Quote Originally Posted by life on mars View Post
Can't find original link this is from the Telegraph:

Attracting overseas students ‘should be celebrated’

The Russell Group said that the number of UK 18-year-olds securing undergraduate places at top universities was up by 24 per cent on 2019, compared to an equivalent figure of six per cent for international students. “The fact that our universities attract people from around the world is an asset and should be celebrated,” a spokesman said.

Ucas said that around half of those aspiring students, or 20,360 applicants, were without a confirmed place because they had missed the required grades to make their offer. The proportion of A and A* levels at 36.4 per cent was still significantly higher than 2019, when 25.5 per cent of grades were A or A*.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said it was a “myth that offering a place to an international student takes a place away from a student in the UK - places are offered to UK students and those from overseas in two separate streams. International students make a significant contribution to our universities which actually supports the creation of more places for domestic students, not fewer.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...erseas-pupils/
There's a sub plot here however. Student fees were circa £3500pa in 2009, now £9000. The Universities claim the £24,000 a year charged to overseas students subsidizes UK students. Now they want UK student fees to go up towards the £24,000. So when the govt. says 'no', the Universities can argue the ratio of overseas students will have to increase further. Probably one of the biggest rip-off industries of the 21st Century..