Average overseas fee for UK master’s rises by almost £1K

Average UK tuition fees for master’s students from outside the European Union have seen their largest increase in several years despite the pandemic, according to the latest edition of an annual survey.

Figures from the Complete University Guide’s annual survey of fees in UK universities show that an overseas student taking a classroom-based taught postgraduate course in 2020-21 will be charged an average of £16,081, up almost £1,000 from the year before.

The 6.5 per cent increase is more than double the uplift seen last year, and also higher than previous years, when increases have tended to be between 4 and 4.5 per cent. Laboratory-based master’s courses also rose by 6.4 per cent to an average of £18,613, again a bigger increase than in previous years.

Fees on MBA courses for overseas students were also up by more than 6 per cent, although they have tended to fluctuate more over the past few years, with a 1.9 per cent uplift in 2019-20 and a 6.7 per cent increase in 2018-19.

Such increases may come as a surprise to some overseas students starting courses this autumn, given the fact that some tuition may still be online. Some observers have suggested that universities should be lowering fee levels because of the shift away from face-to-face teaching as a result of the pandemic.  

Potentially, a rise in overseas fees could help to mitigate any financial hit from a drop-off in demand from overseas students caused by the pandemic.

However, Times Higher Education understands that this is unlikely to have been a general reason behind the fee hikes as most overseas fees would have been advertised before the pandemic, making it difficult to adjust them this spring.

Rachel Hewitt, director of policy and advocacy at the Higher Education Policy Institute, said the signs before the pandemic were that demand from overseas students would hold up even when fees rose.

But she said a substantial hike in fees this autumn may mean universities would feel an obligation to provide as much face-to-face teaching as it was safe to offer, as well as focusing on online tuition quality.

“The online teaching that universities have been able to offer in the last few months had to be pulled together very quickly and they’ve got this time now to reflect on what has worked well,” she added.

Elsewhere, the CUG survey showed fees for classroom-based master’s courses taken by UK and EU students were also up by almost 6 per cent, to an average of about £8,400, but this represented the smallest increase since 2017-18. Lab-based master’s courses are up by more, now reaching almost £9,650 after a 9 per cent rise.

Gillian Houston, vice-chair of the UK Council for Graduate Education, said it was difficult to pinpoint the factors behind all the fee changes, and averages could often be skewed by premium courses at some institutions.

However, she said for UK students looking to take master’s courses, some “universities may be keeping fees as low as possible, anticipating that some first degree graduates…will be encouraged to enter a postgraduate degree (with a loan) straight away” owing to the economic crisis.

There was also the important change to EU fees coming in next year to consider, she said, when students from the bloc will face the same fee levels as overseas students and lose access to UK government loans.

“At our annual conference [held online in July], it was anticipated that UK PGT programmes could be popular with EU applicants for 2020-21, given they will have to pay overseas fees from 2021-22 onwards,” Dr Houston said, adding that this would mean there was a good chance universities had taken this into account when setting fees.

simon.baker@timeshighereducation.com 

Full fees survey table for 2020-21

Source: Complete University Guide

Notes: All fees relate to full-time fees per year (unless otherwise stated). † Figures are from 2019-20. ‡ MBA part-time or modular fee. ‡‡ May be a course fee.  A “–” indicates N/A or that no data were supplied.

Where the numbers come from

Data are based on a survey conducted by the Complete University Guide. The survey results have been published annually since 2002, when Mike Reddin first presented them.

Institutions were asked to provide a typical fee, although some chose to provide a range. Figures are for guidance only. Fees for specific courses may vary from those shown. The averages published in the article exclude institutions that provided a range.