Select committee: Education Committee
Conclusion 42
9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students
Published 12 May 2026
Addressed to Department for Education
Education Committee Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Home Office plays a significant, even preeminent, role in the financial health of the higher education sector. This is because international students are heavily affected by changes in immigration rules. This influence came in for some strong criticism in written evidence, and we heard differing views on whether to include international students in the net migration target. We regret that the Home Office was not a co-owner of the Government’s recently published International Education Strategy, though the strategy did include a focus on sustainable international recruitment that linked to the approach pursued in the Immigration White Paper. The lack of a direct role for the Home Office reflects a wider issue of coordination between the Office for Students, UKRI, Skills England, and the different government departments that directly and indirectly affect higher education. (Conclusion, Paragraph 223)
From: Education Committee, 9th Report - Higher Education and Funding: Threat of Insolvency and International Students (HC 807), 12 May 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 22 July 2026 (deadline 12 July 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the report and sets out its position on each recommendation, accepting a few, partially accepting several, rejecting others and stating that many are covered by "plans already in place".
- On insolvency, the government rejects a bespoke special administration regime, saying it is "not currently persuaded" the case has been "sufficiently demonstrated", and that intervention is not the default response.
- On teachers' pensions, it rejects the recommendation and does not consider additional financial support for higher education providers in England "appropriate", but says HM Treasury has confirmed the employer contribution rate will fall from 28.68% to 17.5% from April 2027, fixed for four years.
- It declines to commit to a timeline for reaching 80% cost recovery across all research funders, because the main drivers are "the decisions of independent and autonomous institutions".
- On international students, it says the levy will not start until 2028/29, with an allowance for the first 220 international students per year, and that maintenance grants of up to £1,000 will return from 2028/2029.