Why Britain is falling behind in the global universities race

Our country still excels when it comes to higher education. Britain has seven of the world’s top 50 universities. In spite of many claims that Brexit would lead to a reduction in the number of foreign students, the intake has never been higher. In 2021-22, there were 680,000 overseas students in higher education in Britain, an increase of 123,000 in just two years.

That’s good news for the British economy. A report by London Economics estimated that one year’s intake of students would, by the time their courses had finished, bring in £29 billion in revenue from tuition fees and other income. Importantly, the benefits are spread all over the country: the University of Manchester and the University of Edinburgh each have around 18,000 overseas students.

Higher education is a global race, and Britain’s place is in danger

But higher education is a global race and our place is in danger. This year’s table by the Center for World University Rankings – which measures the employability of graduates as well as the quality of research – shows 55 out of 93 UK universities on the slide. Thirty-two have improved their rankings, while Cambridge and Oxford retain their positions at fourth and fifth respectively. But the reason a larger number of universities are slipping is that China’s universities are on the way up. This matters not least because China is currently the biggest single source of overseas students at UK universities: some 152,000.

While their international reputations remain high, UK universities have not helped themselves over the past few years. Some have harmed their role as bastions of free speech by giving in to small bands of student activists who have demanded speakers be banned; at others, students have demanded that the curriculum be revised to suit their beliefs – reversing the traditional arrangement whereby tutors teach and students learn.