Some of the top universities in the United Kingdom could see their attractiveness decline due to hits to funding and tighter regulations on overseas students, the annual QS 2025 university rankings warned on Wednesday morning.
Africa Today News, New York reports that four British universities retained their spots in the top 10 of more than 1,000 universities ranked by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a benchmark ranking alongside the Times and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Imperial College London, renowned for its science teaching, rose from sixth to second place, displacing the historically dominant “Oxbridge” pair, with Oxford and Cambridge ranking third and fifth, respectively.
More than half (52) of the UK’s universities were bumped down on the list, out of the 90 that were part of the ranking.
“This year’s results suggest that British higher education has limited capacity remaining to continue excelling in the face of funding shortages, drops in student applications,” and restrictions affecting the intake of international students, said head of QS Jessica Turner.
Read Also: Obafemi Awolowo University Increases Tuition Fees
In the last few months, the Conservative government has introduced several measures to reduce regular migration which it judges to be too high.
These including barring overseas students from bringing dependents and hiking the minimum salary needed for skilled workers visas.
The policies have been criticised by universities, whose budgets are heavily dependent on the higher fees paid by international students.
Africa Today News, New York reports that according to government statistics, in the first four months of the year, 30,000 fewer student visa applications were made than in the same period in 2023.
Recall that British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Richard Montgomery, had a few weeks ago clarified that given recent policy changes, only international students studying for their Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) can go with dependents to the United Kingdom.
He spoke to reporters on Sunday while giving reasons for the stoppage of foreign students from bringing their families into Britain.
He stated that in order to reduce the number of foreign students bringing in dependents, the policy for international students enrolled in higher education was altered earlier this year to prohibit them from bringing family members into the UK.