EDINBURGH University is being urged to put the money it rakes in from international students' fees towards council housing in the city.
Roisin Keirdashian, an independent candidate in the local by-election in Southside and Newington, said the ancient institution’s business model “comes at the direct expense of local residents”.
The university charges as much as £41,700 per year for international students and its most recent accounts show that attracting scholars from abroad was considered a key part of the “significant financial pressures” facing the institution.
Keirdashian told the Sunday National: “Everyone in Edinburgh is sick to death of student flats.
“The University of Edinburgh is a billion-pound business."
She added: “The council’s desire to accommodate the university’s business model comes at the direct expense of local residents.
“The more students the university attracts, the more housing is required, all this while Edinburgh Council has a self-declared housing emergency and locals are being priced out of the city.
“If you vote for me, I will demand that Edinburgh University contribute a portion of international fees to fund social housing and oppose any new developments until every family in Edinburgh has a secure, permanent home.”
According to its most recent accounts, Edinburgh University’s student numbers grew between 2024 and 2025 by 0.2%, but fee income growth was 5.6% “due to an increase in the number of non-EU students”.
Fees from non-EU international students are by far the institution’s biggest income stream in that category at £388.5 million.
Edinburgh Council earlier this year announced a commitment to spend more than £111m on housebuilding this financial year as part of a £1.3 billion budget to build settled homes over the next five years, which aims to create 4275 new affordable houses over the next five years.
Among the plans progressing under this programme are work to replace Oxcars Court and Inchmickery Court as well as new developments at Murrayburn, Greendykes, Burdiehouse and Powderhall. There are also plans for redevelopment at Granton Waterfront.
Some £18.3m has been allocated to buy homes from private developers and £2.5m is earmarked for refurbishment work on empty homes to be brought up to a “lettable standard”.
Nearly £70m has been set aside for improvements to high-rise blocks, such as fire safety and window replacements, while £45m is for low-rise blocks, including works such as upgrades to kitchens, bathrooms and windows as well as energy efficiency measures.
Elsewhere, Keirdashian has hit out at the running of Edinburgh more broadly, which she said resulted in the capital being “tailored to tourism”.
The 37-year-old single mother said: “The council is dominated by political parties and councillors with little connection to the city. Our working-class communities are not represented in the City Chambers.
“We need independent voices prepared to speak up for these people.
“If you ask folk across Edinburgh’s suburbs and schemes if they are happy with the way the city is being run, I guarantee you the overwhelming response will be negative. People feel like they have been erased from the picture.
“The whole city has become tailored to tourism. It’s ridiculous.”
A spokesperson for Edinburgh University said: "The university plays an important role in the city-wide efforts to tackle Edinburgh’s housing emergency, including through our membership of the Strategic Housing Partnership, which brings together key stakeholders to address accommodation shortages and homelessness.
“We are committed to driving positive change in the region and we have invested nearly £8m in socially-positive causes that help improve the lives of people living in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. Through this fund, we have also been able to support the expansion of social housing schemes and help people with experience of homelessness maintain long-term tenancies.
“We continue to work closely with partner organisations across the city to find solutions to these issues.”
Edinburgh Council declined to comment.
