Whitehall cuts ‘undermining’ international education expansion

Staff cuts at the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) could harm the ability of universities to expand abroad, experts have warned, despite the government’s ambition to increase education exports. 

According to unions, DBT will see its headcount fall from 8,000 to 6,500 by 2027 under plans to cut costs in central government.

Times Higher Education understands the department’s international education team is being reduced as part of these plans, with some staff instead being redirected to the key sectors highlighted in the government’s industrial strategy. The scale of the reduction is unclear.

DBT’s international education team supports British education institutions looking to expand abroad, including providing market intelligence and regulatory advice, connecting them with potential partners and arranging trade missions.

Further cuts are also reportedly planned at the ailing British Council, which has been struggling financially for several years. The British Council, a Royal Charter organisation that is partly funded by the government, also supports education institutions to enter and work in the countries in which it operates. 

The ongoing cuts come as the government encourages universities to increase their activities abroad. In the new International Education Strategy, published last month, policymakers set a target of growing education exports to £40 billion per year by 2030.

But Janet Ilieva, international education specialist and founder of Education Insight, warned that reduced capacity could result in “fragmentation of the UK offer, slower and costlier market entry for universities, diminished ability to shape enabling policy environments for transnational education, and reduced on-the-ground infrastructure to support transnational education and partnerships”.

The international education strategy highlights the role DBT has played in facilitating international expansion among education providers. In one example, it says the department helped British independent school Charterhouse open a school in Nigeria, including by providing “early stage advisory support”, facilitating “connections with UK education networks” and navigating “regulatory and operational challenges”. 

“Crucially, DBT convened meetings between Charterhouse UK leadership and senior UK Government representatives, including the deputy high commissioner, to build trust and confidence in Nigeria’s business environment,” the strategy says. 

The strategy also refers to the British Council as a “key strategic partner”, and notes that the body facilitates more than 50 delegations of foreign institutional leaders to the UK each year as well as supporting trade missions abroad.

About 2,000 jobs are also reportedly at risk at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, another sponsor of the international education strategy. 

Diana Beech, director of the Finsbury Institute at City St George’s, University of London, warned that “hollowing out these bodies undermines the very strategy ministers say they want to pursue”.

She said the organisations have spent decades “building the trust, relationships and visibility that UK universities rely on when entering new markets”, which no institution can recreate alone, “especially in emerging markets where credibility and on‑the‑ground networks matter”. 

“Reduce that capacity, then the UK’s visibility will fall – and smaller universities without large global teams will be hit first and hardest,” Beech said. 

“The reality is that we are on our own,” said David Pilsbury, chief development officer at Oxford International Education Group. “We need to become masters of our own destiny through coalitions of the willing and innovative public-private sector partnerships – the killer will be if people sit waiting for support from the government to ride to the rescue when it is clearly not coming.” 

A DBT spokesperson said: “Our international education strategy has set a clear ambition to grow the value of education exports to £40 billion a year by 2030 and secure the UK as a leader in global education.

“Any changes we make are designed to maximise our efficiency and ensuring we have the right expertise in the right place, while delivering for British business and ensuring value for the UK taxpayer.”

A spokesperson for the British Council said it was “taking necessary steps to significantly cut costs and grow our revenue, so that the organisation is modern, efficient and able to adapt to changing economic conditions”.

“As part of these changes, we will need to adjust our operating models and this is likely to lead to workforce reductions in some teams.

“We are mindful of the impact this may have on our colleagues and will do our best to support them throughout the process.”

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com