Universities urged to be ‘flexible’ on international tuition fees

Guidance advises institutions not to suspend overseas students for late payments, amid visa worries

Universities have been told to offer “as much flexibility as possible” to international students who are struggling to pay tuition fees during the Covid-19 pandemic.

On 29 March, the vice-chancellors’ body Universities UK International published guidance for institutions on how to support overseas students who were facing hardship. Although UUKi stressed that universities had already done an “immense amount of work” to support students, it said the recommendations would help them to tackle the “challenges unique to international student hardship”.