Our country still excels when it comes to higher education. Britain has seven of the world’s top 50 universities. In spite of many claims that Brexit would lead to a reduction in the number of foreign students, the intake has never been higher. In 2021-22, there were 680,000 overseas students in higher education in Britain, an increase of 123,000 in just two years.

That’s good news for the British economy. A report by London Economics estimated that one year’s intake of students would, by the time their courses had finished, bring in £29 billion in revenue from tuition fees and other income. Importantly, the benefits are spread all over the country: the University of Manchester and the University of Edinburgh each have around 18,000 overseas students.

But higher education is a global race and our place is in danger. This year’s table by the Center for World University Rankings – which measures the employability of graduates as well as the quality of research – shows 55 out of 93 UK universities on the slide. Thirty-two have improved their rankings, while Cambridge and Oxford retain their positions at fourth and fifth respectively. But the reason a larger number of universities are slipping is that China’s universities are on the way up. This matters not least because China is currently the biggest single source of overseas students at UK universities: some 152,000.

While their international reputations remain high, UK universities have not helped themselves over the past few years. Some have harmed their role as bastions of free speech by giving in to small bands of student activists who have demanded speakers be banned; at others, students have demanded that the curriculum be revised to suit their beliefs – reversing the traditional arrangement whereby tutors teach and students learn.

It’s also hard to compete on a global level when the best academics are paid so little. A depressing fact of British university life is that so often any scholar who achieves widespread recognition or success will be poached by an American Ivy League university offering a far greater salary – and often given a job that requires far less administrative work. In a place where the reputation of professors attracts students, it’s important to draw and retain the top talent.

Part of the problem is a failure to raise fees in line with inflation. The maximum has barely increased since it was set at £9,000 in 2010. At the time, student fees were deeply controversial – yet private schools, which educate 14 per cent of British sixth formers, charge much more. Why should families who manage to pay £30,000 a year for schools be subsidised when it comes to university? In an economy in which what you learn is closely linked to what you earn, there’s a strong case for asking families who can afford it to pay to meet the cost of tuition.

To remain competitive on a global level, Britain’s universities should be given the resources to win talent. American universities have a tradition of using fee money from wealthier families to subsidise those who cannot afford it: there’s a case for an element of that being introduced here as well.

The danger is that, if universities do not fight for their independence, they become playthings of the government – forced to link admission to diversity targets rather than merit. It is right to make allowances for students who might not have had their interview techniques polished at a private school, but universities already do that. If private schools account for around 30 per cent of the top A-level grades (as they currently do), it’s natural that they also account for a similar proportion of those getting into top universities.

Open discrimination against candidates on the basis of presumed privilege is deeply wrong – and also starts to undermine the status of the university from being a seat of unashamed excellence into an instrument of social engineering.

A university education is not everything. For many people, going from school straight into employment will be more appropriate; there are already far too many courses of no use to either students or society. Qualifications should never be fetishised to the point of writing off people who, for various reasons, might have missed out on them when young. The Spectator is one of many employers to make a point of not asking new recruits about their education but hiring on an aptitude test alone.

Yet a university education remains, for many, an important part of a successful and fulfilling life. Moreover, much of the research which informs an advanced society originates in its universities.

Britain is fortunate to have some of the best universities in the world, but we cannot take their reputations for granted. They must strive to remain at the top of their game.