Ministerial report criticises student visa clampdown
Proposed visa changes for non-EU students are based on a lack of robust data, a Home Affairs Select Committee report has warned.
Underlining the value of the international student industry to the UK economy, the report recognises that students should not be included in migration statistics.
Christina Yan-Zhang, international students officer at NUS, said the findings should put pressure on the government to scrap a proposed clamp down on student visas.
“There can be no doubt that by placing excessive restrictions on international students wanting to come to the UK to study and by removing the huge incentive of the option to work in the UK for two years after their course finishes for those that do make it here the Government will decimate a highly profitable UK industry worth £40 billion,” said Yan-Zhang.
According to a NUS survey of 8,000 international students, 70% of non-EU learners would not come to the UK without a Post-Study Work option, including 75% of those studying STEM subjects.
Susannah Fairbairn
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