Plans for non-EU graduate students to leave the UK, once their courses and visas have expired, have been halted.
In December 2014, Theresa May, the UK home secretary, proposed plans for “zero net student immigration” in the UK, arguing that this would be part of a fair immigration policy. The plans (initially set out in the Conservative Party Manifesto of 2010) stated that any non-EU student at a UK university would be required to leave the UK, immediately upon completion of their degree. Any universities and institutions failing to enforce this policy would be penalised.
These plans have been halted, for now, due to resistance from the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, with support from the former UK universities minister, David Willets, and inventor Sir James Dyson. They argue that the benefit to the UK economy, of attracting talented researchers from around the world, outweighs the negatives of increasing immigration.
The current rules stipulate that students have 4 months after graduation to apply for a graduate job that pays £24,000 per year. This looks set to remain the case for the time being, but it is unclear whether May’s plans have been buried completely or if they’ve just been delayed. Clearly this is a complex set of issues at a time when governments, on one hand, are being forced to control immigration to control public spending, and on the other hand recognise the need to import talent that not only supports the higher education “industry”, whose research-based innovation could drive economic growth.
We’re interested to hear from the Naturejobs readers about the potential impacts of this policy. So, please vote in our poll to let us know if you think this policy should go through and in the comments, please provide your reasons and answers to the questions below:
- Are you a non-EU student in the UK? What was your experience of applying for a job here? Would a proposal like this make you think twice?
- Are you a non-EU student thinking of coming to study in the UK? How would this proposal affect you?
- Are you an existing UK or EU student studying in the UK? What do you think about this proposal?
Thanks!
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This measure seems like a counter-intuitive approach to continue receiving higher tuition fees, but allow the government to shut them out of the opportunities afterwards. Tuition fees are an increasingly prominent income for UK HE institutes, so why bring about a measure that is more likely to stop those students wanting to attend the UK for their education at all? They’re more likely to just go elsewhere.
Non-EU students already contribute a huge amount to the UK education sector, and if the brightest and best from non-EU countries no longer wish to come here – how can we expect to maintain our high research excellence? The UK will probably also lose more money than it is likely to gain. Why spend the time training people, if the UK won’t benefit from it and they themselves aren’t given the opportunity to give something back to the UK.
International students are simply being used as scapegoats to pretend that immigration has been reduced. It is the UK that will lose out from their absence.
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Thanks for your thoughts Ben.
Playing devils advocate now, but I wonder if you can explain why a policy like this would stop students from coming to the UK in the first place? They would still be allowed to apply for, and receive a British education, which is what many are looking for.
On another note, the UK higher education system trains many British nationals, the majority of which leave the UK to continue further research elsewhere, or leave academia all together (https://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1899&Itemid=634) Isn’t that the same issue as what you describe, except applied to UK students? The UK trains them up but someone else will benefit?
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It depends on the reasons one might pick a British university among others. For most having the work experience on top of studying abroad translates to a sizable jump in their salary and also rank when they return home. Also there is more of a chance to network and build good collaborations while doing a research job compared to studying. Keep in mind, if one comes from a country with weaker currency compared to pound, working in UK helps to clear at least a part of their loan much quicker than they could do back at home. Take the opportunity to have work experience away and many would decide to explore other countries (e.g. https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6450ff68-ba3e-11e3-aeb0-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3OpABdz52).
For your second question, one might think about it as a parent: one contributes in tax towards infrastructures which will benefit them and their children. There is still a large gap between national fees and international ones. Some might argue that the government [or taxes] pays the difference by funding universities while some believe the difference is coming through the international fees as universities’ substantial income. But whether the government’s contribution should come with an string attached is a different question. In some countries, graduates who received free university education are asked to repay by working inside the home country, sometimes for as long as twice the time spent in education or more, or contribute with a large sum before they are allowed to leave the country. I think I’d agree with the ones considering this an step in wrong direction though. Even if graduates leave their home country and never ever return, just by being successful abroad they are contributing to improve the image of their home country which would open doors for collaborations, …
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Avazeh,
Thank you for adding your thoughts to the conversation. Unfortunately I cannot access the article that you have referenced, but the title tells me that it shows that the number of overseas students dropped for the first time in the UK in 3) (?) years, last year? Does the article mention why this happened?
