If families looking to relocate to “top destinations” such as the US and Canada choose the right program for their children, they may be granted permanent residency as domestic students or even graduate from their chosen institution as residents or citizens, according to Tess Wilkinson, director of education services at Henley & Partners Education in the UK.
“We’re now seeing a real uptick in the types of families who are now becoming aware that there is an option for them,” she told The PIE News.
“For families looking at relocating, there can be real gains in the amount of fees they spend on education in places like Canada,” she explained. “They can they can save [up to] $150,000 on fees.”
The sheer number of clients asking for assistance in this area signals that education is swiftly becoming “one of the key drivers for people looking at second residences to citizenships”, she added.
Henley & Partners refers to itself as a “global leader in residence and citizenship by investment”. Its education arm, Wilkinson explained, helps to “advise transnational families who are looking for global education solutions”.
Working with families all over the world with children and adults of all ages – from K-12 to those seeking master’s degrees or MBAs – it “assists them to find the right match”, taking into account children’s individual needs and the types of residency or citizenship that may become available to its clients through educational opportunities.
“We can advise on all the top-tier destinations. So we have a family, for instance, who are considering the UK, the US and Australia and they’re putting in applications for all three countries,” Wilkinson shared.
We’re now seeing a real uptick in the types of families who are now becoming aware that there is an option for them Tess Wilkinson, Henley & Partners Education
With immigration policies in key markets such as the UK, the US, Canada and Australia shifting all the time, Wilkinson acknowledged that it “is not something that is simple”.
But she said that, with expertise across a number of key markets, Henley & Partners can provide families with education counsellors to help match children to institutions that suit them best, as well as help with applying to universities or summer programs.
The ‘big four’ international education destination countries are all seeing turbulence in their respective markets. Some of these restrictive policies are having an impact on students’ ability to study in the countries, hindering them from securing post-graduate residency in their chosen destination.
Australia and Canada are both subject restrictions on international students, while UK universities’ international departments have been blighted by a crackdown on overseas students’ ability to bring their families into the country with them.
Tess Wilkinson will be speaking at The PIE Live Europe at the PIEx Power Up Expanding horizons: accessing global education & opportunity via investment migrationon March 11 at 16:00. Tickets are available online here.
Open universities have long symbolised a radical departure from the exclusivity of conventional universities. Conceived as institutions of access, intellectual emancipation, and social transformation, they promised to disrupt rigid academic hierarchies and democratise knowledge. Yet, as higher education is increasingly reshaped by market logics, can open universities still claim to be engines of social progress, or have they become institutions that now reproduce the very inequalities they sought to dismantle?
This question is not merely academic; it is profoundly political. Across the globe, democratic institutions are under siege, and the erosion of democracy is no longer an abstraction – it is unfolding in real time (cfEIU, 2024; Jones, 2025). The rise of far-right ideologies, resurgent racism, intensified attacks on women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, and the erosion of protections for migrants and marginalised communities all point to a crisis of democracy that cannot be separated from the crisis of education (Giroux, 2025). As Giroux (1984) argues, education is never neutral; it can operate as both a potential site for fostering critical consciousness and resistance and a mechanism for reproducing systems of social control and domination. Similarly, Butler (2005) reminds us that the very categories of who counts as human, who is deemed grievable, and whose knowledge is legitimised are deeply political struggles.
Open universities, once heralded as radical interventions in knowledge production, now find themselves entangled in these struggles. Increasingly, they are forced to reconcile their egalitarian aspirations with the ruthless pressures of neoliberalism and market-driven reforms. The challenge they face is no less than existential: to what extent can they uphold their role as spaces of intellectual and social transformation, or will they become further absorbed into the logics of commodification and control?
My article (Filippakou, 2025) in Policy Reviews in Higher Education, ‘Two ideologies of openness: a comparative analysis of the Open Universities in the UK and Greece’,foregrounds a crucial but often overlooked dimension: the ideological battles that have shaped open universities over time. The UK Open University (OU) and the Hellenic Open University (HOU) exemplify two distinct yet converging trajectories. The UK OU, founded in the 1960s as part of a broader post-war commitment to social mobility, was a political project – an experiment in making university education available to those long excluded from elite institutions. The HOU, by contrast, emerged in the late 1990s within the European Union’s push for a knowledge economy, where lifelong learning was increasingly framed primarily in terms of workforce development. While both institutions embraced ‘openness’ as a defining principle, the meaning of that openness has shifted – from an egalitarian vision of education as a public good to a model struggling to reconcile social inclusion with neoliberal imperatives.
