Economic considerations appear to have won out over desire to slash migration

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

On the roadmap to post-Brexit Britain, Boris Johnson offering overseas students more time to find a job in the country after they graduate attempts to hit on a compromise: between the demands of business to attract workers and the demands of many Brexit voters for migration to fall.

Economic considerations appear to have won out.

Universities had been applying significant pressure, warning that Theresa May’s tougher rules would inflict severe damage on a sector where Britain is a genuine world leader. Businesses argued that graduates would head elsewhere, to fill roles from low-skilled retail jobs to high-flying finance and tech startups.

According to the lobby group Universities UK, enticing the 460,000 overseas students to Britain – including 140,000 from the EU – supports almost a million jobs and brings in £26bn a year for the economy. Under the market-driven changes introduced by the coalition government, some universities have become dependent on the higher fees paid by international students.

The government reckons education exports also provide an important economic contribution, generating around £20bn in 2016. About £1.8bn is raked in from awarding UK degrees in other countries – a rise of 73% since 2010.

May’s tough stance made little sense when her own trade ministers wanted to increase overseas student numbers to as many as 600,000 by 2030.

Britain also taps into soft power from hosting migrant students that is difficult to quantify. A British degree is a mark of distinction. About 60 heads of government and state around the world were educated in Britain, and not just at Oxbridge: four studied at Manchester, while others went to Bristol, Brentford and Cardiff.

Opening up the country to student migration could also be key for new trade deals, including with nations such as India, which sends significantly fewer students to Britain than China does. .

Johnson has been aided by softening attitudes on migration since the Brexit vote, as the economic and cultural benefits have been spelled out in greater detail.

The Migration Advisory Committee put paid to the notion that EU migrants drive down wages, drive up crime, bleed the welfare state dry and rob British jobs. In contradiction to the tabloid rhetoric, Oxford Economics reckons EU migrants contribute about £2,300 more to the public purse each year than the average adult.

There are some potential drawbacks. Britain has a higher proportion of graduates in non-graduate jobs than average for a wealthy nation, while a third of migrant workers in the UK are also overqualified for their jobs.

However, overseas students typically forge lasting ties that stick with them throughout their careers. Ministers will hope the visa extension strengthens those bonds, supporting the economy, when Brexit might otherwise damage them.