With Brexit now in place, EU nationals wanting to study in the UK will have to dig deep into their pockets as of September 2021. This was announced by the British government last week. Depending on the institution and the study programme, the annual tuition fees will increase by an average of 99 percent (in other words, tens of thousands of euros).

Impact

For many prospective students this is a bridge too far, according to Study.eu’s survey. At the end of June, the study choice platform launched a survey among 2,500 young nationals of the EU who had previously indicated to plan to study in the UK.

Over 84 percent of the respondents said that the upcoming rise in fees would be reason to consider another country as an alternative to try their luck in higher education. This would mean a potential loss of about 120,000 students for the UK, thus calculated by Study.eu.

And this may have consequences for Dutch higher education. Nearly half of the respondents, namely 49 percent of them, said that they would consider the Netherlands as an alternative. Germany ranks second (36 percent), followed by France (19 percent), Ireland (16 percent) and Sweden (14 percent).

Tense times

Against all expectations, both university-level programmes and higher professional education programmes are experiencing an increase in student registration in comparison with last year. However, in the age of COVID-19, it remains to be seen whether international students who have applied will actually show up after the summer.