Nottingham University has announced that by accepting applicants with lower-than-normal grades, it would lessen the requirements for aspiring international students.
This month, the university—which belongs to the UK’s Russell Group—became the second to adopt this strategy. Earlier in the month, York University instructed employees to handle students who didn’t receive their offer grades with a “more flexible approach.”
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The actions have been interpreted as an indication of the financial difficulties even elite English universities are facing as a result of being forced to shift their focus to more lucrative international students due to a frozen domestic tuition fee.
In its latest accounts, Nottingham acknowledges that its plan is to progressively raise the percentage of international students among all students. This will increase tuition revenue while keeping the overall number of students at the same level.
What they said
In a statement, the university’s spokesperson stated that, due to financial difficulties, the institution has chosen to reduce the cost of all departments and programs for international applicants. In addition, fewer undergraduate courses will be offered, which will result in fewer international offers overall.
The statement says,
- “We hope to increase the number of participating undergraduate courses in this scheme for the 2025 application cycle and beyond.
- “A standard offer recognized at the institution is A*AA or equivalent.”.
- “To recognize the differences that international students may face when studying overseas and help to overcome any obstacles that our international fee status applicants may experience, we can offer additional support to allow these students to reach their potential and thrive at our world-class university, the university noted on its website.
The reason for the strategy The amount of cash received by Nottingham University for its operations fell dramatically last year, from £109 million in 2021–2022 to £27.2 million. Furthermore, they only accepted 835 international undergraduate applicants in 2023—a 12% drop from the previous year. Nick Hillman, the director of Nottingham University, cautioned against the idea that British applicants are being replaced, but he did suggest that lowering offers could encourage fairness among international students. Nonetheless, Nottingham has defended its admissions procedures, pointing to contextual offers to find gifted students whose personal struggles are affecting their academic performance.
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