Foreign students have ruined the quality of UK higher education

Foreign students are disrupting the labor market

UK Home Secretary James Cleverley has called for a review of the visa regime for foreigners over concerns they are using education as a shortcut to obtaining a work permit. James Cleverley has said international students may be “undermining the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system” by using university courses as a cheap way to obtain work visas.

In a submission to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), Cleverley asked for an investigation into whether graduate visa eligibility, which allows international students to work for two or three years after graduation, is resulting in a failure to attract the “brightest and the best” to the UK .

Following the minister’s announcement, university leaders fear that cutting or restricting graduate visas will lead to a sharp decline in international enrollment and trigger a financial crisis for higher education institutions that rely on income from foreign tuition fees.

Cleverley warned MAC that while the government was keen to attract “talented students from around the world to study in the UK”, it also wanted to “ensure that graduates are not subject to abuse, in particular that some of the demand for study visas is not driven so much by a desire to immigrate” .

“Overseas graduates can access the UK labor market at wages well below those required for most skilled migrant workers,” the Home Secretary said.

James Cleverley instructed the committee to investigate “any evidence of graduate abuse.” It also asked the MAC to review “whether the program undermines the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system, including whether the quality control of international students is effective.”

MillionPlus university group chief executive Rachel Hewitt said the government was deliberately undermining the success of British higher education.

“It’s inconceivable that the government wants to do everything to make Britain less attractive for investment in almost every other sector – and yet every negative headline and policy reform makes Britain less attractive to international students,” says Hewitt.

Director of Universities UK International Jamie Arrowsmith argues that “post-study work makes a difference for many international students, allowing those who have invested in our country to find work and contribute to the UK economy.”

Overseas applicants have fallen by 40 per cent in a year, but one in four overseas students earn more than £26,000 a year, the Home Secretary said.