British universities are preparing to attract international Chinese students after President Donald Trump's administration cracks down on visas for Chinese students studying in the United States

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Wednesday that the U.S. will begin “actively” revoking visas to Chinese students in the U.S., including those with Chinese Communist Party ties, in order to curb immigration efforts.

After the Trump administration also blocked Harvard’s ability to enroll or retain international students, the elite Ivy League institutions were accused of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on campus.”

Kingston Business School dean Sankar Sivarajah said UK universities will now take away Chinese students who have been disrupted by this development and may be transferred from the United States to other learning destinations.

Sivaraha said that U.S. policy is “disappointing” and “not forward-looking” at a time when higher education institutions should develop more talents and perspectives.

According to the latest data from the Bureau of Higher Education Statistics, the total number of international Chinese students in UK higher education institutions reached 149,885 between 2023 and 2024. This is from 154,260 in the previous school year and 151,700 in 2021 to 2022.

However, with Knight Frank's analysis of UCA's January 2025 cycle applications, China's international student applications increased by 8.9%, with 31,160 applicants in China by January 2025, compared with 28,620 in the same period last year.

Sivaraja said the UK is an attractive learning destination for international Chinese students from rivals such as the United States, Canada and Australia. Its appeal is rooted in short durations, affordable cost of living and global recognition.

“These are very attractive factors because the UK is the preferred destination for higher education and the current post-research job opportunities put the UK at the forefront to seize this opportunity,” Sivaraja said.

André Spicer, executive dean of Bayesian Business School, said on CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" that "the decline in the number of American institutions has slowed down in the top 100", which comes down to international institutions improving their games, including in Europe.

"So, in the UK, we already have our own restaurants, so if you ride from here for 10 to 15 minutes, you'll find a bunch of world-leading institutions, like my own, as leading business schools as the Imperial School," Spicer said on Friday. "So we are one of the highest concentrations of the Wonderful Business School, but also the great university in Europe."

Sivarajah said UK universities also rely heavily on international students’ funds because undergraduate fees for domestic students are “lost products” as tuition fees are frozen and are not keeping up with inflation.

“So, to fund higher education, the UK model is that universities do rely on international student funding to ensure they are financially sustainable… International student funding is crucial to the financial sustainability of UK universities.”

According to a recent analysis by the Telegraph, Chinese students received about 5.5 billion pounds (7.4 billion US dollars) in fees from 158 British universities. British newspapers found that 21 universities rely on students from China to make up at least one-tenth of their income, including University College London and the Royal College of the Arts at the University of Manchester.

UCL President and Provost Michael Spence said in a statement to CNBC that it attaches great importance to its international students.

"International students bring profound economic, social and cultural benefits to the UK, and we remain committed to welcome the smartest and best people we learn with us now and in the future."

As many students will begin the school year in September, UK universities will step up efforts to make UK learning more attractive to Chinese students, including developing plans with Chinese institutions.

"The number of strategic-level partnerships may increase, and working with Chinese institutions to build this is not short-term, but in the long term, how they build this bridge."

This includes pushing programs, such as 2+1 pronunciation schemes, where students are able to start studying in China for two years and complete other avenues in the UK to attract talent for the final year, including providing financial incentives such as scholarships.

Spicer of Bayesian Business School noted that long-term benefits to Chinese students at the UK hub include growth in European startup ecosystems.

"Last year there was some economic research showing that a larger percentage of high-growth startups in the U.S. were founded by basically foreign nationals who had gone to American universities, sometimes in business schools," Spicer said.

He added: “The problem now is if we can attract these talent here, use the ecosystem we have in London, places like Berlin, places like Paris to boost those high-growth startups, which will certainly benefit.”