A report published by the leading newspaper Financial Times has revealed that many universities in the United Kingdom are at risk of falling into financial deficit due to the decline in international students after the recent ban on bringing dependants into the country.

Beesreign Media had reported that the Home Office of the United Kingdom announced that it had commenced the implementation of its policy banning Nigerian students and other overseas students from bringing in dependents via the study visa route.

Meanwhile, Financial Times on Friday reported the chief executive of Universities UK, Vivienne Stern, who represents more than 140 universities, said the sector was facing the prospect of a “serious overcorrection” as a result of the immigration policies that deterred international students from coming to study in Britain.

“If they want to cool things down, that’s one thing, but it seems to me that through a combination of rhetoric, which is off-putting, and policy changes . . .[they have] really turned a whole bunch of people off that would otherwise have come to the UK”.

Stern’s plea came as it emerged that some top universities, including York, which is a member of the elite Russell Group, were being forced to soften their entry requirements to maintain numbers of overseas students.

With the £9,250 domestic tuition fee frozen for the last 10 years, UK universities have increasingly relied on non-EU students to generate revenue as they now account for nearly 20 per cent of sector income.

Universities are warning privately that numbers have softened sharply this year following a series of hostile policy moves by the government, with indications that enrolments may have fallen by more than a third from key countries, including Nigeria and India.