{"id":5383,"date":"2024-03-13T13:00:11","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/?p=5383"},"modified":"2024-03-13T13:00:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T13:00:11","slug":"uk-graduate-visas-might-be-reviewed-if-it-undermines-quality-of-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/uk-graduate-visas-might-be-reviewed-if-it-undermines-quality-of-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"UK GRADUATE VISAS MIGHT BE REVIEWED IF IT UNDERMINES QUALITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION"},"content":{"rendered":"

The home secretary,\u00a0James Cleverly<\/a>, has said international students may be \u201cundermining the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system\u201d by using university courses as a cheap way of getting work visas. In a\u00a0letter to the Migration Advisory Committee<\/a> (MAC), Cleverly asked that the body should be investigate if the graduate visa entitlement allowing international students to work for two or three years after graduating was not attracting \u201cthe brightest and the best\u201d to the UK.<\/p>\n

Although, university leaders fear that restricting or cutting the graduate visa route will lead to a drastic fall in international recruitment, and provoke a financial crisis for universities that rely on income from international tuition fees.Warnings of economic damage to UK as international student numbers fall by a third<\/p>\n

Cleverly told the MAC that while the government was committed to attracting \u201ctalented students from around the world to study in the UK\u201d, it also wanted \u201cto ensure the graduate route is not being abused. In particular, that some of the demand for study visas is not being driven by a desire for immigration\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cleverly said: \u201cAn international student can spend relatively little on fees for a one-year course and gain access to two years with no job requirement on the graduate route, followed by four years\u2019 access to a discounted salary threshold on the skilled worker route. \u201cThis means international graduates are able to access the UK labour market with salaries significantly below the requirement imposed on the majority of migrant skilled workers.\u201d The home secretary instructed the committee, which gives independent advice to the government, to investigate \u201cany evidence of abuse\u201d of the graduate route, \u201cincluding the route not being fit for purpose\u201d, and to look at which universities were producing graduates who used the route.<\/p>\n

He also asked the MAC to analyse \u201cwhether the graduate route is undermining the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system, including understanding how the graduate route is or is not, effectively controlling for the quality of international students, such that it is genuinely supporting the UK to attract and retain the brightest and the best, contributing to economic growth and benefiting British higher education\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rachel Hewitt, the chief executive of the MillionPlus group of universities, said the government\u2019s review appeared to be deliberately aimed at undermining the success of British higher education. \u201cIt is impossible to imagine the government going out of its way to make Britain less inviting to investment in almost any other sector \u2013 and yet every negative headline and policy reform makes Britain less attractive to international students,\u201d Hewitt said. \u201cThe graduate route is a key component of the offer that UK universities can make to international applicants, and its value should be recognised and not eroded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamie Arrowsmith, the director of\u00a0Universities<\/a> UK International, said universities were \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d by the short notice given by Cleverly. \u201cPost-study work matters for many international students, allowing those who have invested in our country the opportunity to find work and contribute to the UK economy\u200b,\u201d said Arrowsmith. \u201cHaving publicly recommitted to the graduate route on its current terms in May 2023, any further changes would be extremely damaging to our reputation as a welcoming destination for international students, and risks undermining a UK success story that generates more than \u00a320bn a year in export earnings for the economy\u200b.\u200b\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cleverly said \u201cearly data\u201d showed that just 23% of international students using the skilled workers route moved into graduate-level jobs, and that last year only a third moved into jobs paying more than \u00a326,000 a year. The committee is expected to report back in May, and its findings could come at a difficult time for the higher education sector. So far this year, enrolments from overseas have fallen by 40% compared with 2023.<\/p>\n

Vanessa Wilson, chief executive of the\u00a0University Alliance<\/a>\u00a0group, said: \u201cIt is important that international students have the opportunity to study at the full range of UK universities so they can select the option that is right for them, and so that all UK students and regions can benefit from their contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The home secretary,\u00a0James Cleverly, has said international students may be \u201cundermining the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system\u201d by using university courses as a cheap way of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16,80,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bussiness","category-economic","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5384,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5383\/revisions\/5384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}