King's College London

Six in 10 (60%) people in the UK feel international students bring a significant benefit to the British economy, while only around one in 10 (12%) disagree with this view, according to a new study.

The research, by the Policy Institute at King’s College London, finds a further four in 10 (41%) people say the benefits for Britain of international students outweigh the costs – nearly double the proportion who say the reverse (22%).

Only a minority of 26% say they want fewer international students attending UK universities, while 58% say they want numbers to stay the same (43%) or increase (15%).

But despite largely favourable attitudes towards international students in the UK, there have been small declines in some positive views in recent years.

In 2018, the share of the public who said international students bring significant economic benefits was 67%, and the proportion who felt the benefits of international students outweigh the costs was 50% – both slightly higher than today.

In line with this, 29% now agree international students impose a significant cost on the British economy – up from 22% six years ago.

These shifts reflect increasingly negative views of immigration more generally in UK: previous research has found that, between 2022 and 2023, the share of people saying immigration should be reduced rose from 42% to 52%, which may be due to the greater political salience of the issue.

However, this latest study – which is based on nationally representative surveys by Focaldata conducted in May and June – still finds a large proportion of the public recognise that international students support domestic university places and that international students are not top-of-mind for people when thinking about immigration control.

Half the public correctly recognise that overseas students help universities provide places for home students

It is estimated that UK universities normally make a loss on educating British undergraduates. To balance the books, universities therefore use other income, especially from the higher tuition fees that they are able to charge international students.

Half (50%) of the public correctly recognise this, believing the higher fees UK universities receive from overseas students help them provide places for British students.

By contrast, one in five (18%) people believe overseas students take places away from domestic students, while a third (32%) say they don’t know, or that neither option is true.

Knowledge of international students’ economic contribution increases support for more of them

The most common view, held by 43% of people, is that the number of international students attending UK universities should remain unchanged – although support for an increase or decrease in numbers varies depending on the information provided to the public.

For example, when one half of the public were asked about their views with a negative framing that highlighted how international students are a key driver of the rise in net migration to the UK, 30% say they would like to see fewer in the UK.

But when another half of the public were asked with a positive framing that outlined the scale of the economic contribution that such students make to the UK, the share in favour of cutting international student numbers falls to 17%.

Few say international students should be included in official immigration figures

Three in 10 (29%) people say international students should be included in the UK government’s published figures for “immigrants”.

This is far lower than the seven in 10 (70%) who think refugees and asylum seekers should be included in the official statistics, or the six in 10 (58%) who feel the same about people coming to live and work for the long-term and those coming to live with family members who are already in the UK (55%).

Professor Bobby Duffy, director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, said:

“Despite large rises in net migration in recent years and increased focus on immigration in the media and politics, the majority of the public still have a positive view of overseas students coming to the UK. Six in 10 agree they bring economic benefits, and the public are twice as likely to think the overall benefits outweigh the costs, rather than vice versa.

“But there has been some softening in support over recent years, which will likely reflect that greater focus on immigration generally, alongside some increased questioning of the value of universities as a whole.

“However, overseas students are nowhere near the top of the list when it comes to public concern about immigration, with only 29% saying they should even be included in migration stats. There is also surprisingly high recognition among the public that the fees paid by these overseas students help universities support places for domestic students, with half of the public aware of this.

“The current government has signalled a more open approach, stating that international students are welcome in the UK, which fits with the balance of public opinion. Given the very real short-term pressures on university finances, any moves that further reduced overseas student numbers could have severe implications for the viability of some institutions, and would be difficult to justify to a public who are aware of the financial contribution these students make to the sector.”

Survey details
Fieldwork was conducted via Focaldata’s in-house platform, with API integration to an online panel network. Data collection took place over two fieldwork periods: 1–9 May (2,683 respondents) and 6–10 June (1,049 respondents). Respondents were from a nationally representative group of those aged 16+ in the UK, with data weighted by age, gender, region, ethnicity and education status.