American universities are luring more British students across the pond — but there is also a surge in US students heading to the UK.
New university application figures show an almost 10 per cent growth in American candidates seeking places at Oxbridge or on medicine courses next year, the second highest ever number of applicants.
Overall, the number of US students at UK institutions has increased from almost 19,500 in 2017-18 to nearly 23,000 in 2021-22.
Universities are under pressure to diversify their international intake and have faced criticism for being too reliant on China. India and Nigeria are two other booming markets, partly compensating for a collapse in interest from EU countries whose students now have to pay overseas tuition fees.
However, there are concerns about the affordability of degrees for Nigerian students after a record slide in the country’s currency.
Universities are keen to tap into the lucrative US market. Even though international tuition fees are far higher than for British students, they are still lower than at Ivy League institutions.
Scotland is a popular destination and Scottish universities are particularly dependent on international fees because the number of domestic students is capped and government funding has not risen.
St Andrews, which has more American students than any other university, markets itself strongly in the States, with visits to schools and representatives based in the country.
Its fees for undergraduate overseas students have risen sharply to £30,160 per year for 2024, up from £20,570 in 2017, while overseas medicine students will pay almost £37,000 a year. This subsidises Scottish student fees of £1,820 — usually funded by the government. Those from the rest of the UK are charged £9,250.
University College London, the fourth most popular destination for American students in 2021/22, charges between £28,000 and £34,000 for most undergraduate courses and Edinburgh University charges between £26,000 and £35,000 for most overseas degrees.
Recent figures from the admissions service Ucas show overall applicant numbers are down by 2 per cent for Oxford, Cambridge and courses with an early October deadline, such as medicine, dentistry and veterinary degrees.
The number of international candidates is also lower than in 2023, but applications from the US are up by 9.5 per cent to 1,620 — a bigger increase than any other country.
The Department for Education is keen to increase the number of foreign students and celebrated reaching a target of 600,000 eight years early, but Suella Braverman announced new limits on overseas students earlier this year.
Jamie Arrowsmith, director of Universities UK International, which promotes universities abroad, said: “There is huge demand for UK education, globally, and international students make significant economic contributions.”
The UK had focused heavily on the single market of China which was not healthy for the sector, he said. It was also important for students not to come to the UK from abroad and then spend time predominantly with their compatriots.
“It has been a priority for a number of institutions to grow recruitment from the US. It makes sense — it’s a very high-quality education system with a shared language. It hasn’t always been the easiest market to recruit from but the increase in numbers reflects institutional strategies to try to grow that market.”
Many institutions were using alumni networks, word-of-mouth and research partnerships to attract more American students and build their brands across the Atlantic.
Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said the Scottish government had reduced core funding for teaching and research at universities by about a third since 2014, meaning cross-subsidy from international students was needed, adding that there had been an “ambitious growth in international numbers to keep the show on the road”.
“It’s becoming a more challenging market for achieving that level of growth. It’s absolutely brilliant that more US students want to come here,” he said.
“A lot of it comes from word of mouth as people make friends for life and the reputation spreads. Universities also do recruitment fairs in the US.”
St Andrews University said that it first established links in America in the mid-1980s. It employs staff in Denver and Philadelphia and there are more than 9,000 of its alumni in the US and Canada, who help attract new students.
A spokeswoman said: “We are a mid-size university in US-terms, in a small town. The size seems to appeal to US students. Most applications are submitted from New York, California, Massachusetts, Texas, and Connecticut.
“We are active across the country and receive applications from approximately 40 states each year.”
Robbie Willis, head of international recruitment at Edinburgh University, said the university received plenty of applications from the east and west coasts but, more recently, had seen an increase in applications from states including Texas and Florida and would focus on developing that.
“We have two members of staff in the US and our staff fly out for university fairs and visit some high schools directly, as well as for research and industry links.”
Of the attraction of the US market, he said: “The students are well prepared, they speak English and they have funds available as their student loan system can allow them to transfer internationally.”
Blake Makuuchi, 21, travelled more than 5,000 miles to study in Bristol, from her home in California, which boasts dozens of universities and colleges.
Not only did she recently graduate with a degree in criminology, she set up a USA Society in her second year, to support the growing numbers of American students coming to Bristol to study.
She has just taken a job with the university, helping to run its global lounge, which assists overseas students in settling in Bristol and provides them with study space.
She said: “I was around 16 or 17 when I started thinking about studying abroad, I wanted an adventure and I knew of the UK’s Russell Group universities so I started researching them.
“I’m from Orange County in California. My parents were very supportive and excited for me but it was a little scary moving to a different country at 18. I arrived in Bristol in October 2020, just before the second lockdown, and had to go into quarantine. Everything was virtual but I walked around the city and still had people in my accommodation.”
Makuuchi said the biggest differences were the weather and the language, learning idioms and different names for vegetables. Bristol was attractive because it offered criminology and had a diverse international student population with lots of different cultures, she said.
“I founded the USA Society because I wanted to celebrate our culture and traditions and share these with home students. We hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, a Super Bowl event and Halloween.”
Ema Huneeus, 20, also from California, is studying English literature at Edinburgh and said she welcomed the opportunity to travel around Europe from the UK. “I loved living at home but it felt very sheltered and familiar,” she said.
She described Edinburgh as fun and said: “Some days I love it here, others I want to go back.” Paying for education in the US would have cost more than the overseas fees at Edinburgh, but she also felt she would have been given more work at an American university.
“I have really long vacations and have lost a lot of time to strikes, which wouldn’t happen in the US,” she said. “But college in the US is really, really expensive and UK universities are reaching out to get US students.”
Source – Surge in American students tempted by lower fees and prestigious UK universities (thetimes.co.uk)
