University bosses today accused the government of hampering efforts to recruit overseas students to British institutions.
Government plans to increase visa fees and overhaul the immigration system is putting students off applying to UK universities and depriving institutions of valuable overseas income, said UniversitiesUK, which represents vice-chancellors.
The comments came as the US reported a boom in applications from Chinese students, fuelling fears that British universities are losing in the global battle to recruit more overseas students.
Figures form the US state department for May and June this year reveal that there has been a 15% increase in applications from China for student visas compared with the same period last year.
The US government and university officials are calling the rise a victory for an international campaign they have been running to convince overseas students that America is a welcoming place to study. It prompted calls from British vice-chancellors for similar support from the government here.
Last month, the UK's university admissions service, Ucas, announced that applications from Chinese students have dropped by 23.5%, from Hong Kong by 8.7%, from Malaysia by 5% and from Singapore by 15.4%.
A UUK spokeswoman said: "The US example demonstrates the importance of government and higher education institutions working together to attract students.
"In the UK, universities and colleges are doing all they can to demonstrate the UK is a high quality destination, but with the end of the prime minister's initiative and the considerable upheaval in the immigration system - including punitive increases in fees for visas and visa extensions as well as the proposed abolition of the right of appeal on student visas - we believe the government is hampering rather than helping our international competitiveness."
The US government has been operating an outreach programme in China specifically to alter the view that Chinese students might not be welcomed in the country.
"It's definitely a good faith effort on state's [the state department] part, and they're doing a great job to encourage students to apply," Amy Scott, a federal relations officer at the Association of American Universities told
InsideHigherEd.com. "Anything that will help combat the misperception that we're no longer a welcoming country is good news for universities. Maybe some of the outreach efforts can translate to other countries."
