International students victims of Sunak’s short-term political goals
- Policy change aimed at deterring postgrads from overseas is nothing to celebrate in a Britain that badly needs the money and skills post-Brexit
Britain should be revelling in its ability to attract growing numbers of international students to its universities, given the valuable contribution they make to the country.
But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak marked the new year by celebrating a policy change which will deter foreign postgraduate students from applying for courses in the UK and make life more difficult for those that do.
In his first post of 2024 on X, formerly Twitter, Sunak championed a January 1 ban on new students bringing their dependent family members with them. Only research courses and government-funded scholarships are exempt.
Sunak wrote: “From today, the majority of foreign university students cannot bring family members to the UK. In 2024 we’re already delivering for the British people.”
The post, not surprisingly, sparked a backlash among critics who branded it arrogant, pathetic, and embarrassing.
International students have been unfairly targeted as the government becomes increasingly desperate to show it is getting tough on immigration. The issue, often with xenophobic overtones, was a driver of Britain’s misconceived departure from the European Union in 2020. But since Brexit, immigration has soared. A record level of net migration was recorded in 2022, at 745,000. This has become a make or break issue for the government with a general election expected this year.
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It has launched a controversial and, so far, unsuccessful policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. Last month a package of measures was announced intended to cut immigration by 300,000, including raising the required income level for skilled workers. Concerns have been raised that the crackdown may affect migrants from Hong Kong under a scheme for holders of British National Overseas BN(O) passports.
It is in this climate that such students have come under the microscope. The number of new university entrants from overseas rose from 254,000 in 2017-18 to a record of 679,970 in 2020-21.
Postgraduate international students have been permitted to bring in dependent family members while studying. But the government has expressed concerns about a surge in the number of relatives arriving. There were 152,980 for the year ending September 2023, up from 14,839 in 2019.
The increase in family members arriving, however, followed the government’s own reintroduction of a visa allowing students to stay for two years after completing their studies, which was announced in 2019.
It is the crackdown on immigration that is damaging Britain’s international image. Its universities depend heavily on international students. Unlike local students, they pay market rates for their studies, effectively subsidising their British classmates.
A report by consultancy London Economics last year estimated the first cohort of international students at British universities in 2020-21 would contribute £41.9 billion (HK$415.4 billion) to the economy during the course of their studies, at a cost of just £4.4 billion. This translates into a benefit of £560 for every British resident.
International students face many challenges. There are visa fees, health service surcharges and steep accommodation costs to be paid. They must cope with isolation from friends and family back home, which became all the more pronounced during the pandemic. Allowing postgraduate students to bring dependent relatives with them was a humane policy.
Members of the higher education sector have, understandably, warned that the ban is likely to drive prospective students away. The business community has also criticised the move.
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International students contribute to a more vibrant, multicultural society, help local students prepare for life in a globalised world and fill gaps in a depleted post-Brexit workforce.
They should not be made victims of short-term political goals, such as burnishing the government’s anti-immigration credentials ahead of a general election. International students are part of the solution, not the problem.
