The focus of recent articles on international student numbers (Warnings of economic damage to UK as international student numbers fall by a third, 29 February; Are international students taking over UK universities? No – in fact, they’re propping them up, 31 January) has been on their overall value to the UK economy or to universities’ financial positions, or their impact on opportunities for British students. But it’s also fair to ask what impact they have on the British students that they study alongside.
Our recent peer-reviewed study looked at the entire English higher education system and found that having foreign peers has zero impact on how likely home students are to graduate or how well they do in their degree, and no impact on their chances of finding employment afterwards.
British students with top A-level grades even get a salary premium on average from studying alongside international students. So in this regard also there is no reason to restrict international student numbers.
Dr Angus Holford University of Essex; Dr Greta Morando University College London and University of Bath; Dr Julián Costas-Fernández University of Surrey