This blog was kindly authored by Professor Manuel Barcia, Pro‑Vice‑Chancellor (Global Engagement) at the University of Bath
When we speak about international students the conversation too often becomes dominated by visa statistics, economic contributions and recruitment trends. While these aspects all matter, they tell only a fraction of the full story. What truly defines the international student experience is the courage it takes to leave home, the determination to succeed in a new academic culture, and the trust placed in universities to honour that journey with meaningful support. After decades of working in global higher education, I have become convinced that our sector must be far more intentional, principled, and ambitious in how we support these students.
The UK has long recognised the importance of supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds. Widening participation initiatives have transformed our institutions and proven that when universities take equity seriously, student success improves. This work rests on a simple but profound principle, namely that talent is universal, but opportunity is not. Ability is not confined to particular world regions, income brackets, or national borders. What indeed changes from place to place is access to resources, to networks, to information. That, and the confidence that higher education is a space where one belongs, which may be a given for some, but it is far from being a universal experience. The day we understand this, we will stop viewing support to international students as an optional extra and start seeing it as a matter of fairness.
International students, including the thousands who come from India and China each year, face many of the same structural barriers as widening participation students. Unfamiliar academic conventions take time to sink in, limited social capital bites as students need to find their way into a new culture, financial pressures sometimes derail careers and lives, and the weight of family expectations can lead many to very dark places. In fact, international students often carry the hopes of entire households. That they may feel like outsiders in spaces that were not designed with them in mind should not surprise anyone.
My own journey into UK higher education has shaped how I understand this. I grew up in a working‑class family in a developing country, and the possibility of studying abroad only became real because of scholarships such as Chevening and the now abolished Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme. I arrived in the UK with ambition, but also with uncertainty and the quiet fear that I might not belong in spite of having followed Liverpool FC since I was a child, knowing the lyrics of virtually every Led Zeppelin song, and having watched every episode of Man About the House and Chocky.
Those early experiences taught me how powerful it is when a university chooses to invest in a student’s success, and how isolating it can feel when that support is absent. But with hindsight today, I also realised that it was back then when I became aware that the categories we use (e.g. international and widening participation) are not mutually exclusive. Many students, like me, have inhabited both simultaneously.
The policy implications of widening global participation
At the University of Bath, we are working to build an international student experience that reflects these realities and responds to them with purpose – and I believe there are wider policy implications for our sector.
One of the reasons I joined Bath was its willingness to treat internationalisation as a matter of values, not just numbers. Our International Student Experience team engages with students long before they set foot on campus, as is the case with domestic widening participation initiatives. We offer guidance on visas, accommodation, academic expectations, and the practicalities of relocating to the UK. Early interventions like these reduce uncertainty, build confidence, and help students arrive prepared rather than overwhelmed.
We also recognise that financial barriers remain one of the biggest challenges for international students. That is why Bath has recently launched a new suite of undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships designed specifically to widen access for talented international students. These awards aim to support those who have the ability and ambition to excel but may lack the financial means to pursue a world‑class education abroad. As someone whose own academic journey was made possible by scholarships, I know first-hand how transformative this support can be, and not just financially, but emotionally, signalling that the institution believes in you and your potential.
Belonging is another essential pillar of our approach. As someone whose academic work has focused on the histories of marginalised and displaced communities, I also understand the difference that it makes when individuals feel seen and valued. Bath’s intercultural events, peer‑to‑peer networks, and community‑building initiatives are designed to create those essential spaces where international students can form meaningful connections. Belonging, to our community, is a prerequisite for academic success, and not just a decorative extra.
Caring beyond compliance
Yet across the sector, international students are still too often treated through the lens of compliance rather than care. Domestic widening participation is framed as a moral and regulatory imperative, a good in its own right and a source of pride. By contrast, international student support is too often seen as a market function. This artificial distinction is increasingly untenable. International students are full members of our academic communities, whose success shapes our institutional outcomes. As such, their wellbeing is central to the mission of the university.
The good news here is that the widening participation ecosystem we have in place already offers a blueprint for a more holistic approach. One of its most important lessons, I would argue, is the value of proactive, data‑driven support. Widening participation initiatives recognise that students benefit from early, structured interventions and that responsibility for student success must be shared across the institution. I do not see why international student data, including progression, attainment and continuation, cannot be monitored with the same granularity and acted upon with the same urgency. And why shouldn’t the four pillars of connection, inclusion, support and student autonomy, identified in recent work on belonging, be applied to all students regardless of their home country?
At this moment the UK higher education sector is at a crossroads. Just as policy uncertainty, rising costs, and intensifying global competition are reshaping student expectations, universities are facing a new reality where the reliance on historical prestige is not always enough. The best course of action, I would propose, would be to demonstrate, through policy and practical action rather than rhetoric, that international students are valued members of our academic communities.
While for me this is a strategic priority, it is definitely also a matter of principle. I know what it means to arrive in a new country with hope, determination, and limited means. I know how transformative it is when a university chooses to invest in your success. And I know how much stronger our institutions become when they embrace international students not as revenue streams, but as full participants in the academic community.
Widening participation has shown what is possible when the sector commits to equity. We recognise that if we support talent, it can thrive and our institutions and the knowledge they create are all the stronger for that. It is time to extend that same understanding and commitment to international students, not just because they are a source of income, but because they are a vital part of who we are and who we aspire to be.