EU citizens planning to study in British universities could expect up to three times higher tuition fees from the next academic year because of Brexit, analysis of the latest editions of The Knowledge Partnership’s 2021-22 course and tuition fee databases by Times Higher Education (THE) has shown.

For a quarter of English universities, THE estimates an average tuition fee of GBP 18,500 (approx. EUR 20 000) per academic year for undergraduate students, roughly a double increase from last year. The double increase is also expected for about a third of English universities for graduate studies. To avoid damaging recruitment, some universities have decided to keep the EU fee levels in line with the UK fees in the next academic year. The highest international fees will be charged at research-intensive universities in Oxford, Cambridge, and London or around GPB 34,000 (approx. EUR 40 000). Until this year, the average tuition fee was around GBP 9 000 (approx. EUR 10 000) for both bachelor and master levels. The only exemption will be students from Ireland as there is a separate agreement between the two governments.

The second disincentive for EU students wishing to study in the UK will be their ineligibility to participate in the UK government’s loan scheme to pay the high fees in England. In Wales, EU students will continue having home fee status and financial support and in Scotland, they will be charged fees from now on, after having free tuition until now.

The applications from EU students have already dropped by some 40% and enrolments are expected to drop for around 40 000 students by 2024-25.

Times Higher Education