UK universities have recently reported a significant decline in foreign students' numbers, amid warnings that further student visa restrictions would restrain a vital flux of talent for the nation's creative industries.
Uncertainty Looms Over Future of UK's Foreign Student Visa Entitlement
University and industry leaders worry that the foreign visa entitlement, which gives foreign students permission to work in Britain for three years, could be stopped depending on the data of a report conducted by the migration advisory committee (MAC), expected to be delivered to the government this Tuesday.
The creative industries, represented by Creative UK, assert that curtailing the ability for international students to reside and work in the UK after graduation would be remarkably discouraging to pursue studies in the country, impacting a sector worth £108.
The restrictions imposed earlier this year on international students have already caused a significant decline in the number of students applying from other countries, and uncertainty concerning the fate of the graduate visa seems to have caused a more important fall, based on a survey of UK universities.
UK Universities and Creative Industries Unite Against Potential Foreign Student Visa Restrictions
The poll of 75 institutions by the British Universities’ International Liaison Association showed that nine out of 10 had fewer foreign applications for the coming academic year, and there had been a 27% drop in global applications for taught postgraduate courses in comparison with last year.
A shared letter by Creative UK and Universities UK, which is responsible for representing vice-chancellors, urges the government to abort its plans to restrict or abolish the graduation visa pathway, arguing that foreign graduates are essential to the creative industries, which are now more important than the country's aerospace, life sciences, and automotive industries altogether.
“Following further increases to visa fees and salary thresholds, the graduate visa represents one of the few routes left which enables talented graduates to remain in the UK and contribute to our growing creative industries,” the letter says. “Whether it’s a young Jimmy Choo developing his craft at Cordwainers or world-renowned DJ Peggy Gou, who studied at London College of Fashion, the role our universities play in attracting the best creative talent from around the world goes to show the soft-power influence of our institutions.”
Sally Mapstone, the vice-chancellor of St Andrews University and president of Universities UK, informed Sky News on Sunday that “international students are incredibly important to UK culture. They contribute a huge amount to universities, to the economy, to skills and jobs and we think it would be a tragedy—calamitous not just for institutions but actually for the UK as a whole—if the government took what would actually be quite unnecessary further action to restrict the number of international students.”
The British Academy has warned the MAC that removing the graduate visa would “stifle the vibrancy of the UK’s academic and research landscape,” with an ongoing fall in foreign student numbers menacing the financial sustainability of universities, causing course closures and employee layoffs.
Worries about the future of the visa have climbed since March, when James Cleverly, the home secretary, commissioned the MAC “to ensure the graduate route is not being abused. In particular, that some demand for study visas is not being driven more by a desire for immigration.”
The previous week, Robert Jenrick, a former immigration minister, issued a report with the Centre for Policy Studies think tank that encouraged the abolition of the graduate visa, asserting it “allowed people to come and work in the gig economy and on very low wages.”
A spokesman for the government stated: “We are fully focused on striking the right balance between acting decisively to tackle net migration and attracting the brightest students to our universities, recognising the significant contribution they make to the UK.”