Overseas Students

(asked on 5th May 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent fiscal assessment she has made of the value to GDP that international students bring to the UK economy per year.


Answered by
Robert Halfon Portrait
Robert Halfon
This question was answered on 11th May 2023

International students make a significant economic and cultural contribution to the UK’s higher education (HE) sector. We have met our International Education Strategy ambition to attract at least 600,000 international students for the second consecutive year.

International students have a major economic impact in the UK through their spending on tuition fees and living expenditure. Statistics published by the department show that in 2020, total revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity was £25.6 billion, with the total revenue from HE being £19.5 billion. This data can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/uk-revenue-from-education-related-exports-and-transnational-education-activity/2020.

London Economics have calculated the net economic impact of international students to the UK economy, taking into account not just the value of spending by international students, but also indirect effects, and the spending of friends and families visiting international students. It also takes into account the costs to my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer associated with teaching and supporting international students and the costs of providing public services, such as healthcare, to international students and their dependants. They estimate that for the 2018/19 cohort, the net economic impact of international students to the UK was an estimated £25.9 billion, representing around £95,000 per ‘typical’ international student. This figure does not include other sources of value that international students bring to the UK, such as tax revenues, improved longer-term trade and investment links and wider cultural and social benefits. The report can be found at: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2021/09/09/the-costs-and-benefits-of-international-higher-education-students-to-the-uk-economy/#:~:text=The%20costs%20and%20benefits%20of%20international%20higher%20education,public%20services%2C%20which%20are%20put%20at%20%C2%A32.9%20billion.

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