Public wary of growing overseas student numbers as views shift

The UK public is still largely supportive of international students – and a majority want to see them removed from immigration statistics – but there are signs that a more negative view is growing in influence, according to new polling.

Six in 10 people (60 per cent) think international students bring a significant benefit to the British economy while more people disagree than agree when asked if they feel hosting them brings a significant cost, the Policy Institute at King’s College London found.

But both these figures were more positive when comparable questions were asked in 2018. At that time 67 per cent felt there was a benefit and the number disagreeing that international students impose costs has dropped from 46 per cent to 36 per cent.

Forty per cent of people feel the benefits of having international students outweigh the costs, down from 50 per cent in 2018. While this is still nearly double the number who believe the costs are not worth the benefits, this figure has grown from 14 per cent to 22 per cent.

Source: 

King’s College London

Bobby Duffy, director of the King’s institute, said the trend was broadly reflective of a hardening in attitudes towards immigration as a whole in the same time period because of the focus on small boat crossings, combined with the slight decline in people’s view of the overall value of university, which has been a theme of some of the institute’s other polling.

But he said that the findings indicate “people are still much less worried about student immigration than some other types of immigration…it is still not seen as a core element of the immigration increases people are most worried about”. Only three in 10 believe international students should be included in immigration statistics at all.

The King’s polling of nearly 2,700 adults also found there was broad recognition that the fees from international students help provide places for British students. Half of those surveyed believed this to be the case while only 18 per cent felt international students were taking the places of their domestic peers.

Professor Duffy said he was surprised to see so many people taking a view in either direction and the fact that more people recognise students’ contribution was important as universities confront issues surrounding the pressure growing intakes place on local infrastructure.

Whether this translates into support for more international students coming to the UK depends on how the public is asked, the report finds.

In general, 15 per cent of the public want more international students, 43 per cent say numbers should stay about the same and 26 per cent say they would like to see fewer, with the rest not expressing a view.

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However, when the question was asked with a more positive spin – emphasising their economic impact – the number wanting more students increases to 28 per cent and the number wanting fewer decreases to 17 per cent. Keeping numbers the same remained the most popular view.

Professor Duffy said that while there was always a need to be careful about being seen to push for large increases, the sector should take some comfort from the findings, as there was not a wide sense the public was “clamouring” for reductions, pointing out that when people are asked whether there should be fewer immigrants more generally, twice as many supported this.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com