Will a drop in international students affect London?

The University of East London has 10,000 international students

A reduction in the number of international students would hurt university finances and damage the wider London economy, an education organisation has warned.

London Higher said one cohort of international students generated £9.6bn for the capital's economy.

Home Office statistics indicate there was a drop of 14% in student visa applications in the 2023/24 year compared to the previous 12 months.

So why are students finding London less attractive than they used to?

At the Docklands campus at the University of East London (UEL), groups of young people relax in the crisp spring sunshine. Ten thousand international students attend the three sites in Newham, representing 160 different nationalities.

Studying in London often represents a substantial investment for their families, and international students typically pay far higher fees than UK students.

Some said high fees and the cost of visas outweigh the positives of London's diverse culture and high earning potential.

In London, study-related visas account for nearly 40% of all immigrants, with the highest proportion of international students come from China, India and Nigeria.

Joanna Fayemi is from Nigeria and in her final term at UEL. She said she and some of her fellow students are paying fives times more than they would in their home country to get these degrees, "so it's definitely not an easy process".

She said it's worth it "because it's great to have an international degree to my name because back in my home country, international degrees are well-respected."

Joanna Fayemi, a student at the University of East London, said gaining a degree in London was "not an easy process"

International students are entitled to apply for a two-year graduate visa after they finish their course. The cost can run into thousands of pounds.

Akanksha Kumar stayed in London after her course at City St Georges, part of the University of London.

She is now an account manager for a marketing company, but she said job-hunting had been "disheartening" because offers would be retracted once employers found that she needed a sponsored visa.

Ms Kumar said: "A lot of companies have specific quotas for sponsoring visas, which is completely disproportionate to the number of international students who do come into the country."

Akanksha Kumar completed her time at City St George's last year but found job-hunting "disheartening"

Net migration - the number of people coming to the UK long term, minus those leaving, includes international students.

In an effort to reduce immigration numbers, the government reformed student family visas at the start of the year.

Now, most students are not permitted to bring family members with them to the UK and Home Office figures show student family visa applications fell by 85% from 2023 to 2024.

Samson Folarin, a journalist in Nigeria says that the Government restrictions of dependents is "taking away the support system"

Another alumnus of City St George's, Samson Folarin, returned to Lagos after his Masters degree, to take a job as an editor at a popular Nigerian newspaper.

He described himself as "a passionate Nigerian".

"I'm passionate about my country, I'm passionate about my journalism job - all I needed to do was to acquire the knowledge, the skills, get the right tools to be able to hold my own government accountable as well."

He said the new rules about student family visas make studying in Britain more difficult.

"For most international students, coming into the UK for a Masters, they do their studying while the dependents work to raise funds to support them.

"When the UK decides that we don't want dependents, we just want the students, you are taking away the support system."

City St George's can trace its origins back to 1852 when the Inns of Court School of Law was founded

Between 2011 and 2016, sponsored study visa grants to foreign students were relatively stable at around 200,000 per year. After 2016 the numbers steadily increased, reaching 268,674 in 2019.

Following a fall in numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of visas issued increased sharply, reaching a peak of 498,068 in the year ending June 2023.

The number of visas issued has been decreasing gradually since, falling to 393,125 in 2024.

London has the largest concentration of higher education institutions anywhere in the UK, so there is concern the economy will be impacted.

Dr Diana Beech, CEO of London Higher said if international student numbers decline in London and the rest of the UK, it could have a detrimental effect on university finances.

"International student fees are a core part of the cross-subsidy towards our world-leading research sector and towards courses that are maybe less popular with home students."

There may also be a more subtle impact - on students gaining soft skills.

Vanessa Varvas from UEL said that "ensuring our classrooms reflect a global economy is really important, so that our students have different life experiences from different cultures from all over the world."

UEL is described in the prospectus as "a careers-first university, offering education and industry access to people from all walks of life"

In addition, fewer international students may mean a reduction in trade connections to entrepreneurial countries with young populations, such as India and Nigeria.

Ms Varvas said, those that return to their home countries "become ambassadors for the university", which can generate future business, trade and investment.

The mayor of London's growth plan states: "London's universities are critical in providing a pipeline of world-class talent.

"We will back them to continue to attract international students, as well as supporting a stabilisation in their funding."

Meanwhile the government is under continued pressure to reduce net migration.