Students ‘using universities as UK migration backdoor'
The paper from Policy Exchange, a centre-right think tank, calls for the graduate visa route to be scrapped for all students except those pursuing postgraduate research degrees.
The government announced plans earlier this year to reduce the amount of time that overseas students can live and work in the UK using the graduate visa route from two years to 18 months.
International students in the UK are already banned from bringing dependants with them apart from some postgraduate research courses or courses with government-funded scholarships.
However, the report said the changes, introduced in January last year, did not go far enough and called for tougher rules to ensure that studying at UK universities was not a 'migration back door'.
The paper said: 'The purpose of student migration should be to study, not to provide a backdoor route to longer-term migration or settlement. Increasingly, studying in the UK has become a pathway for widespread and sustained immigration.'
The number of international students in the UK increased by 66 per cent between 2014-15 and 2023-24, the report said. It added that in 2023, 40 per cent of those who arrived on student visas transferred to a different visa type within one year in 2023 — up from just 3 per cent in 2019.
The number of individuals transferring directly from study visas to health and care worker visas rose from nearly 4,000 to more than 26,000 between June 2022 and June 2023, according to the report.
Zachary Marsh, research fellow in education at Policy Exchange and author of the report, said: 'The government and universities must go further to clamp down on those gaming the system. A more muscular approach is needed to restore public confidence that international students are good for our universities and wider economy and society.'
The report has suggested that overseas students may be 'crowding out' UK students at some universities, although institutions have argued that the much higher fees paid by foreign students help to cross-subsidise domestic students and keep courses afloat.
Neil O'Brien, the shadow education minister, is due to address a Policy Exchange event in London on Wednesday on higher education and migration to coincide with the launch of the think tank's report.
He is due to say: 'It's not just taxpayers who are losing out. The current system isn't working for too many students, who are promised great things but find themselves having to pay back huge sums on very low wages.
'Too many students are being ripped off and we have to ask whether there are better uses of taxpayers' money that will leave young people better off.'
THOMAS KRYCH/STORY PICTURE AGENCY
Jo Grady, general secretary of University and College Union, said: 'Under the current broken funding model, to which the government sadly remains wedded, international students are essential to the financial stability of our higher education sector; they also contribute tens of billions of pounds to the UK economy each year.'
Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group, said: 'In an increasingly competitive global market, the UK needs to maintain an attractive offer for international students. This includes the graduate visa route, which allows international graduates to remain in the UK to work and contribute to the economy for a period after their studies. We know that international student recruitment, like any immigration policy, needs to be robust and fair to maintain people's trust in the system.'
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A spokeswoman for Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said 'Every UK resident is £355 a year better off, on average, as a result of the international students universities attract. The soft power Britain gains from attracting international students is immeasurable.
'For the UK to remain competitive the graduate route is essential. It is a time-limited visa which does not lead to a permanent path to settlement.'
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