Amber Beat Global Student Accommodation Market News - October 2025, Week 02

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Amber Beat is a weekly snapshot of the key developments in top student accommodation markets.  This newsletter provides you with all the information you need to know, from new upcoming projects to current trends, news affecting students to government policies, we’ve got you covered!

Amber Beat | News from October 8-October 14, 2025

United Kingdom

• Wales rules out UK international student levy, pledges to welcome students as Welsh universities earn £1.26B annually from international enrolments (Source)
• UK higher education shines as 11 universities make global top 10, with Cambridge rising to joint third place and Imperial London climbing to eighth rank (Source)
• UK universities face budget shortfalls despite rebound as sponsored study visas rise 7% in 2025 vs 2024 but remain 13% below 2023 (Source)
• Unite Students’ rental growth slows 51% to 4% in 2025 as beds sold fall 2.4% to 95.2%, while nomination agreements rise to 59%, reflecting strong university demand (Source)
• UK student property yields average 7.39% in June 2025, up from 6.63% two years ago, with Stoke-on-Trent leading at 9.42%, followed by Plymouth at 9.27% (Source)
• UK TNE set to surpass onshore students by 2025, with 653,570 TNE students in 2023/24, up 7.8%, led by Asia, while onshore numbers dip 4% to 732,285 (Source)
• Paragon Bank data shows student property outperforms the wider rental market, with university towns yielding 7.39% in June 2025, up from 6.63% two years ago (Source)
• Lycoming College partners with University of York for 12-month master’s programmes, offering guaranteed admission for eligible students and £4,000 tuition discount (Source)
• Oxford tops World University Rankings 2026, Asian universities climb, while US and UK see modest shifts, with 62 and 28 universities moving down respectively (Source)
• Kent and Greenwich merger set to combine 50,000 students under one vice chancellor and management team, pooling resources to tackle financial challenges (Source)
• Manchester City Council approves 3,000+ student homes in £400M University of Manchester campus redevelopment by Viridis Living (Source)
• PM Starmer rules out new visas, promotes UK universities, highlights 60,000 Indian IT professionals benefiting from NI exemption, boosting UK appeal amid tighter US visa scrutiny (Source)

United States of America

• Top US universities, including Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and Chicago, likely to face impact from President Trump’s $100K H-1B visa fee affecting international enrolment (Source)
• Nine top US universities, including MIT and Brown, must cap international undergraduates at 15% and implement race- and gender-neutral admissions under President Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence (Source)
• International student arrivals in the US fall nearly 22% in Summer 2025 compared to 2024 amid renewed visa restrictions and heightened scrutiny (Source)
• Indian student enrolments at USC hit record high despite H-1B concerns, says Dean Geoffrey Garrett, with STEM graduates eligible for three years on OPT before H-1B (Source)
• US issues twice as many student visas to Chinese (86,647) as Indians (31,138) in August 2025, with Indian visas down year-on-year (Source)
• OPT program faces potential termination, threatening 418,000 F-1 and M-1 students authorized in 2024, mostly from Asia and concentrated in STEM (Source)
• 16 US state attorneys general and Brown University urge DHS to scrap four-year student visa cap after proposal draws 20,000 comments, citing risks to international students and research (Source)
• MIT rejects Trump’s preferential funding offer, refusing to cap international undergraduates, citing threats to academic freedom and independence (Source)
• OPT program faces potential termination, threatening 418,000 F-1 and M-1 students authorized in 2024, mostly from Asia and concentrated in STEM (Source)
• Capstone Development and Colorado School of Mines complete 1,058-bed Village at Mines Park in Golden, providing affordable on-campus housing for upper-division, graduate, and family students (Source)
• UC Santa Barbara’s San Benito Student Housing is under construction, adding 2,224 beds by Fall 2027, with 1,400 more planned for 2029 (Source)
• UC Riverside opens 429-unit, 1,568-bed shared student housing, the first public intersegmental residence in US, easing the student housing crunch (Source)
• Optional Practical Training (OPT) participation among Indian STEM students drops from 95% to 78% amid shifting immigration and career priorities (Source)

Australia

• Australia finalises 2026 public university international student quotas: 17,500 new places available; visa applications down 26%; 32 universities sought growth (5 did not); regional universities get strong increases with >11,000 new student beds under construction (Source)
• While federal government allocated universities 295K places for new international student enrolments next year, University of Sydney blocked from expanding 2026 international student intake, will remain at 11.9K places while other universities gain more allocations as visa applications fall 26% (Source)
• According to the Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) 2025 report, in 2023-24, international students contributed over $50B to the Australian economy, with 77% of Indian students viewing studying in Australia as a pathway to permanent residency (Source)
• Australia defies Western ranking slump as 12 universities rise in THE 2026 list, Melbourne hits 37th, Sydney climbs to 53rd (Source)
• Australia proposes new Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (ESOS Act) changes: stricter oversight of provider‑agent ties, ban on commissions for onshore student transfers, and stronger registration powers (Source)
• Australia re‑introduces education reform bill (ESOS Act) without caps, setting a 2026 planning target of 295,000 student intakes and tightening integrity measures across providers (Source)
• Australia confirms computer‑assisted processing in student visa system, automation has been used for over 20 years; human officers always make refusal decisions; automated “risk settings” guide scrutiny levels (Source)

Canada

• Canada’s “edugration” model under scrutiny: experts warn of over‑reliance on international student fees to make up funding shortfalls, with international students in Ontario pay ~6× more than domestic peers (Source)
• Ontario colleges face major financial hit as international student numbers fall; Loyalist projects $30–$41M shortfall; Northern swings from $8M surplus to deficit; sector-wide revenue could drop 60% by 2030, threatening 10,000 jobs (Source)
• Canada approves only about 30% of international student permit applications in early 2025, down from ~51% in the same period in 2024; new arrivals down ~69%; active study permit holders drop ~23% YoY (Source)
• Canada flags 47,175 international students for possible visa non‑compliance in sweeping compliance review, with many under scrutiny for failing to attend classes (Source)

Europe

• Three German universities crack top 50 in 2026 THE ranking, with TUM at #27, LMU Munich #34, Heidelberg #49; rankings cover 2,191 institutions across 115 countries (Source)
• Spain enrols 2,350,805 students in 2023-24, with 101,871 (4.3 %) international, as English‑taught courses, scholarships, and student‑friendly visas drive interest (Source)
• According to Grégor Trumel, Counsellor for Education, Science and Culture at the Embassy of France in India, France aims to host 30,000 Indian students by 2030, as enrolments rise ~25% than 17% in recent years from India (Source)
• Ireland posts ~50% growth in international student enrolment in 2024, offers 2‑year post‑study visas and tuition plus living costs ~30-40% lower than US/UK, with no caps on overseas students (Source)
• Paris investors convert two vacant office buildings into purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) in Issy‑les‑Moulineaux, as Assembly and Eternam expand student housing stock (Source)
• University of Hong Kong to Open First European Campus in Barcelona with HK$313M Investment Amid Growing China–Spain Academic Ties (Source)