Exploratory paper on financial support for international students at UAL

Mostafa Rajaai, SUArts Culture and Diversity Officer

Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to explore the financial support available to international students at University of the Arts London, investigate whether the current funding systems suitably widen access to higher education in Britain and question whether they pose a threat to the sustainability of the current model of international recruitment at UAL. Scholarship funding continues to remain the only way for many international students from less privileged backgrounds to gain the opportunity to study in Britain, particularly those pursuing an arts education. This has a significant effect on the composition of the student body at UAL, the experience the university provides in terms of its commitment to multiculturalism, as well raising questions about the universitys international student recruitment model. The paper shall also look at funding systems in place for international students across the university sector, as well as propose possible solutions to mitigate the effects of the issues raised and open up a conversation about their implications within the context of UAL.

Context
University of the Arts London attracts a significant proportion1 of its students from outside of the EU. Tuition fees for international students are far steeper than for home/EU students, with the average degree at UAL costing around 13,800 for international students2, which is 22% higher than the national average3. Research by NUS states4 that the average cost of studying in London each year for the average home student is around 23,531; this does not even take into consideration the additional costs international students face such as visa fees, flights, fluctuating exchange rates, as well as UAL-specific costs such as material fees. International students are limited to the amount of hours they are permitted to work, with work capped at 20 hours a week5. Working 20 hours a week on minimum wage would only yield 123.80 a week, well under what is necessary to fund living costs and rent as the only source of income. Without the availability of low interest student loans available to domestic students, most international students are dependent on finding other means of funding, often relying on their own personal wealth or landing themselves and their families in significant debt. UAL currently does not offer any centrally-funded scholarships to home, EU or international students. Bursaries are only available to home/EU students. The university offers some fee waivers, some of which are applicable to international students, but these are not in conjunction with any additional financial support.

32% of students at UAL are from outside the EU. Source available here:

http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/university-of-the-arts
2 3

Source available: see above. Average fee for international undergraduates this coming academic year will be 11,289 for classroom-based subjects. Source: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/international-and-postgraduate-

student-fees-survey-2013/2006262.fullarticle
4

NUS, 2013, What are the costs of study and living? http://www.nus.org.uk/en/advice/money-andfunding/info-and-advice/average-costs-of-living-and-study/
5

Source available here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas-immigration/studying/adultstudents/conditions/

Widening participation is central to the ethos of UAL; the university itself states on its website that University of the Arts London believes that widening participation to art and design higher education is essential to nurturing the artists and designers of the future. Currently however there is no system in place with the aim of widening participation for the international cohort of UALs student body. More broadly, UAL is facing a time of great financial strain. UAL is set to lose almost all of its public funding for teaching by 2014, with around 50 million cut from its budget6. The university is becoming increasingly dependent on higher fees paid by international students from China and the Middle East to fill the gap lost from withdrawn government support - evidenced by initiatives such as the new courses run by LCF in Dubai with the aim of recruiting students to study in London. This means that while UAL does have an interest in investing in incentives to increase international student recruitment, it must be recognised that the university will be seeking the most effective solutions within narrow financial constraints.

Financial support for international students at UAL As noted in the previous section, UAL does not offer any centrally-funded scholarships or bursaries to international students. They also do not offer any fee waivers applicable to international students studying on undergraduate courses. UAL does offer 16 postgraduate international students a full fee waiver as part of the Vice Chancellors scholarship scheme in order to encourage international recruitment. However these waivers are not offered contextually, so they do not take into consideration the background of the applicant. Fee waivers alone also are not particularly effective drivers of widening access, since the costs of accommodation, travel, visas etc. are still considerable, meaning that those who accept places on a fee waiver must still be able to find significant funding from either another beneficiary or from their own assets. As Alan Milburn,

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/apr/19/art-colleges-face-uncertain-financial-future

the governments Social Mobility Tsar, has argued: there is compelling evidence that fee waivers have a negligible or non-existent impact on access7. This means that even those receiving assistance from the university very often continue to fall within a certain category of privilege, and this limits the scope of international applicants and eventual students. Without bursaries to supplement a fee waiver, they amount in effect to, in the words of NUS, a con as they yield virtually no benefit whatsoever to the majority of students8. There is also considerable controversy about the use of fee waivers within the sector. The Hughes Report argued that access funding should always be given in the form of a scholarship or bursary, unless requested by the student as a fee waiver9. The report states, in arguing against fee waivers: scholarships would be far more useful for paying for the accommodation and living costs which are often the biggest financial worry. Although the report looked specifically at recommendations for domestic students, the arguments have the same resonance for the concerns of international students. The University Alliance gives a compelling argument against fee waivers that fail to ensure the general affordability of university as a whole: there is significant evidence to demonstrate that it is net upfront cost that has the biggest impact on participation in higher education...it is for this reason that many universities have made the decision to support affordability during study for students rather than introducing fee waivers.10 For international students, the debate about fee waivers versus scholarships is not as clear-cut as for the domestic market, yet it is clear that fee waivers alone without ensuring additional support for living costs is not enough.
7

Source, Times Higher Education, 2012, Put bursary funds in pupils' pockets to improve access, Milburn says: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/put-bursary-funds-in-pupils-pockets-to-improve-accessmilburn-says/421529.article 8 NUS, 2012, Bursaries and fee waivers: the facts, http://www.nusconnect.org.uk/news/article/come-

clean/Bursaries-and-fee-waivers-the-facts/
9

Hughes Report, 2011: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61218/education-advocatereport.pdf 10 University Alliance, 2011, Higher Education: students at the heart of the system: http://www.unialliance.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/UA-submission-White-Paper_Sep-2011.pdf

