Fees paid by international postgraduate students are helping universities in London and other parts of Britain provide more courses and do more research, the government’s migration advisers said on Tuesday as they rejected any curbs on the visas.
The Migration Advisory Committee said the financial contribution paid by foreign graduates studying for higher degrees in this country also made up for losses incurred teaching UK students and that without the money many universities would have to shrink.
It added that some changes were needed to tackle abuses by recruitment agents used to attract foreign students because of evidence of mis-selling and exploitation.
These included the sale of unnecessary “add on” services and examples including the case of a student sent a picture of London and led to believe she would be studying in a big city, who was instead sent to a university in a “remote location that did not suit her needs or expectations”.
But in a report to the Home Office published on Tuesday, the committee emphasised that there was no evidence of widespread abuse of the graduate visa by the students themselves and that it should be retained because of its important role in supporting higher education.
Professor Brian Bell, the committee chairman, said: “The graduate route is a key part of the offer that we make to international students to come and study in the UK.
“The fees that these students pay helps universities to cover the losses they make in teaching British students and doing research. Without those students, many universities would need to shrink and less research would be done. This highlights the complex interaction between immigration policy and higher education policy.
“Our review recommends the graduate route should remain as it is, and is not undermining the quality and integrity of the UK’s higher education system.”
Tuesday’s findings will delight university vice-chancellors, including those in London, who have repeatedly sought to highlight the important financial and educational contribution of foreign students at both graduate and undergraduate level.
The Home Office, which commissioned Tuesday’s report, has already announced plans to restrict the ability of overseas students to bring dependants as part of its plan to slash the current record levels of net migration into Britain, prompting fears that further curbs could be imposed.
But Tuesday’s report rejects the idea and concludes that as well as benefiting the university sector, foreign graduates also make a small net positive contribution to public finances.
It says this is because the tax and the annual £1,035 immigration health surcharge they pay are likely to outweigh the low health and other costs they incur, although the committee cautions that there is likely to be an “upward pressure” on house prices because of the additional demand created by the students.
On the numbers involved, Tuesday’s report says that 114,000 graduate visas were granted in 2023, with an additional 30,000 dependants adding to the overseas presence in Britain.
Nearly three quarters of those arriving come from India, Nigeria, China and Pakistan with Indian graduates making up 40 per cent of those given visas.
Four out of ten applicants were living in London at the time of making their application for the graduate visa. The committee says this indicates that some foreign graduates are moving to the capital – as some British students do too – for work after finishing undergraduate degrees elsewhere in this country.
Institutions in the capital with high numbers of overseas graduate students include Imperial College and University College London.
The Home Office said it would consider the findings of Tuesday’s report “very closely” and remained “committed to attracting the best and brightest to study at our world-class universities, whilst preventing abuse of our immigration system.
