International student numbers in UK ‘flatlining’ as it fails to compete against likes of US

British universities have called on the government to reintroduce a visa that would allow overseas students to stay in the country to work for up to two years after graduation.

They say it would give the UK a competitive edge over rival countries and help it maintain the 450,000 international students, 134,835 of them EU-born, who come to study in Britain every year.

Universities UK, the sector’s umbrella body, said in a briefing to parliament on Tuesday: “The UK remains an extremely popular destination for international students, attracting more students from abroad except the much larger US.

“However, the UK’s closest competitors, such as the USA, Australia, France and Germany, all continue to grow at a faster rate than the UK.”

While student numbers in 2014-15 rose by 9.4% in the US, 10.7% in Australia and 8.7% in Germany, the UK rate was 0.5%.

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Launching proposals for a time-limited visa, Sir Steve Smith, the vice-chancellor of Exeter University and chairman of Universities UK’s international policy network, said the visa would be an important source of soft power in the post-Brexit era.

He acknowledged the government’s long-held pledge to reduce net migration to the “tens of thousands”, but said reintroducing a special post-study visa would send a “hell of a signal” to the rest of the world that Britain was a welcoming country.

“I think we are in danger of losing our position as one of the world leaders in international education,” he said. “The market is buoyant, but the UK is flatlining in terms of international students.

“The UK as a country needs to make it clear that international students are absolutely welcome. I think now is the time, when we are 29 weeks from Brexit allegedly, to make a grand statement about welcoming in a new era where global talent can come to this country, study, work afterwards and thereby deal with the number-one issue with the economy, which is productivity, allowing those skilled workers enter the workforce.”



In 2012, the UK abandoned the post-study visa that had allowed graduates to stay and work in the country for two years, as the then home secretary, Theresa May, led a crackdown on student overstayers.

But her claim that up to 100,000 foreign students were failing to return home, fuelling concerns that post-study work visas were a back door to immigration, have been discredited, said Smith, with recent exit information showing 97% of students whose visas expired in 2018 “left on time”.

He pointed out that the US and Canada allow students to stay for three years after graduating, while Australia, often cited as a role model for immigration by Brexiters, allows them to stay for four.

His comments came as a ComRes poll published on Tuesday showed 75% of the population do not view students as “immigrants”.

A government-commissioned report on the impact of Brexit on the labour market is due to be published in autumn by the migration advisory committee.

Vivienne Stern, the director of Universities UK International, said: “This is explicitly not a route to settlement.”

She recognised that the Home Office was unlikely to open the gates to immigration in the current environment, but said the organisation wanted to lodge the proposal “in case the opportunity opens up” for a post-study visa once the report is published.

Universities want the post-study visa to be unrestricted allowing graduates to seek jobs without a sponsor with colleges monitoring graduates for compliance.



A spokesman for the Home Office said it recognised the “the cultural and financial contribution which international students make to the UK “ which was why they allowed students to stay if they got a “graduate level job get an internship or apply to set up a business in the UK.”



Universities UK pointed out that this is restricted as students must find a job with a salary of at least £20,800 at an employer with a Tier 2 sponsor licence within four months of completing their course, or find sponsorship as an entrepreneur. PhD students are separately able to stay for up to 12 months following completion of their degree.