A key insight of this analysis is that open universities do not merely widen participation; they reflect deeper contestations over the purpose of higher education itself. The UK OU’s early success inspired similar models worldwide, but today, relentless marketisation – rising tuition fees, budget cuts, and the growing encroachment of corporate interests – threatens to erode its founding ethos.
Meanwhile, the HOU was shaped by a European policy landscape that framed openness not merely as intellectual emancipation but as economic necessity. Both cases illustrate the paradox of open universities: they continue to expand access, yet their structural constraints increasingly align them with the logic of precarity, credentialism, and market-driven efficiency.
This struggle over education is central to the survival of democracy. Arendt (1961, 2005) warned that democracy is not self-sustaining; it depends on an informed citizenry capable of judgment, debate, and resistance. Higher education, in this sense, is not simply about skills or employability – it is about cultivating the capacity to think critically, to challenge authority, and to hold power to account (Giroux, 2019). Open universities were once at the forefront of this democratic mission. But as universities in general, and open universities in particular, become increasingly instrumentalised – shaped by political forces intent on suppressing dissent, commodifying learning, and hollowing out universities’ transformative potential – their role in sustaining democratic publics is under threat.
The real question, then, is not simply whether open universities remain ‘open’ but how they define and enact this openness. To what extent do they serve as institutions of intellectual and civic transformation, or have they primarily been reduced to flexible degree factories, catering to market demands under the guise of accessibility? By comparing the UK and Greek experiences, this article aims to challenge readers to rethink the ideological stakes of openness in higher education today. The implications extend far beyond open universities themselves. The broader appeal of this analysis lies in its relevance to anyone interested in universities as sites of social change. Open universities are not just alternatives to conventional universities – they represent larger struggles over knowledge, democracy, and economic power. The creeping normalisation of authoritarian politics, the suppression of academic freedom, and the assault on marginalised voices in public discourse demand that we reclaim higher education as a site of resistance.
Can open universities reclaim their radical promise? If higher education is to resist the encroachment of neoliberalism and reactionary politics, we must actively defend institutions that prioritise intellectual freedom, civic literacy, and higher education for the public good. The future of open universities – and higher education itself – depends not only on institutional policies but on whether scholars, educators, and students collectively resist these forces. The battle for openness is not just about access; it is about the kind of society we choose to build – for ourselves and the generations to come.
Ourania Filippakou is a Professor of Education at Brunel University of London. Her research interrogates the politics of higher education, examining universities as contested spaces where power, inequality, and resistance intersect. Rooted in critical traditions, she explores how higher education can foster social justice, equity, and transformative change.
From 16-18 February 2025, a high-level delegation from the UK visited Egyptian universities: Ain Shams University, and European Universities in Egypt (EUE); with a planned visit to New Cairo Technological University, to explore possible collaborations between the two countries.
“Over the course of three enriching days, the education team in Egypt led a higher education mission that was launched in the New Administrative Capital, under the patronage of the Minister of Higher Education through the Supreme Council of Universities and the Egyptian Bureau for Cultural and Educational Affairs in London in collaboration with the British Council in Egypt, and the support of the British Embassy,” Heba ElZein, director of education at the British Council in Egypt told The PIE.
The delegation comprised representatives from prestigious UK universities, including Sheffield Hallam University, Loughborough University, the University of Essex, the University of East Anglia, the University of Exeter, and the University of Chester.
Universities UK International representatives were also in attendance, with Anouf El-Daher, policy officer for Africa and Middle East at UUKi, presenting at the British Embassy in Cairo and British Council Egypt, highlighting the value of international collaboration and the potential for long-term, mutually beneficial, EU-Egypt education relationships.
“Over three days, we visited higher education institutions across Egypt, gaining valuable insights into the local landscape and exploring opportunities for deeper collaboration. This mission allowed us to engage with key stakeholders, understand the evolving higher education landscape in Egypt, and witness the impact of UK-Egypt partnerships firsthand,” a LinkedIn post from UUKi read.
Over the course of three enriching days, the education team in Egypt led a higher education mission that was launched in the New Administrative Capital Heba ElZein, British Council
The mission offered numerous networking opportunities, as well as joint meetings for Egyptian universities wishing to cooperate and discuss opportunities with their British counterparts.
