New barriers to vital income of universities

Universities are not just seats of learning and research. They are also major employers and, increasingly, vitally important economic drivers for the regions which they serve.

Dundee has two standalone universities and Fife another, while Perth College is part of UHI.

To sustain themselves and supplement core funding, higher education institutions require to attract fee-paying overseas students.

That income is vital in order to underpin teaching, research and commercial spin-out activity.

But it is under threat, from factors such as Covid which has severely restricted travel options for students from locations such as China, and now suggestions emerging from Westminster that international student numbers are to be slashed.

Finding a solution to the financial conundrum facing the higher education sector – and the staff and local economies which depend upon it – is not easy in the current environment.

But it will be made significantly harder if the government restricts the ability of overseas students to live, study and, crucially, spend money here.