Written question asked by Adam Thompson (Labour) on Thursday, 12 February 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 February 2026. It was answered by Josh MacAlister (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 April 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.
Overseas Students: Fees and Charges
- Question
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To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will will consider exempting PhD students from the International Student Levy.
- Answer
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We are engaging with the higher education sector to shape the design of the International Student Levy (ISL) to make delivery as easy as possible for providers. A technical consultation on the delivery of the ISL was open for responses until 18 February 2026. The government will publish its response in Summer 2026.
We have listened to concerns raised by the sector. The levy will not be introduced until 2028/29 to give providers time to plan for its introduction. Providers will also pay the ISL one year in arrears, to help with their financial planning and will also be given an allowance for the first 220 international students per year. This is to mitigate the ISL having a disproportionate impact on smaller providers, particularly those operating specialist and resource intensive models with limited other means of cross-subsidisation.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 113216
- Session
- 2024-26
- Subjects
- Fees and charges Overseas students Postgraduate education
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-04-01 11:32:16 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/113216
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/113216
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/113216