant reduction in international postgraduate recruitment at larger research-intensive higher education providers.

The modelling undertaken by the OfS for its report makes it clear that it has not taken into account the new International Student Levy which was flagged in the Government’s recent white paper as a source of funds to enable the re-introduction of student maintenance grants. UUK and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, warning that the proposed levy of 6% would operate as a tax on income if universities felt unable to increase fees charged to international students, thereby outweighing the additional income to be received from inflation-linked increases to the cap on domestic undergraduate student fees.

In the Autumn Budget, the Government set out its plans for the International Student Levy as follows:

“The government is introducing a new levy on higher education providers’ income from international students, of £925 per student per year of study, starting in August 2028 academic year 2028-29. All providers will be given an allowance for the first 220 international students per year, for whom they will not pay the charge. The income raised by the Levy will be fully reinvested into higher education and skills, including to fund maintenance grants for disadvantaged students studying priority courses. We will keep the rate under review, with future decisions on deployment of the proceeds set out at the next spending review.”

Alongside this announcement, the Government published a technical consultation on the detail of the proposed International Student Levy which closes on 18 February 2026. The levy will then feature in a Finance Bill. It is proposed that further education courses (level 3 and below) will not attract the levy and transnational education (TNE) delivered by providers outside the UK will not be in the scope of the levy. The OfS will be responsible for collection of the levy which will be increased with the rate of inflation each year.

The Government also published an Impact Analysis including assumptions about the likelihood of certain ‘clusters’ of universities being able to pass on the levy to their international students and assumptions about how international students might respond to changes in fees charged. The analysis also includes a ‘net cost to the HE sector’ for estimated unmitigated income losses (£270m for 2028-29) and the estimated reduction in student enrolments (14,000 for 2028-29), noting that:

“Because the evidence shows that international demand is on average price inelastic across the sector, we assume the increases in fees we have modelled will lead to relatively lower reductions in demand. As such we expect a net positive impact on education exports overall.”

Geo-political risk

In a recent article for The Economist (15 November 2025), an academic at Sheffield Hallam University (Professor Laura Murphy) describes how her university “would not publish my team’s research exposing Uyghur forced labour in the critical-minerals sector in China” and expresses her concern about the risks to academic freedom, noting the University’s concerns about the Chinese-student market.

During the passage of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 through Parliament, concern was raised about the prospect of overseas funding having a chilling effect on freedom of speech and academic freedom for universities. The then Government which introduced the legislation supported an amendment to the Bill which would have required the Office for Students to monitor the extent to which overseas funding was relevant to a breach of the duties on registered higher education providers in England to secure freedom of speech and academic freedom. The OfS was also to be given additional powers to require registered higher education providers to provide information about “relevant funding” from a “relevant overseas person”. Such funding would include endowments, gifts or donations; research grants; research contracts; and educational or commercial partnerships.

The current Government has not implemented the relevant provision (section 9) of the 2023 Act as yet, stating in its reflections on the legislation in June 2025 that it was keeping that section under review. This was to enable “alternative mitigations to support HE providers to improve international due diligence, alongside evaluating the implementation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS) for the sector from 1 July” 2025.

However, the Government’s report noted as follows:

“This government is committed to ensuring that our world leading HE providers are protected from undue foreign interference, which can undermine their autonomy and work to limit free speech and academic freedom…HE providers may be targeted by foreign states to advance their own objectives, be they authoritarian, military or commercial. This includes concerns that students and academics are subject to intimidation, coercion or censorship when researching or studying certain international issues, as well as efforts to obtain sensitive intellectual property. There is a further risk that foreign states may seek to undermine the independence of HE providers through developing conflicts of interest and financial dependencies.”

We await the outcome of the Government’s ongoing review of section 9 of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.

Regulatory risk

The Government in its review of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 rightly notes that the Government and the Office for Students can act where foreign interference is identified. This would involve, on the part of the OfS, a consideration of the institution’s duty to secure freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law. We know from another situation (Professor Kathleen Stock and the University of Sussex) that the regulator for higher education providers in England – the Office for Students – has the power to impose significant financial penalties for a breach of an institution’s regulatory obligations relating to freedom of speech and academic freedom. We are awaiting the outcome of the University of Sussex’s judicial review of the OfS regulatory decision in that case.

The Office for Students has regulatory power in respect of other areas which will be relevant to international higher education, for example in respect of compliance with consumer law in the relationship between an institution and its students and regulatory requirements for quality and standards in the provision of education.

The Government’s white paper on Post-16 Education and Skills states that the Office of Students is “already consulting on new, tougher standards for universities overseeing franchise arrangements”. This consultation (which closed on 1 October 2025) proposes the introduction of a new Condition of Registration E8 relating to requirements for the oversight of subcontractual arrangements in English higher education. However, the proposed new Condition of Registration expressly excludes transnational education and focuses on domestic franchising arrangements:

“Subcontractual activity involving a delivery partner outside, or delivering teaching outside of, England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland is not covered. We may chose to undertake further analysis and adapt our approach in future.”

The white paper does signal, however, “tighter enforcement” on visa approvals, course enrolments and completions to ensure that recruitment practices “do not undermine the integrity of the UK’s immigration system.”

Legal and jurisdictional risk

When undertaking activities in another jurisdiction, it should not be overlooked that a higher education institution needs to consider undertaking appropriate due diligence about which law and which legal jurisdiction would apply in the event of conduct which might amount to a civil wrong (such as personal injury) and/or a criminal offence.

Notwithstanding whatever a collaborative agreement with an overseas partner for the provision of education may say about the applicable law and jurisdiction, another party or State concerned in the activity in question might assert that local law applies. This can lead to complex and contested judicial procedures, heightened risk and cost.

Some domestic obligations may also apply when an institution is operating overseas, for example the offences set out in the Bribery Act 2010.

It is noted here, however, that OfS Regulatory Advice 24 on freedom of speech states that the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 “does not require providers or constituent institutions to take steps to secure freedom of speech in respect of their activities outside England.”