The debate over Britain ’s
immigration policy continues.
Britain ’s main competitors – the US ,
Australia and Canada all
include students in their net migration figures (while distinguishing them for
internal administrative purposes). Unlike Britain , the same countries
interview students before a visa is granted to test whether they are genuine
and whether they really intend to return home after their course. A major
Australian report found recently that these interviews did not deter genuine
students. The UK
should re-introduce them.
Migration Watch, a UK-based
think tank, has challenged the call by 70 University Chancellors, in a recent letter to the Prime Minister, for overseas students to be taken out of the
migration statistics. This would achieve nothing except to destroy public
confidence in the government’s immigration policy while any significant
expansion of foreign students could blow the government’s immigration policy
seriously off course.
According to the study
published by Migration Watch UK :
The US and Australia
both have checks on the departure of individual students which are still not
possible in the UK .
Over the past ten years two million non EU and ½ million EU students have been
admitted to Britain to study for more than a year but the government has not
the slightest idea how many have actually left. Universities UK accept that
about 20% of students stay on legally – that amounts to net migration of 50,000
a year.
Some of those from poorer
countries are likely to stay on illegally. Migration Watch estimate that they
could add a further 25,000 per year bringing the total to 75,000. If the number of foreign
students was allowed to increase still further as the universities wish to see,
students could eventually add 90 - 100,000 a year to net migration.
A 10% change in the number of
foreign students would change the UK ’s annual foreign exchange
earnings by only about 0.2%.
Commenting, Sir Andrew Green,
Chairman Migration Watch UK
said “Foreign students are valuable but the present system is far too easily
abused. Sadly, the student route has become the back door to Britain and it
is wide open. Unlike our main competitors, we do not interview students before
they come to confirm that they are genuine and there are no checks on their
departure. We cannot have a massive inflow of a quarter of a million students a
year without their contributing heavily to immigration. Taking them out of the
statistics would achieve nothing. The government must thoroughly tighten up the
student system or any attempt to reduce the current mass immigration will be
blown seriously off course.
Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive of
Universities UK, said: "In many respects the Migration Watch UK report makes
valid and important points. The letter from university Chancellors to the prime
minister states that any abuse of the student visa route needs to be tackled. UK universities
are fully signed up to that agenda.
"But the Migration Watch report is wrong in calling for
international students to be counted within the UK 's migration figures. The Chancellors were calling for the government to
remove international students from net migration figures in order to make a
clear distinction between temporary and permanent migrants for the UK 's own
internal policy purposes. This would actually increase public confidence in the
immigration system. No one is suggesting that international students should not
be counted in the immigration system.”