UK risks losing battle for international students
Without foreign students, many British university courses would not be viable. That includes some of the most important to the country’s success: postgraduate courses in science, technology and engineering. But the UK is losing many of these students, just when other countries are desperate to have them. The value of attracting international students goes beyond having senior people around the world with an affection for the UK.
In the UK, however, the government has persistently refused to distinguish between foreign students and immigrants. As Oxford university’s Migration Observatory has pointed out, the government would have a far better chance of reaching its goal of reducing net migration to the UK to the tens of thousands if it did not count students in the total.
Voters are not demanding that students be kicked out as soon as they graduate. Forty-eight percent of Conservative supporters believe students should be allowed to stay as long as they have work, according to a 2014 poll. Even 56 percent of UK Independence party voters agree students should be allowed to stay for at least two years. Given the damage to the UK’s universities, the government’s refusal to budge is baffling.
Source: Financial Times
