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Britain’s Business Secretary Sajid Javid came under fire on Friday, after insisting that those who chose to come to study in the UK from outside the EU would have to return home.
The government was keen to maintain an immigration system that allowed those wanted to come and study at British universities to come here but not to be able to settle in the country afterwards. “We have got to break the link and make sure its focused on people who want to study, and then once they’ve had their studies and completed that, then they leave,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme on Friday.
His comments came at a time when pressure is mounting on the government over their policy towards student visas, with universities warning that the tough restrictive rules that no longer allow students to stay on using a two-year post study work visa was already losing Britain some of the best and brightest students out to other countries with far more flexible options.
“[Javid]’s comments are concerning because we have seen post study work rules get tougher at the very moment when others have been relaxing them and it does worry me that the Business Department is suggesting, if anything, that they could be even tougher,” Nick Hillman, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute. He added that the unwelcoming signals sent out about British higher education would make the target of 30 billion pounds of education exports by 2020 –set by Jo Johnson, the new universities minister– hard to achieve.
Business lobby group the Institute of Directors also attacked Javid’s comments on Friday. “The business secretary’s proposals to eject foreign students after graduation are misguided and would damage the British education system, our economy and global influence,” said the IoD’s head of employment and skills Seamus Nevin.
Javid’s comments hit a different note to those of Johnson who last month, in his first speech since becoming minister, stressed the positive impact of international students, particularly to the British economy.
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