Tuition fees for international students: a policy instrument of cost sharing and control or simply income generation

Figures & data

Table 1. Operationalisation of the ‘revenue-seeking’ and ‘cost-sharing and control’ model.

	Revenue-seeking model	Cost-sharing and control model
National level
State allowances	Reduced, fees to complement reduced public funds to HE sector	Not reduced, fees not to replace cuts in HE sector
Scholarships	Tool for marketing, low spending	Tool for cost-sharing, high spending
Net-surplus from tuition fees	High	Low - moderate
Organisational level
Price-setting of tuition fees	High supplement charge, market-oriented price-setting mechanism	Low – moderate supplement charge, cost based price-setting mechanism
Management of revenue	To support overarching operations	To cover costs of international students
Share of revenue	High	Low

Figure 1. State allowances to the Swedish HE sector, 2010–2022.

Figure 2. Net surplus derived from tuition fees 2011–2022.

Figure 3. Expenditure of public funds through scholarships, 2011–2022.

Table 2. Summary sheet of data generated at organisational level.

		2013			2017			2022
HEI	World ranking ^6	Share of revenue from tuition fees^7	Accumulated surplus	Supplement charge^8	Share of revenue from tuition fees	Accumulated surplus	Supplement charge	Share of revenue from tuition fees	Accumulated surplus	Supplement charge
KTH Royal Institute of Technology	Top 100	5%	−10.1 MM SEK	36%	11%	9.2 MM SEK	36%	12%	33.6 MM SEK	31%
Chalmers Technical University	Top 200	5%	N/A	34%	10%	N/A	29%	10%	N/A	24%
Lund University	Top 100	3%	−5 MM SEK	34%	5%	0.14 MM SEK	32%	7%	14.7 MM SEK	27%
Blekinge Institute of Technology	Below 400	3%	0.7 MM SEK	7%	7%	−3.3 MM SEK	1%	8%	1.4 MM SEK	11%
Jönköping University	Below 400	3%	N/A	28%	10%	N/A	27%	7%	N/A	29%
Halmstad University	Below 400	3%	0.4 MM SEK	24%	7%	4.7 MM SEK	19%	3%	0 MM SEK	26%
Linnaeus University	Below 400	1%	−0.8 MM SEK	26%	4%	0.9 MM SEK	24%	6%	−20.1 MM SEK	31%
Umeå University	Top 400	1%	−0.4 MM SEK	31%	2%	0 MM SEK	27%	2%	−0.8 MM SEK	26%
Uppsala University	Top 100	1%	2.3 MM SEK	31%	4%	8.8 MM SEK	32%	7%	15 MM SEK	27%
Stockholm University	Top 200	1%	15.9 MM SEK	34%	2%	7.6 MM SEK	27%	3%	14.1 MM SEK	21%
Luleå Technical University	Top 400	>1%	−0.8 MM SEK	34%	>1%	−0.6 MM SEK	29%	1%	−0.1 MM SEK	24%
University of Gothenburg	Top 200	1%	−3.4 MM SEK	29%	1%	−0.1 MM SEK	38%	3%	−0.2 MM SEK	28%
Linköping University	Top 400	1%	−4.2 MM SEK	34%	2%	−0.8 MM SEK	21%	2%	−7.4 MM SEK	16%
Karolinska Institute	Top 100	2%	−1.9 MM SEK	34%*	3%	6.9 MM SEK	29%*	4%	8.3 MM SEK	24%*
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences	Top 200	0%	N/A	N/A	1%	N/A	27%	2%	N/A	27%
TOTAL/AVARAGE			−13.1 MM SEK	27%		33.44 MM SEK	25%		65.9 MM SEK	23%

Table 3. Supplement charge based on study fields.

Study field	2013	2017	2022
Social sciences and humanities	53%	46%	45%
STEM	27%	25%	23%
Medicine	7%	12%	5%
Design	−9%	−9%	−10%