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A UK government move to restrict student immigration would cause “significant” financial damage to the university sector, the head of the Russell Group of leading research institutions has warned.
Dr Tim Bradshaw, who represents 24 top universities including Oxford and Cambridge, issued the warning as ministers consider ending the UK’s graduate work visa programme owing to concerns it is being misused as a backdoor entry route.
“Any further changes to restrict student immigration could result in a significant destabilisation of the sector, [and] result in less spending in local communities, fewer opportunities for domestic students and less UK research,” he wrote in a letter to Professor Brian Bell, chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, which advises the government on migration.
Ministers’ decision on whether to cut the “graduate visa route”, which allows foreign students to live and work in the UK for up to two years after graduation, is expected to come as early as next week.
The announcement will follow the release of a keenly awaited report on the economic efficacy of the visa scheme, due to be published on Tuesday by the MAC.
In the letter dated April 9, the Russell Group leader argued the sector was struggling to cope with a sharp-drop off in applications from overseas students this year and would be hit hard by any further reduction.
Bradshaw’s intervention comes as the higher education sector is lobbying the government not to further crimp educational visa routes, arguing that previous measures to curb migration have already had a detrimental impact on the university sector, which relies on international fees for more than a fifth of its total income.
Last year legal net migration into the UK hit a record 606,000 for the first time, triggering a backlash from the rightwing of the ruling Conservative party.
The government responded by removing the right of most graduate students to bring family dependants when studying in the UK and raising the threshold for skilled visa workers from £26,200 to £38,700. The move has already led to KPMG cancelling foreign graduate job offers.
The prime minister is facing mounting pressure from the Tory rightwing to improve the party’s position in opinion polls, as it trails Labour by an average of 20 points ahead of a general election expected this autumn.
This week Robert Jenrick, former immigration minister who quit Sunak’s government in December, issued a report with the conservative Centre for Policy Studies think-tank calling for the graduate visa route to be abolished.
Bradshaw cited a survey conducted by Universities UK, the main sector lobby group, which showed a 44 per cent drop in international enrolments in January 2024 compared with a 0.4 per cent drop in September 2023.
“Evidence indicates negative government rhetoric, new visa restrictions and increased visa fees are already having an impact on the attractiveness of the UK as a study destination,” he wrote.
In 2019, the government’s International Education Strategy set out an ambition of attracting 600,000 international students a year, a target that has now been achieved, contributing to a sector worth £37bn a year to the UK economy, according to consultancy London Economics.
Business leaders this week also urged the prime minister to protect the graduate visa route in a letter to Sunak seen by the Financial Times.
Half the respondents to a cross-sector survey by BusinessLDN said they had hired staff on graduate visas and a similar proportion planned to do so again over the next 12 months, according to the letter, whose signatories included Simon Carter, chief executive of British Land.
Graduate visas gave employers “flexibility to evaluate performance over two to three years before making long-term decisions”, the letter said, adding: “Removal of the graduate route would exacerbate recruitment challenges.”
Two senior government insiders said there was a “robust debate” taking place within the cabinet about the graduate route, with education secretary Gillian Keegan arguing that it should be retained. “It all comes down to what the PM decides,” one added.
Additional reporting by Amy Borrett
