Up to 40 universities, including several of the most highly regarded, could be stripped of their right to recruit foreign students when tough new immigration controls take effect in the autumn.
From November, a university will lose its licence to sponsor international students if 10 per cent or more of those to whom it offers places are refused student visas.
The present threshold is 20 per cent, and there will be a three-month transition period.
There is growing alarm within universities at the rules, announced by David Cameron in July among a series of moves to tighten immigration controls.
The average refusal rate for student visas is about 8.9 per cent, according to government figures, although universities say that applications for visas can be rejected by the Home Office for reasons beyond their control, such as an error made by an applicant when completing a form, or judgment made in an interview.
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One university source told Times Higher Education magazine that refusal rates ranged from 1 per cent at some institutions to 17 per cent. The source estimated that between 35 and 40 universities, including some members of the Russell Group, had refusal rates of 10 per cent of above, putting them at risk of losing their licence.
But the Russell Group denied that any of its universities were at risk of losing their licence to sponsor international students. Wendy Piatt, its director general, said: “Our universities have excellent records as student visa sponsors and expect no adverse effects from this change.”
Overseas students have become an increasingly important source of revenue for British universities because they are generally charged much higher fees, even after the trebling of tuition fees to £9,000 for home and European Union students.
Students who live in a country within the European Economic Area do not need permission to study in the United Kingdom but other international applicants must apply for a so-called Tier 4 visa.
Universities are issued with a licence to endorse visa applications when they are granted the status of highly trusted sponsor. Two years ago the Home Office made an example of London Metropolitan University, revoking its licence to sponsor the visas of international students after spot checks by immigration officials found that 25 per cent of its overseas students did not have permission to stay in the country.
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The ban was lifted after a legal challenge by the university.
· Graduates are twice as likely as non-graduates to want to “pull up the drawbridge” and say that fewer people should go to university, according to the British Social Attitudes survey.
Middle-class people were also twice as likely to want student numbers to be reduced as those from less-well-off backgrounds.