University Alliance has published its response to the DfE’s call for views on the technical detail of the International Student Levy.
Summary
The International Student Levy is the flat fee that the government has proposed applying to all international students studying in the UK.
We are deeply concerned that, as the government’s impact assessment of the levy acknowledges, post-92 universities will be less likely to be able to pass on the cost on to their international students. It is extremely counterintuitive and inefficient to make the financial position of post-92 institutions more precarious by taxing them to reinvest in the students and provision they already play an outsized role in supporting.
We are still urging the government to significantly redesign or scrap the levy, but if it is implemented, we are calling on the government and the Office for Students to:
- Use the HESA Standard Registration Population (SRP) to establish a headcount of students in scope for the levy.
- Use Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) rather than headcount reporting to avoid a
perverse situation of part time students costing institutions more than full time
students in their levy liability.
- Address issues remaining with students in scope of the levy even if the HESA SRP or FTE records are used, including UK citizens that do not qualify for home fee status, students on industrial placement for the whole year and students eligible for a refund after two weeks.
- Consider whether EU students should be excluded from the levy.
- Consider the administrative burden on institutions of the first year of the levy
coinciding with the transition to in-year data collection.
- Share more information about OfS data processes for ensuring there will be no
double counting of students on non-standard academic years, to ensure effective scrutiny.
