The Government is facing backlash from the Asian community and leading figures in higher education after they announced further visa restrictions for non-EU foreign students, immigrating to the UK to study.
On Friday the Business Secretary Sajid Javid said that the government did not want international students to expect to be allowed to remain in Britain.
Elaborating on that the Home Secretary Theresa May said that the Government is planning to ban non EU foreign students from working in the UK. Under the new rules, non-EU students will be denied the right to work while in the UK and will not be able to apply for a visa extension when their course finishes. When courses finish they are also expected to leave the country before they reapply to return for a job, if any. The length of stay is is also expected to be cut to two years. The government is eventually aiming to stop students settling down in Britain and eventually claim benefits.
These rules will affect the non EU foreign students disproportionately. Figures published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in April showed that since 2010/11, the number of Indian postgraduate students coming to the UK has fallen by 51%, with those from Pakistan down 49%. In the same period, the number of postgraduates coming from China rose by around 44%. Official figures also reveal less than 2% Indians actually claim benefits in Britain, as opposed to 10% from Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities.
The Mail reported that the government estimates that the number of foreign students coming to the UK will rise by more than 6% a year up to 2020. Reports suggest 121,000 non-EU students entered the UK in the 12 months to June last year, but only 51,000 left – a net influx of 70,000.
However, Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, the vice chancellor of Cambridge University, last week said the economic benefits of more international students was being “sacrificed at the altar of political expediency”.
Lord Karan Bilimoria delivering a speech for the international students in April this year said that the government policy has made “young people coming to our shores to seek opportunity feel like criminals seeking to cross our borders”. An international student himself, he later went on to set up Cobra beer, one of the most renowned companies in the UK.
Seamus Nevin, head of employment and skills at the Institute of Directors, said: "The Business Secretary's proposals to eject foreign students after graduation are misguided and would damage the British education system, our economy and global influence.
"Britain already makes it difficult and artificially expensive for international students to enter and stay, and now these proposals would eject them ignominiously when their studies are finished.
"Restricting talented workers from staying on in the UK would damage business and lead to a loss of important skills.
"Shutting the door to highly-trained international graduates at a time when our economy needs them most would be hugely damaging for UK businesses.
"In the interests our education sector, our businesses, and our international standing, the Business Secretary should reconsider this proposal."
