Is going to a Russell Group uni that important as an international student?

you're getting some incredibly bad advice here.

no employer in the UK carries around a list of RG unis when they look at applicants. just cuz a few prestigious universities (namely Oxford, Cambridge, LSE etc) fall into RG doesn't mean RG is prestigious in and of itself or will make a difference in whether a UK employer will sponsor you to stay in the UK.

when a UK employer sponsors someone they need to make a case to immigration that they should have hired you over a home applicant. attending an RG uni in itself probably won't qualify, sorry what's your CV look like atm?

Hey, I'm kind of in the same dilemma. Im also an intl student and am very very confused between qmul and lacnaster for the Management & IT course. The advantage of qmul I've heard is that it's more prestigious than lancaster since its russel+its in london. Downside is obv since its in london, its more exp than lancaster. Anybody got any advice?