Results from the 2026 Chartered Association of Business Schools Annual Membership Survey show that 69% of responding schools recorded lower international enrolments this academic year, almost double the 35% reported in last year’s survey.
This fall is deemed a serious concern by responding business schools, with almost all reporting some degree of reliance on international student fees to ensure their financial viability.
Postgraduate recruitment has taken the biggest hit, with two-thirds of schools reporting that they were below their recruitment target and 60% recording significantly lower international enrolments.
While the decline was less pronounced at undergraduate level, three in five schools still reported a similar trend.
Government policy towards international students was cited as driving the decline in enrolments, with Stewart Robinson, chair of the Chartered ABS and dean of Newcastle University Business School, saying “the reality” of the policies had “finally hit” and that business schools are “bearing the brunt.”
“The government has rightly asked more of universities, from working more closely with business to playing a key role in driving the government’s own £40bn international education export target. But universities and business schools cannot deliver what is asked of them without the government removing some of the barriers it has placed in their way,” he added.
Universities and business schools cannot deliver what is asked of them without the government removing some of the barriers it has placed in their way
Stewart Robinson, Chartered ABS
The planned reduction in the length of the graduate visa, in particular, was reported to have the most widespread impact.
Announced in May 2025 by the UK government, the visa route duration will be shortened from 2 years to 18 months from 1 January 2027. Graduates from “high-compliance universities with strong labour market outcomes” will still be eligible for the full 2-year duration, as revealed in the Budget last month.
Three-quarters of business school deans said the reduction had a negative impact in 2025/26, with 82% expecting this to continue this academic year. Some 39% of schools see the visa as critically important to their ability to recruit international students.
The tightening of Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) metrics has also had a substantial impact on enrolment numbers, with 60% of respondents noting a negative impact in 2025/26, rising to 74% for 2026/27.
Recruitment is expected to be harmed further if and when the government’s international student levy comes into force, with 71% predicting a negative impact.
Business schools are becoming less optimistic about the year ahead, with 60% expecting January 2027 enrolments to be lower year-on-year than last January. This is measured against last year’s survey, when 35% of schools expected January 2026 enrolments to increase and only 13% expected a decrease.
Falling enrolments come as business school finances are already strained. Almost half of responding deans reported a decrease in income for 2025/26, with three in five expecting their income to decline again in the current financial year.
This is a sharp contrast to last year’s survey, when 58% of schools expected their income to increase and only 21% anticipated a decline.
The financial strain also has knock-on effects for parent institutions. On average, responding business schools contributed 56% of their net income to their parent institutions in 2025/26. Half of respondents also said the most common request from financially challenged universities was for business schools to expand their international operations.
“Business schools are important anchor institutions in their local economies, delivering good growth in every postcode. That role is now being severely undermined,” said Robinson.
