UK work visa for elite graduates is exclusive and based on flawed assumptions

The UK's high potential individual visa demonstrates short-sightedness about the experience, insights and skills that graduates from the global South could bring to the UK. Shutterstock

The UK government’s announcement of a new work visa option aimed at attracting top graduates has elicited some backlash because the list of eligible institutions features no universities from Africa, Latin America or South Asia. The Conversation Africa’s Nontobeko Mtshali asked Orla Quinlan, Director of Internationalisation at Rhodes University in South Africa, to share her thoughts on the implications such visa programmes have for international integration and intercultural efforts in higher education.

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