International students are abandoning the UK

Arklight

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/06/international-students-britain-universities-immigration-policy

With less than 1% of the world’s population, the UK publishes 16% of the world’s highly cited research papers. It is no wonder that people from across the globe come to study in this country...

...In its failed attempts to reach net migration of less than 100,000 per year – and by including international students within this figure – the UK government is sending out a negative message. It risks allowing our competitors – particularly Australia and Canada, as well as the likes of Germany and France within the EU – to not only catch up but overtake us.

International students are a jewel in Britain’s crown: data last year showed 58 world leaders have been educated at British universities, more than any other country. Not only are they a vital source of soft power, but universities also bring in £26bn to the UK economy each year thanks – directly and indirectly – to international students.

We are in a global race. Our competitor countries are continually increasing their market share of international students – growing at double-digit percentage rates per year, while we have been flatlining.

International young people like these are abandoning the UK in favour of the US, Canada, and Aus

Very sad that this is the case. There is no more vital flow of people than young people people seeking education. Once the UK was seen as a beacon of learning open to the world. Now we risk becoming more seen as a lighthouse run by Old Man Steptoe grumbling about wanting to go to "'Olliday in Bognor."

Rinoa

Arklight wrote: »

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/06/international-students-britain-universities-immigration-policy




International young people like these are abandoning the UK in favour of the US, Canada, and Aus

Very sad that this is the case. There is no more vital flow of people than young people people seeking education. Once the UK was seen as a beacon of learning open to the world. Now we risk becoming more seen as a lighthouse run by Old Man Steptoe grumbling about wanting to go to "'Olliday in Bognor."

Could it have anything to do with muppets on social media telling the world how the UK is an economic basket case and full of xenophobes attacking foreigners.

Arklight

Rinoa wrote: »

Could it have anything to do with muppets on social media telling the world how the UK is an economic basket case and full of xenophobes attacking foreigners.

You mean muppets like the London School of Economics, spouting their facts, based on actual events that happened?

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/03/19/hate-crime-did-spike-after-the-referendum-even-allowing-for-other-factors/

Brexit and hate crimes
Firstly, Figures 1 and 2 show the trends of hate crime for the daily and monthly data, with the dashed vertical line showing when the referendum occurred. Figure 1 is most striking, showing the sudden increase in hate crime coming soon after the referendum and lasting for some time before declining back to (and below) pre-referendum levels.

michaels

Thank goodness once fom is ended we will be able to balance the benefits of skilled migration against the costs of over population on terms that suit the uk.

Cakeguts

Luckily the message is now getting through that most of the universities in the UK are not worth attending because of the extremely low standards. To attract international students you have to have universities that offer a good quality education not what most of them offer now.

jonnygee2

This exodus started years ago when Theresa May, as home secretary, pursued a pointless agenda against student visas after including them in the immigration targets. Even her own party were against her - George Osbourne and Boris Johnson tried to stop her and Osborne claimed she was the only minister in government who thought it was a good idea. Utter madness.

Still, she succeeded and since then visas have been very difficult to get and time capped. It's funny because these people come to the UK being sponsored by their parents, spend probably £20,000 - £30,000 a year on fees, accommodation and living expenses of money that was earned abroad, and are of almost no cost or burden to the economy at all.

We were also often to retain the best of them to work in the UK, filling many difficult to fill but vital roles (engineers, doctors etc) and generally benefitting the economy. Other countries were worried about a 'brain drain' from their economy where they were losing all of their best talent to the UK!

Arklight

michaels wrote: »

Thank goodness once fom is ended we will be able to balance the benefits of skilled migration against the costs of over population on terms that suit the uk.

International students are defined as residing outside of the EU. So I'm not sure what effect you think Freedom of Movement will have on them.

Arklight

jonnygee2 wrote: »

This exodus started years ago when Theresa May, as home secretary, pursued a pointless agenda against student visas after including them in the immigration targets. Even her own party were against her - George Osbourne and Boris Johnson tried to stop her and Osborne claimed she was the only minister in government who thought it was a good idea. Utter madness.

Still, she succeeded and since then visas have been very difficult to get and time capped. It's funny because these people come to the UK being sponsored by their parents, spend probably £20,000 - £30,000 a year on fees, accommodation and living expenses of money that was earned abroad, and are of almost no cost or burden to the economy at all.

We were also often to retain the best of them to work in the UK, filling many difficult to fill but vital roles (engineers, doctors etc) and generally benefitting the economy. Other countries were worried about a 'brain drain' from their economy where they were losing all of their best talent to the UK!

It probably made sense to her in the same way as driving mobile billboards around London telling foreigners to go home did.

andrewf75

Lets be honest, we're not looking too clever as a country right now. I'm not even one of those who is all doom and gloom about Brexit, but even in a best case scenario we look like a country in decline.

Herzlos

That's what happens when you create impossible and pointless targets.


I wonder who's going to capitalize on our mistakes and become the new centre of education for the world? The US?

Pennywise

jonnygee2 wrote: »

It's funny because these people come to the UK being sponsored by their parents, spend probably £20,000 - £30,000 a year on fees, accommodation and living expenses of money that was earned abroad, and are of almost no cost or burden to the economy at all.

Yes, many were in that category, but there was also wholesale abuse of fake students studying at dodgy training centres pretending to be here to study, but in reality, just economic migrants, many of whom were indeed at a cost and a burden. Like all immigration, there needs to be checks and controls to ensure that "the right" immigrants are welcomed with open arms, i.e. those who are genuinely here to study financed by their families and those who have shortage skills ready to walk into job vacancies. There also need to be proper control to ensure that those here on student visas do in fact go home afterwards or get decently paid genuine jobs, and not just disappear into society without contributing to UK PLC.