Student visa system is "self-defeating"

---

Lord Clement-Jones argues that the UK Border Agency has adopted a "damaging" system for universities with immigration policy towards overseas students.

Last year a total of 250,000 full- and part-time students from non-EU countries were engaged in study in UK higher education institutions.

Our institutions have a great reputation. We have four of the top 20-rated universities in the world and 30 out of the top 200. There are some 70-80,000 Chinese students studying in the UK at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, 40,000 from India and a further 30,000 students from South East Asia.

Many universities in the UK have over 25 per cent of their students from overseas. Successive governments, however, have seemed determined to reverse this.

The points-based visa system was introduced in November 2008 by the previous Labour government to ensure we were bringing in the right skills from abroad to meet the needs of UK business in the permanent workforce. I have no quarrel with that aspiration but in a number of areas the system has proved over-bureaucratic, self-defeating and damaging to Britain’s reputation.

Earlier this year the government announced its decision to restrict Post Study Work Route Visas for non-EU students. The almost universal response to this proposal from business, universities, research charities and student bodies was negative, and for good reason.

The availability of PSWR Visas is in many cases a crucial part of the decision by overseas students about where to study. They take the view that an attractive package of study and employment is important for their career development.

UK and global financial services sector companies, and other organisations such as media agencies, benefit from rotating PSWR Visa employees doing internships and work experience. The students go back to their home country with benefits for business and academic relations with the UK.

I am all in favour of tackling bogus colleges and overstaying students, but there is little evidence of abuse.

Over 90 per cent of those studying here are degree students. The current proposal will have the effect of cutting chances for these students of postgraduate employment. It will deprive them of employability benefits in their home country which are derived from work experience in the UK.

As a result they will chose universities in other countries which appear more attractive, destinations such as US and Canada with more favourable visa terms, tuition costs and bursaries.

Recent experience in Australia has shown that changes in the student visa rules led to drastic drops in student applications to Australian universities, from Asia in particular, and led to dramatic reversals in their visa policy.

Already this year applications from overseas students to UK universities are down. They feel less welcome and the UK is a less attractive destination. Our immigration minister seems entirely happy that overseas student numbers are being reduced.

The Home Office and the Business Department seem to have entirely different policies. Is the government really prepared to sacrifice the considerable income universities and the economy derive from overseas students?

From recent experience the Home Office and the UK Border Agency seem to have adopted the reverse of a risk-based approach to immigration: restrict those who are not truly migrants such as overseas students, and let in all the highest-risk immigrants with impunity.

Timothy Clement-Jonesis the former director of Brixton City Challenge (1994-98). He was raised to the peerage in 1998 and sits on the Liberal Democrat benches.