The delegation’s primary focus was to foster academic exchange, establish international university branch campus opportunities, and strengthen research collaborations. One of the most significant outcomes of the visit was the signing of multiple Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) between UK and Egyptian universities.
During that high-profile participation, three MoUs were signed between the University of Essex and Ain Shams University, the University of East Anglia and Ain Shams University, and the University of Sheffield Hallam and the British University in Egypt.
These agreements are expected to facilitate joint programs, faculty exchanges, and shared research initiatives in the coming years.
Students in Egypt show a strong interest in TNE as the UK-affiliated programs offer tuition fees from £800 to £13,500, depending on the partnership model. And due to economic and currency challenges, Egyptians are increasingly likely to opt to study in Egypt on a TNE model, as well as inbound students to the country, primarily from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Nigeria, and Iraq.
Thus, with a population of around 111 million, and a youthful median age of 24.3, Egypt leads the MENA region in TNE enrolments with 27,865 students in 2022-2023, making it the 5th largest UK TNE host country globally.
Egypt has emerged as a leading host of UK transnational education students in the MENA region, and the UK remains Egypt’s largest partner in higher education.
This delegation’s visit is part of a broader initiative to further deepen these ties and provide Egyptian students with greater access to high-quality British education.
Student accommodation platform University Living and the National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) have launched the Living Scholarship – worth £12,000 (INR 13,10,832).
The scholarships will be provided to 10 “outstanding students” from India, who are planning to pursue higher education in the UK.
“Accommodation is the second-largest expense after tuition for students studying abroad, and we believe financial challenges should not be a barrier to achieving academic dreams,” said Saurabh Arora, founder and CEO, University Living.
“Through this scholarship, we are committed to providing meaningful support to Indian students so they can focus on their education and future careers with greater confidence.”
Beyond financial assistance, recipients will benefit from exclusive mentorship, participation in student ambassador programs, and access to internship opportunities, through the organisations, all aimed at fostering their professional growth and future career success.
Accommodation is the second-largest expense after tuition for students studying abroad, and we believe financial challenges should not be a barrier to achieving academic dreams Saurabh Arora, University Living.
“NISAU has long worked to ensure Indian students in the UK are set up for success, and the Living Scholarship is a vital step in reducing financial stress for them,” said Sanam Arora, chairperson, NISAU UK.
“Together with University Living, we aim to empower students with not just financial aid but also networking and professional growth opportunities.”
The Living Scholarship will open for applications on February 14, 2025, with more information available on www.universityliving.com.
Indian students and alumni are recognised as an integral part of the UK higher education system, with organisations like NISAU celebrating their achievements annually through events such as the India-UK Achievers Honours and Conference, which took place in central London on January 13.
Despite the UK emerging as one of the most sought after study destinations among students from India, in recent years poor job prospects, and stricter rules on students bringing dependents into the country with them have led to falling numbers.
As per a report by the Times of India, students from India have seen the largest drop, falling from nearly 140,000 in 2022/23 to 111,329 in 2023/24 – a decrease of over 20%.
Applications from other major sending countries such as Bangladesh and Nigeria have also fallen.
However, new data from the UK Home Office reveals that 28,700 sponsored study visa applications were submitted in January 2025 – a 12.5% increase compared to the 25,500 applications recorded in January 2024.
Though there are encouraging signs, Home Office data continues to show a broader downward trend over the past year with applications from main applicants totalling 411,100 in the year ending January 2025 – a 13% decrease compared to the previous year.
In February 2025, five years after the UK formally left the EU, Sir Keir Starmer became the first UK Prime Minister since Brexit to head to Brussels to join a meeting of EU leaders. The trip was packaged as part of a “reset” in relations between the UK and the EU, albeit caveated with promises that the UK government is not seeking to re-join the EU’s single market or customs union, nor sign up to the principle of freedom of movement.
With President Donald Trump back in the White House and war ongoing in Ukraine, closer cooperation between the UK and EU in areas of security and defence will be vital to maintain pressure on Russia and bring about peace on the continent. Enhancing trade between the UK and EU will also be a key ambition shared by both parties, given the looming threat of American tariffs and the need to secure economic growth.
Youth mobility
The process of resetting the UK-EU relationship by the spring is one to watch for the UK’s higher education sector. This is because, while the EU has the power to ease restrictions on UK businesses to improve British trade prospects, the UK also has something that many in the EU want in return: namely the power to reinstate a youth mobility scheme between the UK and the EU.
