‘Foreign students keep unis afloat — don’t cut visas’
FEES paid by international postgraduate students are helping universities in London and other parts of Britain provide more courses and do more research, the Government’s migration advisers said today — as they rejected any curbs on the visas.
The Migration Advisory Committee said the financial contribution of foreign graduates studying for higher degrees in this country also made up for losses incurred teaching UK students and that without it many universities would have to shrink. It added that some changes were needed to tackle abuses by recruitment agents used to attract foreign students because of evidence of mis-selling and exploitation.
These included the sale of unnecessary “add-on” services and the case of a student sent a picture of London and led to believe she would be studying in a big city, who was instead sent to a university in a “remote location that did not suit her needs or expectations”.
But in a report to the Home Office published today, the committee emphasised that there was no evidence of widespread abuse of the graduate visa by the students themselves and that it should be retained because of its role in supporting higher education.
Professor Brian Bell, the committee chairman, said: “The graduate route is a key part of the offer that we make to international students to come and study in the UK.
“The fees that these students pay help universities to cover the losses they make in teaching British students and doing research. Without those students, many universities would need to shrink and less research would be done. This highlights the complex interaction between immigration policy and higher education policy. Our review recommends the graduate route should remain as it is, and is not undermining the quality and integrity of the UK’s higher education system.”
Today’s findings will delight university vice-chancellors, including those in London, who have repeatedly sought to highlight the important financial and educational contribution of foreign students at both graduate and undergraduate level.
The Home Office, which commissioned today’s report, has already announced plans to restrict the ability of overseas students to bring dependants as part of its plan to slash the current record levels of net migration into Britain, prompting fears that further curbs could be imposed.
But today’s report rejects the idea and concludes that as well as benefiting the university sector, foreign graduates also make a small net positive contribution to public finances.