Home Secretary Theresa May’s decision to cap international visas next year has received criticism from university chancellors and the Higher Education Policy Institute, an independent think-tank.
May, announcing the decision in November last year, explained that the cap would “take action across all routes to entry – work visas, student visas, and family visas.” She claimed that “half of all students coming [to the UK] from abroad are actually coming to study a course below degree level,” and that “too many students at these lower levels have been coming here with a view to living and working, rather than studying.”
The proposed restrictions would see the English language requirement raised to make it harder for internationals to enter the country. But now opposition to the proposal has appeared from top-level university figureheads. May’s plan, the opposition believe, fails to target specifically what she sees as the “problem areas” of lower level students, up to 20% of whom, she claims, are unaccounted for.
Instead the new restrictions will affect all students applying for visas under tier four of the points-based-system of immigration, which made up almost 65% of student visas issued in 2009.
A letter written by 16 university vice-chancellors to The Observer on 5 March speaks of the “damage that would be caused to the UK economy and to our universities if the government’s proposals…are implemented.” The letter was signed by vice-chancellors from the universities of Lancaster, Bath, Glasgow and Bristol, as well as by the President of Universities UK, Professor Steve Smith. The University of York Vice-Chancellor, Brian Cantor, was not among the signatories.
The letter continues by explaining that international students provide more than £5bn each year to the national economy, and that without international students some degree programmes may become drastically undersubscribed. “Many courses,” the letter explains, “particularly science and engineering ones, may no longer be viable. This will in turn reduce the courses available to UK students.”
The vice-chancellors go on to make clear that the benefit of international study goes far beyond economic boosts. “Extensive cultural and political benefits” are brought to the UK by a multi-cultural student population, they write. Furthermore, upon returning to their home countries at the end of study, international students “become cultural ambassadors for the UK.”
The Higher Education Policy Institute, or Hepi, have joined the debate, adding that the proposal could have “dire consequences” for universities. Hepi produced a report, written by Professor Edward Acton (Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia) claiming that the move would cut fee income by a collective £1.6bn. Acton warned that as many as 70% of international students at UK universities who arrive through a pathway course would be barred entry due to these new restrictions.
With the University of York receiving approximately £16m from overseas income in 2009, it is as yet unclear how extensive the effect of these restrictions could be on the institution.
Academic Affairs officer Ben Humphrys told Vision that “York is very attractive to students from across the world,” and “some courses do have a very high international student population, such as Economics and Management, so they could potentially be affected…the dangers are certainly real from my perspective.” He stressed that these dangers were more than financial however, explaining that “we need a broad range of experiences because of the value it brings to studying here.”
Humphrys advised any current students with concerns to contact the international office, but added that “these are only proposed restrictions at the moment, so there’s a lot of lobbying yet to do.”