At its most ambitious, such a scheme could allow young people from the UK and Europe the freedom to travel across countries to study and work as was the norm before Brexit. A curtailed version could at least see mobility enacted for shorter, time-limited placements. Either way, UK universities could find themselves becoming an important bargaining chip in any future renegotiations.
Bargaining power
Given the demand for a return of youth mobility is greater in the EU-27 than it is in Britain, UK ministers understandably remain cautious about giving the green light to this idea too soon. The recent gains of the populist Reform UK party in public popularity polls will likely also enhance this nervousness. Moreover, with the policy in clear breach of the UK Government’s own ‘red line’ on freedom of movement, British officials are playing down the prospect of any return to youth mobility between the two powers.
UK universities could find themselves becoming an important bargaining chip in any future renegotiations
Yet, as anybody who has ever been involved in some sort of negotiation knows, the key to a good outcome is not showing your own hand too early in the process. Doing so may significantly weaken your bargaining power and ability to leverage the situation in your own favour. The possibility of the UK offering a youth mobility concession to European leaders to secure more lucrative trading conditions and pump-prime economic growth may not, therefore, be completely off the table.
Risky business
In the past, the UK higher education sector would have been first to welcome the return to Britain of a youth mobility scheme such as Erasmus+. However, the current financial troubles facing the sector are likely to dampen university managers’ enthusiasm for any measures that would see EU students once again regarded as ‘home’ students, thereby capping the fees they pay.
The introduction of youth mobility measures would provide a welcome boost to the diversity of UK student populations by making it easier for those from less privileged backgrounds in Europe to study in Britain. However, with universities now focusing on their bottom line rather than the size and shape of their student intakes, any concessions that could reduce the revenue-generating potential of EU students could destabilise universities’ finances at a time when every penny counts.
Balancing act
The big question facing the higher education sector, then, is whether there is a proposal the UK government could make involving UK-EU student mobility that reconciles universities’ search for greater diversity on campus and enhanced prospects for their students with their need for extra income.
As it stands, the future of UK and EU students rests in the back pocket of the UK Prime Minister. Whether he pulls a student mobility scheme out as a trump card to get a beneficial deal for the British economy depends on the messages UK universities send to ministers and officials over the coming months.
Not enough noise about potential changes to the status of EU students could leave universities exposed without a financial compensation package from Treasury to cover any headline fee changes that a new youth mobility programme would incur. Yet, too much noise would also risk negative headlines around the world that international students are nothing more than lucrative cash flows for hard-up institutions.
The political reset ahead represents a balancing act for UK higher education. The key is whether we can find a solution that opens up UK universities and their students’ prospects further to the outside world while stabilising them financially so they can continue to transform lives for generations to come.
The case will be heard at London’s High Court April 1-3, the Independent Schools Council (ISC), which represents private schools in the UK, revealed this week.
It’s the latest step in its furious battle to overturn a policy – key to the Labour party’s election manifesto before it regained power in July 2024 – to start levying VAT on private school fees.
The ISC said its case, led by prominent human rights barrister Lord Pannick KC, would argue that the VAT policy “impedes access to education in independent schools” and is therefore incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
In the case, the ISC is supporting six families impacted by the policy, and the defendent in UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
The case is being heard on an expedited basis following a successful argument from Lord Pannick that parents needed certainty because they are already feeling the effects of the policy.
ISC CEO Julie Robinson said the organisation’s aim was to “protect the rights” of families and young people “who are having their choice removed from them”.
“This is an unprecedented tax on education – it is right that its compatibility with human rights law is tested,” she continued. “We believe the diversity within independent schools has been ignored in the haste to implement this damaging policy, with families and, ultimately, children, bearing the brunt of the negative impacts this rushed decision is already having.”
This is an unprecedented tax on education – it is right that its compatibility with human rights law is tested Julie Robinson, ISC
Reeves confirmed in October that the party would be slapping a 20% tax on fees for January 2025, leading to fears from independent boarding schools that their intake of international students could plummet.
Experts predicted that although some schools would choose to swallow the loss of revenue, most would be forced to raise their fees an average of 10-15% to cover costs.
An online private school told The PIE News earlier this month that it has seen a “five-fold” surge in interest from parents since the VAT policy was announced last year.
CEO of Minerva’s Virtual Academy, Hugh Viney, credited the rise in demand to the VAT policy, as he said the school’s fees are “good value” and much less than most private schools at under £8,500 per year – a price that has always included VAT and is therefore unchanged by the new legislation.
