VISAS
05 September 2013
VISAS
1. International students bring huge benefits to the UK.
2. The British Council is concerned about the current perceptions of the UK’s visa policy in key markets.
International students bring huge benefits to the UK
International students bring significant financial benefits to UK further and higher education institutions in tuition fees but they also contribute to the wider economy.
International students are critical to the UK’s research base – many take up courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects underpinning the viability of pioneering research programmes in engineering, medicine and science that are essential to the UK’s success in the global economy.
By studying in the UK, international students learn about the UK and build relationships that last long after they return home. The trust that develops through immersion in student life in the UK is a unique connection – international students are the future leaders of their countries.
International students enrich student life, bringing fresh perspectives and different thinking to seminar rooms and research laboratories and making our campuses more cosmopolitan and vibrant places.
The British Council is concerned about the current perceptions of the UK’s visa policy in key markets
The British Council supports the government’s intention to attract genuine students to the UK. We have been working very hard with the UK government to get the right messages out. But we believe that students should be excluded from the net migration figures.
We believe universities and colleges should be trusted to be the best judges of whether a student is genuine and eligible to come and study in the UK.
The two aspects of the visa regulations that have the potential to do the most damage to the UK’s reputation, the economy and cost the most UK jobs are the restrictions to ‘pathway’ visas and the post-study work visas. We would support a review of these policies.
FACTS
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills estimates that in 2008–09 the international student market was worth £14.1 billion to the UK economy as a whole.
A 2011 House of Commons report identified that 27 foreign heads of government had been educated in the UK.
In a highly competitive market, the UK is the second most attractive destination (behind the USA) for international students worldwide. Each year, more than 500,000 students come to the UK to study for an educational qualification, and over 600,000 come for a short English language course. The reputation of the UK’s education sector is so strong that in 2011–12 an additional 571,000 students chose to take a UK higher education course outside of the UK.
In 2011–12 UK domiciled students accounted for 83 per cent of all enrolments at UK higher education institutions (HEIs), five per cent were European Union (EU) domiciled and the remaining 12 per cent came from countries outside the EU. The number of student enrolments from outside the EU increased by two per cent from 2010–11 (from 298,110 to 302,680). The number of other EU domiciled students also increased by two per cent (from 130,120 to 132,550).
In China a joint British Council, UKBA information campaign increased visa applications by 22 per cent in 2011. We are helping UKBA run webinars for Agents around the world, over 2,000 agents signed up for the last one.
Impacts of visa changes
Following the introduction of new visa requirements in 2011 there has been a drop of almost 25 per cent in the number of students coming to the UK from India and a 13 per cent drop from Pakistan.
The ONS quarterly report for April 2013 showed a 46 per cent fall in applications from international students to further education colleges and English language schools.
While some of the fall in applications has been offset by growth in the numbers of students coming to the UK from China, the UK’s overall growth in international student numbers of 4,570 in 2011–12 is tiny compared to recent US figures of a growth of 41,000 students over the same period.
Where competitor countries like Australia are continuing to show strong growth in the numbers of international student applications, the UK’s market share is slowing and the current visa arrangements are a critical factor in the decline in growth. There are real risks to the UK’s research base as pioneering programmes in engineering and life sciences depend upon international students and researchers.
In the longer term a fall in international student numbers could have significant costs to the UK’s economy. About 90 per cent of full-time postgraduate taught students in biotech and some engineering programmes are international – reduction of these would threaten the UK’s long-term research base. The UK currently leads the world in research productivity (number of citations relative to Gross Expenditure on Research and Development; source: UUK, 2011 ‘Driving Economic Growth’). The UK needs to remain innovative to be globally competitive.
In Australia, around £2 billion went out of their economy within a year of their visa reforms, in 2010–11. (The value of fees, goods and services purchased by foreign students dropped to A$15.8 billion (£10.5 billion) in 2010–11 from A$18.5 billion the previous year, according to the International Education Association of Australia.
