NUS WELCOMES SELECT COMMITTEE’S CALL ON HOME OFFICE TO CHANGE STUDENT VISAS POLICY

The National Union of Students today (Thursday) welcomed a newly published Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee report, which recommends that students should be taken out of the Government’s net migration targets.

In its report– ‘Overseas Students and Net Migration’ – published today, the Select Committee has called on the Government to record overseas students under a classification that does not count against the overall limit on net migration in order to allow the UK to continue to expand its share of the overseas student market.

NUS warned that the Home Office’s current student visa policy was having a damaging impact on perceptions* of the UK and international student recruitment**, and called on the Government to listen to the case for change made by students, universities and business leaders.

Liam Burns, NUS President said:

“The cross-party case for changing international student visas policy is now overwhelming. The government must urgently follow the lead of Australia and the United States and recognise that international students are not permanent migrants but rather come for the purpose of temporary study and should be treated accordingly.”

“International students generate £8 billion a year for the UK and bring huge social and cultural benefits, but there can be no doubt that constant changes to visa regulations and immigration policies are already having a damaging impact on perceptions and recruitment.”

“We have worked with universities and business leaders to build a case for policy change on student visas. It is now high time for the government to listen and respond before further damage is done to both the UK’s global standing and the prospect of economic recovery.”

ENDS

‘ Overseas Students and Net Migration’, House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Committee

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/news/overseas-students-and-net-migration-chairs-comments/

*In a recent NUS survey of 909 international students (conducted between 19 January 2012 until 21 March 2012), 40 per cent of respondents that they would not advise a friend or relative from their home country to come to the UK to study.

**According to ONS Migration Statistics Quarterly August 2012, in the year to June 2012 there were 282,833 visas issued for the purpose of study (including student visitors), a fall of 21% compared with the previous 12 months:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/migration1/migration-statistics-quarterly-report/august-2012/msqr.html

According to calculations by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, higher education exports contributed £8bn to the UK economy in 2009. The large majority of these earnings are derived from tuition fee contributions for international students, and off-campus expenditure.

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/higher-education/docs/e/11-980-estimating-value-of-education-exports.pdf

Universities UK have estimated that higher education exports could be worth £16.9 billion to the UK by 2025:

http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/FuturesForHigherEducation.pdf