Speaking at an event in Glasgow this week, John Swinney blasted the UK’s “disastrous” decision to leave the European Union, but suggested a new migration route specifically for students who choose to study in Scotland.
“Twenty years ago, the Scottish and UK governments worked together to launch a tailored migration route designed to enable international students to stay in Scotland after they graduated,” he said. “I see no reason why this cannot happen again.”
Under the plans, designed to keep highly skilled graduates in the country, the Scottish Graduate Visa would be linked to a Scottish tax code and be issued on the understanding that recipients would live and work in Scotland.
But despite Swinney’s assurances that he was “ready to work with” Downing Street on making the proposal a reality, his idea already appears to have been rebuffed by the UK government.
A government spokesperson quoted by The Evening Standard indicated that there were “no plans” for a new Scottish visa, citing the UK’s Graduate Route already in place that allows international students to stay in the country for up to two years after they graduate.
In his speech, Swinney said a new Scottish Graduate Visa would benefit not only the country’s institutions but its economy after international students’ graduation, highlighting that this group contributes £4.75 billion a year.
“In small but important ways, it would make our economy more robust, and our public services more sustainable. It would play a part in making our communities more prosperous,” he said.
In small but important ways, it would make our economy more robust, and our public services more sustainable John Swinney, Scottish first minister
Pointing out that Scotland’s projected population is expected to dip for the next two generations, Universities Scotland convener Paul Grice highlighted the benefits a Scottish Graduate Visa could bring the country and said he hoped the proposal would “progress in a meaningful way”.
“It would be enormously helpful if a policy space could be created between governments to consider greater regional variation of migration within an overall UK framework,” he said.
“Inward migration will be essential to Scotland’s future and there is a really positive opportunity for Scotland’s universities, as magnets for the attraction and retention of highly-skilled people, to help deliver this as a win-win for the sector and Scotland as a whole. There is a lot to like in this outline proposal.”
Although it does not appear to welcome the idea of a Scottish Graduate Visa for the time being, the UK government seems to be embracing international students.
This week, education secretary Bridget Phillipson recorded a video message to international students in the UK promoting the country’s post-graduation work opportunities.
In two separate hearings published on December 19, the OfS granted approval for the University of Bolton to be renamed the University of Greater Manchester, and for the University of Central Lancaster (UCLan) to become the University of Lancashire.
The regulator permitted Bolton becoming the University of Greater Manchester despite objections from the University of Manchester that the change would be “very confusing and misleading”. Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford also objected to the name change.
In a consultation on UCLan’s rebranding to the University of Lancashire, 90% of the 1,812 respondents said that the new name could be “confusing or misleading”, given that the existing Lancaster University carries the same official title.
During the ruling, the regulator considered the name change could be particularly confusing for international students “less familiar with contextual information” but concluded that it was “unlikely to lead to any material harm or detriment”.
The consultations in Bolton also garnered widespread opposition to the rebrand, with 64% of respondents saying the name change could cause confusion.
The OfS recognised that both instances could be confusing “for particular groups of stakeholders, including for example those for whom English is not their first language or who have difficulties in distinguishing or processing information”.
However, it concluded that “the range of contextual information that students use when applying to study” would help to prevent material harm arising from such confusion.
The name change is very good news for our students, very good news for the institution, very good news for the town and amazing news for jobs
Professor George Holmes, University of Greater Manchester
In both cases, the OfS ruled that its duties to protect the “institutional autonomy” of providers and “encourage competition” between universities weighted in favour of consenting to both new names.
In Bolton, the proposals to change the university’s name sparked backlash from local politicians and members of the public, with a motion put to Bolton Council in 2023 calling on the university to rethink the name change.
Announcing the news on December 19, vice chancellor Professor George Holmes told a group of staff members that he was “delighted” to announce the change.
“The name change is very good news for our students, very good news for the institution, very good news for the town and amazing news for jobs,” said Holmes, adding that it was “an important accolade to have the University of Greater Manchester based in Bolton”.
Professor Graham Baldwin, UCLan vice chancellor, also welcomed his institution’s new title, saying that it would “better reflect our regional economic importance and aid continuing efforts to raise brand awareness further afield.
“Locally the acronym UCLan was widely used but for many outside the region they didn’t know it was the title of a university nor where it was located,” said Baldwin.
On December 2, 2024 the OfS announced it was temporarily pausing the registration of new institutions, as well as suspending applications for an institution to change its name “where it already holds university title”. Applications already submitted would be completed, it said.
