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24% rise in HE course fees from non-EU students

2002/03 Finance Plus released by HESA

The 2002/03 financial statements of higher education institutions in the UK show a 24% rise in HE course fees from non-EU overseas students. In 2001/02 income from these students was £875 million, this has risen to just over £1 billion in 2002/03. The number of students1 from non-EU countries has increased from 152,625 in 2001/02 to 184,685 in 2002/03, a rise of 21%.

The data is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s Finance Plus 2002/03 CD-ROM released today. Other increases in income from tuition fees & education grants & contracts were recorded for full-time undergraduates and postgraduates being charged non-standard rates, with both seeing a 17% rise.

The table below provides a detailed summary of the breakdown of income from tuition fees & education grants & contracts analysed by domicile, mode, level and source for 2001/02 and 2002/03.

  Academic year 2002/03
£000's
2001/02
£000's
% change
HE
course
fees
Home & EU
Domicile Students
i Full-time undergraduates charged standard rate fees LEAs/SAAS/DENI 509586 497509 2%
NHS/RONE/SHHD 107882 108533 -1%
Other 482426 440864 9%
Total 1099894 1046906 5%
ii Full-time undergraduates charged
non-standard rate fees
LEAs/SAAS/DENI 3082 3386 -9%
NHS/RONE/SHHD 380741 324691 17%
Other 32187 27620 17%
Total 416010 355697 17%
iii Full-time postgraduates charged standard rate fees LEAs/SAAS/DENI 31687 30580 4%
NHS/RONE/SHHD 8627 7231 19%
Other 162671 163402 0%
Total 202985 201213 1%
iv Full-time postgraduates charged non-standard rates LEAs/SAAS/DENI 6113 7040 -13%
NHS/RONE/SHHD 15985 12793 25%
Other 153100 129831 18%
Total 175198 149664 17%
v Part-time undergraduates LEAs/SAAS/DENI 10716 7974 34%
NHS/RONE/SHHD 27919 32250 -13%
Other 159408 153163 4%
Total 198043 193387 2%
vi Part-time postgraduates LEAs/SAAS/DENI 11753 7287 61%
NHS/RONE/SHHD 10741 8696 24%
Other 210191 196415 7%
Total 232685 212398 10%
Overseas (non-EU) domicile students 1085437 875485 24%
Total HE course fees 3410252 3034750 12%
Non-credit-bearing course fees 269554 248563 8%
FE course fees 20594 25002 -18%
Research training support grants 42694 29879 43%
Total tuition fees & education grants & contracts 3743094 3338194 12%

The data also shows an increase in income of 43% from research training support grants to over £42.6 million in 2002/03 (£29.9 million in 2001/02). This includes grants made by research councils and other bodies in support of the training of research students.

Income from research grants and contracts shows an overall 7% rise between 2001/02 and 2002/03 from £2.4 billion to almost £2.6 billion. Office of Science and Technology (OST) research councils show the smallest increase at 2%. However, OST research councils contribute the most cash of all of the sources to research grants and contracts income at 32% of the overall total.

The table below shows research grants and contracts income for the sector by source, 2001/02 and 2002/03.

Research grants and contracts 2002/03
£000's
2001/02
£000's
% change
OST research councils 819997 805360 2%
UK based charities 652655 606885 8%
UK cent govt/local auths, health & hospitals 456162 413163 10%
UK industry/commerce/ public corps 257496 250232 3%
EU government 183913 158455 16%
EU other 34259 30409 13%
Other overseas 130013 115605 12%
Other sources 60950 53309 14%
Total 2595445 2433418 7%

Notes for editors

  1. Student data is not included in the HE Finance Plus 2002/03 product. Financial data in this press release is as returned to HESA in each individual academic year. Restated figures have not been used and so some numbers may differ slightly from some other publications. Data has not been adjusted for inflation.
  2. The standard rate fee in 2002-03 is £1,100 for full-time undergraduates and PGCE students and £2,870 for postgraduates. Sandwich students who are charged £540 in their placement year are returned under the standard rate. If a student only pays a portion of the standard rate before dropping out then the income received are returned under the standard rate. The non-standard rate is anything other than the above.
  3. Key to abbreviations:
    LEAs Local Education Authorities NHS National Health Service
    SAAS Student Awards Agency for Scotland RONE Regional Offices of the NHS Executive
    DENI Department for Education Northern Ireland SHHD Scottish Home and Health Department
  4. Full finance statistics returns for publicly funded UK universities and higher education colleges are available in HESA’s latest HE Finance Plus 2002/03 CD-ROM.
  5. HESA also provides an Information Provision service for tailor-made data enquiries. Telephone 01242 211133 for more information.
  6. HESA is the central source for higher education statistics. HESA was set-up in 1993 following a Government White Paper ‘Higher Education: A New framework’, which called for more coherence in higher education statistics.
  7. Press enquiries should be directed to Press Officer at HESA, 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ; telephone: 01242 211133.

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