On December 1, 2025, the UK government officially announced that starting August 2028, a new fee — the International Student Levy — will be charged on international students enrolled at higher education institutions in England.
Source: GOV.UK
The news immediately sparked anger among international students in the UK, adding fuel to the already high tuition fees.
What exactly is the "International Student Levy"?
From 2028, all universities in England will be required to pay the government a fixed fee of £925 per international student per year, approximately RMB 8,700.
Source: THE PIE
Detailed policy interpretation
1. This policy applies only to universities in England; institutions in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are temporarily unaffected, such as the University of Edinburgh and Glasgow School of Art.
2. The levy is imposed on UK universities, not on students directly. The revenue will be entirely reinvested into higher education and skills training, including providing living cost support for disadvantaged domestic students studying key subjects.
3. The policy applies to all students on Level 4 and above courses (including undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral), excluding short-term language course students. Some flexibility is built in, with each university exempting the first 220 international students per year.
If universities pay, what does it have to do with international students?
Although the fee is institutionally borne by universities in design, given the financial pressure many UK universities are already under, it will be almost impossible for them to fully absorb the new expense internally.
In particular, prestigious universities in England with large numbers of Chinese students, such as UCL, LSE, University of Manchester, and Imperial College London, may be more severely affected.
Source: HESA
Take the University of Manchester as an example. As a popular school among international students, it enrolls around 14,500 non-EU students annually. With £925 per student, Manchester would need to pay approximately £13.412 million in levy each year.
Not all UK universities are flush with cash. Under financial pressure, some institutions may not rule out raising tuition fees or reducing scholarship quotas/amounts to balance the new expenditure, indirectly passing some of the cost onto international students.
Why introduce the "International Student Levy"?
To understand this policy, one must view it within the context of the UK's study-abroad and fiscal environment over the past two years.
Since last year, the UK has shortened the graduate work visa to 18 months and restricted family dependants, leading to a roughly 14% decline in international student numbers compared to 2024.
In the UK, universities' core revenue streams are mainly tuition fees, research funding, and limited government grants, with international student tuition making up a large proportion. Once international student numbers decline, many universities immediately face cash flow shortages or even deficits.
The UK government is unwilling to increase direct fiscal allocations, yet needs to maintain the higher education system and alleviate the financial pressure on domestic students. Thus, the "International Student Levy" becomes a so-called compromise.
According to official estimates, the policy will generate around £445 million in its first year. Although not enough to completely fill the university funding gap, it will be sufficient to provide targeted support for low-income domestic students.
However, analyses also suggest the policy could lead to the loss of 14,000 international students in its first year, with the number potentially falling by 16,500 by 2030/31.
Source: Yes Prime Minister
When there is room for tuition fee increases, the overall cost of studying abroad will inevitably rise. For students planning to enroll in 2028 or later, the "International Student Levy" is not a variable to be ignored, but a real factor that must be incorporated into long-term planning.
In facing this change, planning ahead is especially important:
On one hand, reasonably broaden application targets, consider institutions outside England and other study destinations to reduce concentration risk; on the other hand, it is advisable to evaluate budget limits, scholarship potential, and program cost-effectiveness earlier to avoid being caught off guard after the policy is implemented.
In the ever-changing global study-abroad landscape, what matters more is perhaps making the wisest choices amid uncertainty.
