Wang Yuanyuan

    Tuition fees at public universities in Britain and the United States have increased since the end of last year.

    Due to the recession, many governments, particularly those of Britain and the United States, have cut funding to universities. As a result, universities have been forced to target overseas students as a way of staying in business. Among the students, most of them were from China, according to a Chinese newspaper.

    In Britain, the government has allowed universities to increase tuition fees. Currently, more than 100 British public universities charge the maximum for each major.

    The average tuition fee in Britain is 8764 pounds, an increase of 15 percent year on year.

    The fee is expected to rise further in 2012 and universities, such as Cambridge and Oxford, are expected to increase their fees dramatically. The cost of studying medicine and related majors may double next year, according to a report on Western education issued by the Xinde Education Group.

    Due to the fee hike, the total number of applications received by British universities dropped by 9 percent this year compared with last year, and the number of British applicants dropped by 12 percent, the report said.

    Although there are fewer applicants this year, there are still a large number of overseas students applying for British universities. At present, only one in 15 applicants can be enrolled.

    Meanwhile, public universities in the United States will also increase their tuition fees next year.

    The average tuition fee to attend a four-year public university is US$8244 a year, increasing by 8.3 percent over last year, while the fee for a private university is US$28,500, increasing by 4.5 percent over last year.

    Due to the sharp decreases in government funds and social donations, the universities plan to enroll more international students to ease their financial difficulties. About 690,000 overseas students study at universities in the United States. Among them about 128,000 are from China, the highest proportion of any country.

    The country plans to enroll 30 percent more international students this year.

    To attract more Chinese students, the policy for issuing visas has been loosened since 2010. More than 86 percent of the applicants got the student visas to the United States successfully in 2010 and the percentage is expected to rise further this year, the report said.

    According to the country’s government, higher education has now become one of the most important “export” products and is now the country’s fifth largest service industry. The country can make more than US$20 billion every year on average from international students.