British Universities Should "Take Advantage" If American Students Leave Trump's US, Says Former Minister
3 min read
The higher education sector should "take every advantage" in competition for international students if Donald Trump's victory triggers a surge in young Americans looking to study abroad, a former universities minister has said.
Conservative peer David Willetts, who served as universities minister for former Tory prime minister David Cameron, was speaking on a panel at an event in Westminster on Monday night, as Trump's inauguration in Washington was taking place.
PoliticsHome asked if Trump's return to the White House could have a positive effect on UK universities by boosting the number of young Americans applying to study in Britain.
In November, the Financial Times that reported Trump’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris had resulted in a surge in the number of US students exploring whether to attend university abroad.
"There's a permanent international competition for students, particularly in English-speaking countries, between Canada, Australia, UK, US, and we should take every advantage we can," he said.
Willetts was speaking on a panel alongside skills minister Baroness Smith of Malvern, who addressed the financial pressures facing the higher education sector.
The sector is facing what has been described as "a perfect storm" amid a sharp fall in overseas students — who pay higher fees than their domestic counterparts — coupled with rising costs. Many universities are also struggling with the rising cost of staff pensions, a recent PoliticsHome analysis of financial accounts suggests.
Baroness Smith, a Labour peer in the education department (Alamy)
Smith said the government had "recognized a significant financial challenge facing the sector", raising university tuition fees to £9,535 per year in line with inflation in 2025-26.
However, she warned that the sector would not receive a "large injection of public money" any time soon.
"These are difficult times for government finances, and there won’t be a large injection of public money. Therefore there will need to be strong sector collaboration and much more effective spending," the Labour peer said.
She added that while there are lessons the UK sector can learn from its foreign counterparts, there would not be an "enormous transferring of the funding of higher education from the current student contribution system to a taxpayer-funded system".
Responding to another question from PoliticsHome on whether the government would bail out a university if it went bust, Smith said: "Before we get to the point where we have to consider this bailout point, we needed, and we took quite immediate action."
But she added that "one of the strengths of our higher education system is we have autonomous higher education institutions, and it is not in the end for government to substitute itself for what needs to be happening".
Willetts said he didn't foresee the sector getting a major funding rise because he doesn't "see it being a priority for any government".
"We could sit around fantasizing about returning to levels of public venture like they have on the continent, but I just don't think it's on the cards," he said.
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