The Russell Group asks the chancellor to drop the £925 international student levy
The Russell Group has asked the chancellor, John Healey, to abandon the planned £925 levy on every international student a university recruits, saying it would cost the sector nearly £500 million a year. The Department for Education, which sets student finance in England, intends the money to restore maintenance grants for disadvantaged students on some courses, and a minister said this month the levy still starts in 2028-29, with the first 220 recruits exempt. If you are applying from outside the UK, next month’s autumn budget is the thing to watch.
Research Professional News, 24 September
Renters in England press for faster deposit returns, and only one in five disputes a deduction
Generation Rent handed a petition of 17,000 signatures to the housing secretary on Thursday morning, asking for an end to insurance-backed deposit schemes, quicker returns at the end of a tenancy and penalties for landlords whose claims are repeatedly rejected. Its own figures are the useful part if you are leaving a student house in England: renters who challenge deductions get 79 per cent of their deposit back, yet only one in five facing unfair deductions raise a dispute at all.
Oxford comes seventh worst for student experience in the new Times rankings
The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide for 2027 scores student experience using the Office for Students’ National Student Survey, and Oxford sits seventh worst of the 130 universities ranked while placing fifth best overall. Buckingham is bottom, 5.7 points below any other university, followed by SOAS and Arts University Bournemouth, and Edinburgh is the only other Russell Group university in the bottom 20. If you are choosing where to apply, read that score separately from the overall table.
Bath sets out how to report spiking after complaints about its rugby club
The University of Bath and its students’ union have responded to concerns circulating among students about spiking and rugby club members’ behaviour towards female students, the same complaints raised during freshers’ week last year. The club says it has organised or promoted nothing of the kind. Bath’s own advice transfers to any night out: report to venue staff, your union’s advice service or campus security, and note that spiking carries a sentence of up to ten years.