Sir Peter Lampl writes about opportunities at US universities in The Times.

You can measure a country’s self-confidence by the extent to which it welcomes international students. British universities are very welcoming — to those foreign students rich enough to afford annual fees of £15,000 plus. By contrast, the United States sets out to attract the brightest and best from all over the world, whether they can pay or not.

Going to an American university used to be an option only for wealthy British children looking for a cool alternative to Oxbridge. They have typically gone to Ivy League colleges such as Harvard and Yale, whose high reputation is matched by high fees.

Those top universities offer the same deal to international as domestic students — if you are bright enough to get in and if your family income is below $65,000 (£40,000) a year, you qualify for free tuition and board, with support on a sliding scale for incomes up to $200,000 plus.

Seventeen of the world’s top 20 universities are in the US. Their success largely reflects their ability to use income from endowments and fundraising to attract the world’s best students and academics. They win most Nobel prizes, not just on the strength of US-born scientists but of those born overseas based at US universities.

This largesse doesn’t stop at the Ivy League. A further 250 universities offer substantial support. The Fulbright Commission has calculated that more than $500 million (£312 million) is available in grants and bursaries to overseas students at American universities.

More than 4,000 British undergraduates now study in the US every year, almost exclusively from independent schools. At the Sutton Trust we are extending that opportunity to bright state-educated students too, with the Fulbright Commission as our partners. We took 64 British teenagers to Yale this summer to encourage them to think about US higher education. Today we start recruiting for 150 places at Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) next summer.

The British students lived on campus, met academics and other students and visited Harvard, Princeton and Columbia universities. They also took in a Broadway show, had tea at the British Consulate and saw the sights of New York. Almost all took part in a later support programme. Around 40 are applying — and we expect many will be successful — for places at top American universities.

The Americans take talent wherever they find it. They don’t wait for able young people from low or middle income families to apply; they send out scouts to persuade them. Their large endowment funds — more than $400 billion (£250 billion) compared to £9.5 billion in the UK — mean they have huge incomes before student fees and research grants. In the UK only Oxford and Cambridge have large endowments but they are dwarfed by Harvard’s $32 billion (£20 billion) and would rank in the teens in the US list.

This means leading US universities can widen their pool of talent, while keeping graduate debts much lower than in the UK. A third of all US students graduate with no debt and for the two thirds who do, average debts are $26,000 (£16,000) compared with the £40,000-plus for students here.

I supported fees at £3,000 a year, but believe £9,000 is much too high. Low and middle income families are increasingly priced out of higher education. Those students could find that the US offers not only a better, but a less costly education than the UK.

Moving to the US transformed my life. It could have a similar impact on many British young people today. We had ten applicants for every summer school place this year, all with excellent predicted A-level grades and family incomes averaging £25,000 a year. Some had no passport and had never been to London before. For most, the experience was life-changing. Meanwhile, talented overseas students, who could contribute much to Britain, must pay £15,000 a year or more to study here. Except for a handful of scholarships, no top UK university funds bright foreign undergraduates who cannot afford it.

We are sending a message that the UK doesn’t really welcome overseas students. The recent visa clampdown and post-degree work restrictions may meet an immigration target, but recent data shows that it is increasingly at the expense of overseas students, with 20,000 fewer arriving in the last year.

This could cost us dearly. I spoke on higher education in India last month, where the clampdown is seen as a sign that Britain doesn’t want their custom. The US, Australia, Canada and Malaysia are more welcoming. We need to find a way to attract and nurture talent in Britain wherever we can find it at home and abroad.

Higher education is a valuable export, but it is short-sighted to see it as only open to those with the ability to pay. For 150 young people at Yale and MIT next summer, new horizons beckon. The Americans are attracting the best talent. We cannot afford to leave them to it.

Read the original piece here. (£)