Peer urges UK to 'soften' visas for foreign students as Britain slips to third place

by LAUREN CODLING

AN ASIAN peer has predicted a “terrible” future for Britain if the UK government “fails to soften” policies governing visas for foreign students, as it emerged that Australia is overtaking the UK in the race to attract young people to study.

Research from University College London released last week confirmed the UK has fallen to third place behind the United States and Australia as the world’s biggest destination for international pupils.

Lord Karan Bilimoria, president of the UK council for International Student Affairs, told Eastern Eye the news did not surprise him.

“With the hostile immigration policies we have concerning foreign students, it was only a matter of time,” he said. “If things do not change, it looks terrible for the UK.”

He highlighted the inclusion of overseas students in net migration targets set by the government as an on-going factor in the debate.

In January, a report released by the Home Affairs Committee urged the government to remove overseas students from the target, reasoning it was “not in the best interests of the UK”.

Lord Bilimoria explained that the government’s message which focuses on reducing

numbers is “negative [and] hostile”, especially when it came to treating students like immigrants.

The dispute has been heightened after the Home Office announced last month that citizens of 11 countries – including China and Serbia – would be able to access a streamlined process to apply for Tier 4 student visas to study at UK universities.

India has been excluded from this list. Lord Bilimoria has raised the issue several times but claimed that he has not been given an explanation.

“On the one hand, the government is saying they want to do free trade deals with India after Brexit, but then on the other, they have insulted India by excluding them in this list of favoured countries,” he said. “It has gone down very badly in India.”

At a summer reception earlier this month celebrating ties with India, Oxford university chancellor Lord Chris Patten pointed out the institute’s history with students from the subcontinent.

“We are a university of the world and that is why India has been such an important part of our past, present and especially our future,” he said.

Lord Patten confirmed the number of Indian students at the school has grown by 60 per cent since he became chancellor in 2003.

“I would like this number to continue to increase,” he added, addressing the “extraordinary” contributions students have made to the university.

There are about 150 academics who are Indian citizens working in a variety of areas in the university and nearly 2,000 alumni who hail from the subcontinent.

The Indian high commissioner, YK Sinha, who was at the event, noted the decrease in foreign student numbers and expressed his surprise at India’s exclusion from the latest streamlined process.

“We need more Indian students, given the illustrious alumni Oxford already has,” he said. “However, we see a large increase of students going to other countries to study… it is amazing, to me, that India has been excluded from the latest visa process.”

Lord Swraj Paul, chancellor of University of Wolverhampton for more than two decades, said the value of international students is sometimes not recognised by the UK government and beyond.

Earlier this year, analysis showed that international students added more than £20 billion to Britain’s economy.

“Overseas students add value to the country and continue to [do so] when they go back to their native countries,” the industrialist, who set up the Caparo group, told Eastern Eye.

Lord Paul, who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1952, believes that students will always hold an affection toward the country they studied in.

Echoing his sentiments, Lord Bilimoria, who is the third generation of his family to be educated in the UK, emphasised the generational links it creates within countries.

“My 82-year-old mother still keeps in touch with the friends she made 60 years ago when she studied at the University of Birmingham,” the co-chair of the APPG of International Students said. “That is how close these friendships are – they are generation long friendships.”

In a speech during a parliamentary debate last Thursday (19), Lord Bilimoria confirmed that the UK has no specific targets to increase the number of overseas students in institutes.

Countries such as Australia and Canada, which have both set targets, have grown by 18

per cent and 27 per cent, respectively.

Dr Hollie Chandler, the senior policy analyst for the Russell Group, an association of 24 public research universities, said the group wants the government to make policy changes to improve the experience of international students when they come to the country.

“For example, we want students to find it easy and straightforward to apply for a

visa. We also want the visa system to support graduates to stay and work in the UK

for up to two years after their studies,” she told Eastern Eye. “Such changes will benefit

international students and ensure the UK continues to build on its position as a world-leading destination for education.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said the UK welcomed overseas students, emphasising there continues to be no limit on the number who can come to the country to study.

“Neither are there plans to limit any institution’s ability to recruit them,” they added. “We have a highly competitive post-study work offer for international students who graduate in the UK. The tier 4 visa pilot is part of the government’s ongoing activity to support the competitiveness of our world-leading higher education institutions.”