International enrolments to ‘continue as normal’ despite Home Office audit

Emails seen by Hillhead Review shed light on the University’s view of the Home Office investigation into the University’s international enrolments process which began last year.

The University of Glasgow assured trade union representatives that “recruitment of international students will continue as normal” in the aftermath of a Home Office audit which showed “severe compliance issues” with the University’s enrolment process. 

Emails seen by Hillhead Review show that the University contacted trade union representatives to assure them that a UK Government audit would not affect the enrolment of foreign students, before sharing this information with the University Court at the beginning of December.

The email which shared this information with the Court was sent just hours after news publicly broke that the University of Glasgow had failed to comply with Home Office rules regarding international students, potentially jeopardising their ability to enrol at Glasgow. 

Following an audit by United Kingdom Visas and Immigration (UKVI) in the summer, the University of Glasgow was given three months to fix issues with sponsorship of foreign students, or risk losing their license.

Emails seen by Hillhead Review expand on the issues uncovered by the audit. The University said to staff: “In June 2024, UK Visas & Immigration (part of the Home Office) conducted an audit of UofG’s compliance with its student sponsor duties. UKVI has now written to the University highlighting some improvements which we need to implement.

“We are still to receive the report specifying what they require of us but from what

they have told us so far, both we and the UKVI are confident that we can complete

the necessary tasks before their follow-up visit in three months’ time.

“We are in the process of assembling a team of around 50 members of staff from across the University to undertake the work. There are two main areas of focus: ensuring accurate records for our current student cohorts (including engagement data for Semester 1 24/25), reviewing and implementing standardised processes for data collection, analysis, and reporting for Semester 2 (starting 13th January).

“In the meantime, all other activities (including recruitment of international students) will continue as normal.”

This news comes after the proportion of international students at the University has begun to noticeably decline. After remaining steady for a number of years, the latest figures show that the proportion of international students enrolled at the University dropped from 38% to 34% between the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years.

Elsewhere in the University sector, the number of international students has continued to fall, creating financial pressure on already stretched institutions. Several Scottish universities have issued redundancy warnings to staff, following cuts to higher education announced in the last Budget. 

The University of Glasgow has also recently tightened attendance monitoring in lectures and seminars, as mandated by the Home Office. The University has argued that this is necessary to uphold legal requirements which allow international students to live and study in the UK. 

However, some students are unhappy with this requirement, suggesting that staff are made to be “extensions of UK Border Force” by tracking attendance and allowing international students to remain enrolled. 

The University of Glasgow said last December that they were “confident” necessary changes would be implemented following the audit, allowing international students to remain in the UK.

Published 17 March 2025