Andy Burnham became Britain's prime minister in July after he was the only candidate to replace Keir Starmer as Labour leader, with nominations from 379 of the party's 403 MPs. He has said little so far about higher education. But decisions taken before he arrived will land on his desk this autumn.

1. The international student levy

In July, the Department for Education confirmed a flat charge of £925 a year on universities for each international student, with trial calculations first and collection from August 2028. The measure still has to pass through the Finance Bill after this autumn's budget. Times Higher Education has reported that universities see the change of leadership as a chance to secure a U-turn.

2. Fees and finances

The government has said that raising the tuition fee cap in line with inflation from 2026/27 to 2030/31 will bring universities around £6 billion. Universities argue that this does not make up for years of frozen fees, and that falling international recruitment is hitting the income they used to fill the gap. Universities UK reported a 6.1 per cent fall in international enrolments in 2024/25.

3. Erasmus+

The UK returns to Erasmus+ in January 2027, at a reported cost of about £570 million for 2027/28. The deal covers only one year, so the new government will have to decide whether to negotiate a longer membership, and what to do with the Turing scheme it inherited.

The decision point

All three issues converge in the autumn budget. Keeping the levy would protect revenue earmarked for maintenance grants for poorer home students. Scrapping or narrowing it would please universities and international partners. Either way, the budget will be the first clear signal of what kind of higher education policy the Burnham government wants.

Sources