International students: not the 'cash cows' you have in mind

It is a recurring trend across higher education circles to complain that international students
are treated by universities as 'cash cows'. As it happens with trends, it comes and goes every
once in a while, depending on the prevailing mood across the industry. This time it is
research conducted by The Complete University Guide that has sparked once again a debate
over international students.
The data suggest that in some cases international undergraduate students pay almost onethird more than UK and EU undergraduates, while international postgraduates pay nearly
double the fees charged to UK and EU students. Not surprisingly, these numbers have been
followed by headlines about international students being treated as 'cash cows'.
But is that a fair assessment? Comparing the fees paid by UK and EU students with those
charged to international students misses the point that this is a global market, with tough
competition from other exporting countries such as the US, Australia, France and Germany.
What sets the price in this case is the global forces of supply and demand. In a job market
that is increasingly globalised and where workers are increasingly mobile, having a degree
from a reputable university in the UK can significantly improve a student's career prospects,
particularly in Asia, where a big chunk of international students come from. This explains,
in part, why international students are still willing to pay for a UK degree.
This is evident by a quick look at the numbers of students coming to the UK. As HESA data
show, the number of international students coming to the UK has steadily increased from
nearly 230,000 in 2007-08 to 300,000 in 2011-12. Reputations today are made in real time; if
it wasnt good, they wouldnt come.
So, it is important factor to consider what international students think about the product
they buy. Data collected for i-graduate's International Student Barometer (ISB), which
includes feedback from over 650,000 international students who have studied in the UK
since 2005, show that international students highly appreciate the experience offered at UK
universities. In all ISB categories measuring satisfaction, including arrival, learning, living
and support satisfaction, the UK's satisfaction rate is higher than the global average. For
example, 84% of surveyed students who have studied in the UK would recommend their
university; the global average is 82%.
The cost of postgraduate courses may be worrying, but examples picked by the press, such
as a costly MBA at Oxford University and a 38,532 postgraduate clinical course at Queen
Mary, University of London, are not representative. MBAs are much more expensive than
the average postgraduate degree, and are mostly attended by executives equipped with
several years of work experience. Most MBA programmes, including the Oxford MBA

charge no premium for international students. Clinical courses require investment in

infrastructure that significantly increases the cost of a degree.
More than anything else, high tuition fees enable UK universities to do what they are good
at: world-class research. According to a ranking of higher education systems around the
world, published by U21 in 2012, the UK is ranked 2nd in the world in terms of output, just
behind the US, despite its poor ranking in resources (27th, including 41st for government
expenditure). The lead author of the report, Ross Williams, noted in an article for the
Guardian that this discrepancy between output and resources is the greatest for all 48
countries and reflects very high productivity.
Higher education is one of the most successful export industries of the UK. In order to
maintain their leading position, UK universities need to charge fees that reflect the quality of
the product they offer to international students.
Alex Katsomitros