Funding and international recruitment As well as broadening access, the current funding model for international students raises questions about the sustainability of the international student recruitment model. Currently, the largest group of international students at UAL come from East Asia. Chinese students make up 8.3%11 of the student population, second only in size to home students. Korean students make up the third largest nationality at UAL, equivalent to 4% of the student body. Chinese students make up more than all students from the US, Italy and France combined 12 , the groups which are the fourth, fifth and sixth biggest nationalities at UAL. UAL is disproportionately reliant on Chinese and Korean international students, which could have significant and damaging implications if plans are not made to diversify international recruitment should the market saturate. Offering scholarships in developing regions could act as a measure to promote UAL abroad and increase applications from different international markets. OFFA (Office for Fair Access) has conducted research13 into whether offering bursaries affects student choice of universities. Although the findings have mixed, OFFA does acknowledge that bursaries and scholarships, especially the most generous ones, are an effective recruitment tool for a significant minority of students14. It should be noted that OFFAs research focuses particularly on home students. There exists little if any research into the implications of scholarships on international students, but considering the differing levels of financial support available to home and international students, it can be assumed that scholarships have a far greater impact on international student recruitment. The Caspian Arts Foundation is a philanthropic association which has established several scholarships for students from the Middle East and North Africa to study at UAL. Since the introduction of the scholarships in 2011, UAL has seen a steady increase in students from eligible countries in line with an
11 12

UAL Domicile and Nationality Statistics. 1562 compared to 1372 (US - 515, Italy - 449, France - 408). 13 2010, OFFA, Have bursaries influenced choices between universities?: http://www.offa.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2010/09/Have-bursaries-influenced-choices-between-universities-.pdf 14 2009, OFFA, Awareness, take-up and impact of institutional bursaries and scholarships in England: http://www.offa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/OFFA-2009.07-summary-and-recommendations.pdf

increase in applications for the CAF scholarships. For the academic year 2011/12, there were 376 students from eligible countries; this increased to 400 for the academic year 2012/13. This is in line with an increase in scholarship applications; in 2011/12 there were no eligible applicants, whereas in 2012/13 there were 47 applicants. Data is not currently available for how many students from eligible countries make up the 2013/14 cohort, but there have been 148 applications for the CAF. This is a 31% increase in applications for the CAF; although the data is too sparse to prove a trend as of yet, if the number of students from eligible countries increases in a similar direction, this goes some way to showing the impact scholarships can have on international student recruitment.15 Examples from across the sector Universities from across the sector have found different ways attempting to address the issues of access and recruitment. Very few have been as robust as this proposal is suggesting; however there are some examples of good practice. The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), part of the University of London, is in the process of establishing scholarships for international students from a list of war-torn/isolated countries, including Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Gaza. The Cultures of Resistance scholarships shall be jointly funded by the School and the students union, and shall include a 24,000 stipend (15,000 funded by the university, 9,000 fundraised by the students union), a 20% remittance on course fees, and a residential scholarship from International Students House which includes free accommodation and a contribution towards their daily meals16. The University of Westminsters Vice Chancellors Scholarship funds one international student from a developing country in receipt of an offer from Westminster, funding full tuition fee waiver, accommodation, living expenses and flights to and from London.17

15 16

Statistics provided by the UAL Development and Alumni Relations Department. See Appendix I for full details on the Cultures of Resistance scholarships 17 http://www.westminster.ac.uk/study/prospective-students/fees-and-funding/funding-for-students-startingfrom-201213/scholarships/postgraduate/vice-chancellors-scholarship

The University of the West of England (UWE) takes a different approach to broadening access, and rather than focussing on financial hardship, their approach is to investigate the difference in education systems. UWE offers lower tariff points so that international students can more easily study at in Britain. UWE normally require 2:1/2:2 in second year to transfer to Law in third year, however they permit a pass to Malaysian students to encourage them to study abroad. UWEs Global Scholarships scheme also offers full tuition fee waiver to one student, but the student must undertake an internship in the University International Office, and undertake an ambassadorial role throughout the year.

Appendix I

The Cultures of Resistance Scholarships at SOAS Masters Scholarships for students from war-torn coutries The Cultures of Resistance Network Foundation has expressed its intention to create two scholarships per year at SOAS (University of London), starting in September 2014 and lasting for three years (with the possibility that this could be extended beyond that initial period). Those scholarships, which will be named the Cultures of Resistance Scholarships at SOAS, will be awarded to students from a shortlist of war-torn/isolated countries and regions (Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, the West Bank, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Sierra Leone and Burma) on any one of a range of selected Masters Courses. How it will work Each scholar will be offered a stipend of 15,000 (to help them pay for their tuition fees and living expenses) and in addition, the SOAS Students' Union Trustees have (unanimously) agreed to match that support with an annual contribution of 9,000 per scholar. On top of that, SOAS will remit each scholar's fees by 20%, meaning that he or she will have more money from their stipend left over. Meanwhile, International Students House (a London-based residential charity for students) has agreed to offer one of the two Cultures of Resistance scholars a residential scholarship, consisting of free accommodation in a prime student facility in central London plus a subsidy toward the cost of their daily meals. This will make the whole enterprise a fully funded scholarship: i.e. all of the scholars expenses (fees, living expenses, flights home and back etc) for the year would be covered for, as illustrated below. Annual Funding (per scholar) Money given directly to the scholar 1. Stipend= 2. SOAS Students' Union = Total = Money saved by the scholar 1. SOAS 20% remission of fees = approximately 3,300 (varying slightly from course to course) 15,000 9,000 24,000

2. International Students House residential scholarship (for one scholar) rent/allowance.

representing approximately 9,500 in