By Emma Somos
Since 2020, there has been a decline in the number of EU students studying at the LSE due to Brexit, resulting in increased tuition fees and fewer scholarship opportunities. The proportion of EU undergraduates in the UK dropped by 56% in 2021, with Eastern and Central European students significantly impacted by the changes in the financial and immigration status of EU students.
I was curious to find out if national communities at LSE have become more exclusive and elitist. It would seem that of the fewer EU students who can afford to come to LSE after Brexit, the majority are from well-off families and exclusive private schools.
The costs of study have increased due to restrictions on securing loans and new visa requirements, but higher tuition fees after Brexit are the number one cause named to explain the decline of EU students at UK universities by both academic and government researchers. After Brexit, many EU students are choosing to study in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe due to being unable to afford the newly increased costs of UK-based universities.
According to the 12 LSESU national society presidents and students interviewed, the change is much less drastic; the EU students at LSE have always largely come from elite backgrounds. However, Brexit hurts the most disadvantaged, and while LSE is becoming increasingly ‘elite’ in student composition by generally attracting EU students from upper-class backgrounds, there are still interesting differences between nationalities and how much countries get affected by brain drain.
Students from ‘elite’ backgrounds are generally from capital cities, are not first-generation university students, attended a renowned fee-paying secondary school, usually speak multiple languages and have previously lived abroad. Such background is usually taken for granted at LSE, which is also often titled an ‘elite’ university due to its prestige, low acceptance rate and high tuition fees.
Almost all national society presidents interviewed acknowledged that most students in their respective communities come to LSE from an international or private school. While there are differences in national educational systems, all presidents noted the dominance of the International Baccalaureate diploma. According to Andriana Boukaouri-Giannouli, President of the LSESU Hellenic Society, students usually hear about LSE in IB schools. Thus, LSE is well-known among a specific social strata – the well-educated, professional upper class – a claim shared by the German, Italian, French, Nordic, Czech-Slovak, Greek and Polish presidents.
Adriana Svitkova, former President of the LSESU Czech and Slovak Society, says that even before Brexit, only 20-30% of Czech and Slovak LSE students came from non-fee-paying schools. However, after Brexit, students’ socio-economic background became a bigger determining factor for coming to study in the UK rather than the type of school they attended. Moving to the UK a few years before graduation and attending a British boarding school is a popular route to LSE among Italian, Spanish and some German students, as there is a mismatch between the focus of their national high schools and LSE’s requirements. The Hungarian and Czech-Slovak presidents suggested that the strength of LSE in the social sciences is the main reason students choose to study here. Others noted that having LSE on the students’ CVs will translate into a competitive advantage in the labour market – fitting thinking from the children of the well-educated, professional upper class.
Brexit has created stark national differences among the EU students at LSE. Masters students haven’t been as badly affected; however, the Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Czech and Slovak, and Hungarian presidents all note a huge decrease in their respective student numbers. For example, only five Hungarian students started an LSE undergraduate degree in 2022, one-third of the 2020 figure. Interestingly, the Italian, Polish, Greek and Nordic presidents haven’t noticed a decrease in their student numbers.
Marguerite Henry, Secretary of the LSESU French Society, notes that LSE’s reputation still has a strong pull, and she believes the decrease in EU student numbers must be more drastic at lower-ranked British universities. Mario Freundorfer, President of the German Society, shared that multiple German scholarships offered by foundations, political parties, religious groups, and independent academic foundations can no longer cover post-Brexit tuition fees and thus are no longer available to German students in the UK.
Svitkova notes that the two major Czech scholarship foundations also began to prioritise support for students studying in the Netherlands rather than the UK after Brexit, but the Czech government is working with banks to offer loans for talented students interested in British universities. The Slovak and Hungarian governments aim to “tackle” the problem of brain drain with conditional scholarships that require students to work in their home countries after they complete their degrees. Gusztav and Gabor, Presidents of the LSESU Hungarian Society, sum this up: “If you want to study at the LSE post-Brexit as a Hungarian, you are either aligned with the Hungarian regime or coming from a really wealthy family.”
The Norwegian government also offers funding, yet there is no requirement to return home for work — though Norwegian students will likely go back anyway for their country’s higher salaries. The situation differs for Spanish and Italian students, who usually come to the UK for its more promising labour market. Unsurprisingly, their governments offer less support to students studying abroad, making the UK an exclusive option for the self-funding, wealthy few after Brexit.
When asked about elitism in the student experience, most presidents defended their communities, painting a picture of homogeneous and cohesive national groups; some even mentioned that they felt part of their national community more strongly than of LSE. But Freundorfer offered an interesting insight: although there may be structural elitism in terms of who LSE attracts, he was surprised to learn that many children of politicians and CEOs have been brought up and socialised not to show off and come off as ‘rich’. Nevertheless, after Brexit, national communities are becoming even more homogeneous, with most students arriving from the same IB schools.
Even though studying in the UK appears to be accessible to fewer and fewer EU students, national communities at LSE are not giving up on building inclusive connections. Svitkova says Central and Eastern European students have faced more xenophobia and misconceptions about their region after Brexit. Nevertheless, she cites strong national student solidarity and support networks as helping to foster a sense of community. Dominika Lech, President of the LSESU Polish Business Society, reinforces that such student solidarity is also possible cross-nationally as their well-established society had a strong partnership with the Ukrainian society this year.
While Brexit made LSE less accessible for students from lower-income backgrounds and of specific nationalities, LSE has always attracted students from international backgrounds and fee-paying schools. Lech, who could only afford to study at LSE with a student loan, argues: “We [LSE students] are all from privileged backgrounds living in a bubble.”
We can predict that while national communities will continue to become more homogeneous, inequalities between nationalities will deepen. Some governments are supporting their talented youth in studying in the UK, while others offer little to no support and hope to increase the reputations of their own academic institutions. The education and experiences offered by LSE should be available to more, with more scholarships offered to marginalised EU students. Perhaps student solidarity at LSE will one day be based not only on nationality and ethnicity but also across socio-economic classes. Let us not be fully captured by the LSE bubble.
Photo by Angus Timmons
