Immigration minister Damian Green is proposing to crack down on work visas for non-EU students after they leave education in order to create a “fair playing field” for UK graduates trying to enter the jobs market.
In a speech to the think tank Reform, Green claimed that change was necessary to stop people from using bogus courses, particularly in English language skills, as a means of staying in the country to find employment.
He also attested that as many as 91,000 visas were issued to non-Europeans last year by 744 private colleges, only 18% of which that had been verified as ‘highly trusted’ by the UK Border Agency.
“People imagine that students come here for a few years to study at our universities and then go home – that is not always the case. Too many come to do courses below degree level as a cover for staying and working,” Green said.
The problem was that having “unfettered access” to the jobs market was “putting an unnecessary extra strain on our own graduates”. Students risked being put off going to university if they had to spend large amounts of money to do so but did not necessarily get work at the end of it.
Last week, official figures showed that graduate unemployment had hit a 17-year high, with one in five still looking for work two years after leaving education. Future students also face a hike in tuition fees of up to £9,000 per year after Parliament passed coalition government proposals to almost triple the existing cap.
In order to crack down on a system that is “too generous”, however, Green is proposing to scrap the Tier 1 – Post Study Work Visa, which enables non-EU students to stay in the UK for two years after completing their studies.
In 2009, 380,000 international graduates took up such post-study work, which is intended to form a bridge between study and skilled employment. Only about half moved into skilled occupations, however, with many going into secretarial, sales, customer services and catering roles.
Green’s comments followed the conclusion of a consultation period with the further and higher education sector to slash the number of non-European student visas by up to 40%.
Two thirds of non-EU migrants entering the country come in on UK student visas, which means that the coalition government must slash numbers if it is to fulfil its election pledge of cutting net migration from 200,000 to less than 100,000 by 2015.
But it faces strong opposition to its plans by universities and colleges who warn that cuts could have dire consequences for the sector. Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, which represents all higher education bodies, told the Financial Times: “International students are not economic migrants. They come, they go, they bring money into the UK…The proposals are damaging, they’re dangerous and we are very opposed and concerned about them.”