With all the benefits that you point out of studying abroad, do you think that a policy like this would actually deter students from coming to the UK? If you don’t mind me asking, why did you decide to come to a UK university?
Thanks,
Julie
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I do not understand, why nobody is talking about this ‘problem’ honestly and all discussions sound like pure rhetoric…. Let’s face it, majority of international PhD students do not pay tuition and they payed through grants, well, at least in natural sciences. Technically it means that UK government pays for PhDs. Another thing, many PhD students do not want to go back to their countries for different reasons: no job opportunities, differences in payments, better options in UK, etc. Personally, I do not know anybody on PhD program from second-world countries who would want to go back to their homeland to do science. It is sad, but it is fact.
Why would anybody after experiencing first-class scientific research in UK to go back to the underfunded labs and virtually non-existent science?
Why would any country invest into education of non-citizens and than kick them out?
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Hi Olga,
Thanks for your thoughts. I completely understand where you are coming from, but the policy would still allow non-EU graduates to apply for UK-based jobs (academic or otherwise). They would just need to go home and apply from there. It’s not stopping anyone from applying, I guess it’s just making things more difficult.
Best,
Julie
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I am a final year international student and I do not feel that I’m being treated appropriately by this country. In fact, i feel I’m just being used, and I’m sure majority of the international students who pay for themselves and who do not come from a wealthy background would support me. We come here inspired and determined to work hard, we get good results and make ourselves employable. I mean we would be employable if we were not from outside the EU. This only line crosses out everything for us. Yes, we are generously given 4 months to find a job that would pay 20,500 pounds after taxes. Have you heard of even a British or European graduate who gets this kind of money? I havent’. So this whole talk about our opportunities for finding a job, it’s all on paper, people can’t find a job like this in real life.
Another thing is postgraduate studies. They are extremely limited for international students. If we talk about science the major funders like BBSRC and Wellcome Trust are not very willing for give money to them. We go through so much bureaucracy to come here. I don’t understand why international students are punished like this. And then we come here and see those many people from the EU countries who do unqualified jobs and often have limited English language command, but they are free from those worries.
Speaking about the new initiative of that missis May, I don’t know what possessed her. So not only do we have to worry about our final year exams. What she offers sounds like a choice for us: should I revise or should I pack my bags? I think this country should give international students a bit more respect. We are qualified, decent people (mostly), we deserve a bit more opportunities than this. We’re not asking for any money or benefits, all we would like is not every single step we make being restricted. I don’t feel this is in compliance with the those traditional western values of equality and freedom. This country is being an outrageous money leech. I’m regretting coming here.
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Hi Svetlana,
I’m sorry to hear that you are struggling with the system as it stands in the UK. I do however hope that you are enjoying your degree course and are gaining as much as possible from it.
I’d be interested to hear what industries you are looking at to find a job that pays £24k (before taxes), and why you think this doesn’t exist. There are many industries and roles that offer this level of pay, but unfortunately, this makes them very competitive!
Best,
Julie
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Hi Julie, I will graduating be graduating with a bioscience degree. The next career path for me is a PhD (not very possible due to very limited funding for the international students, unless I fund my studies, which is impossible) or some biotech company (which would not pay 24,000 pounds to a new graduate). Another opportunity is a pharmaceutical company, however this industry is a not very big on hiring new graduates. They have programmes targeted to train managers not scientists. To be more confident in looking for a proper job in a pharmaceutical company you need a PhD.
I am not saying those jobs don’t exist. As you pointed out they are very competitive, and the regulations constantly being introduced by the Home Office effectively makes the job market inaccessible for us. I realise it’s all about market economy and economical stability these days, but feel like international students need some protection from the aggressive UK policy. We don’t pay that money to be able to do this degree and then to be just kicked out like this once we graduate. I’m not even talking about this new proposed policy, I’m talking about the existent one. The government is also responsible for us and it’s a shame they don’t think so. If they cannot propose an adequate policy for international students, then stop accepting them at all, I guarantee your immigration situation will be so much better. Is it the next step? Or are they really desperate for our money? As you correctly pointed out, we’re just being treated as scapegoats to mend the immigrations figures. Are we being punished for all this immigration from the EU or are we in another cohort?