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1709 Student Visas<br />
6 JUNE 2013<br />
Student Visas<br />
1710<br />
[Mr Bailey]<br />
In addressing what must be recognised as a hugely<br />
sensitive issue and a focus of public concern, the<br />
Government must have a student regime that does not<br />
deter bona fide international students and does not<br />
undermine our further education colleges, our universities<br />
or the wider economy. I recognise the efforts that the<br />
Prime Minister has made to visit India and China in<br />
particular to make it clear unequivocally that t<strong>here</strong> is no<br />
cap on bona fide student applications. However, the<br />
Prime Minister has a credibility problem if, at the same<br />
time as he proclaims those things, students who wish to<br />
come to this country from abroad find that their dealings<br />
with the Home Office and the visa process completely<br />
contradict his public assertions.<br />
Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab): Does<br />
my hon. Friend find it slightly perplexing that we have<br />
seen a drop of about 40,000 a year in overseas student<br />
numbers, which suggests that the very people he wants<br />
to attract are being deterred, and that simultaneously<br />
we have seen a huge growth in temporary student<br />
visas—the very group that the independent inspector<br />
warned is most likely to include bogus students?<br />
Mr Bailey: My hon. Friend mentions an important<br />
point. I shall deal with that in some depth in a moment.<br />
Within the regulatory regime, the current problems<br />
are focused on the inflexibility of the tier 4 visa for<br />
undergraduate education. Over and above that and<br />
linked to it are the problems associated with the post-study<br />
work visa. T<strong>here</strong> is no doubt that many international<br />
students who want an undergraduate education want to<br />
carry that on at postgraduate level in order to demonstrate<br />
the skills that they have acquired in local universities,<br />
the local public sector or sometimes local businesses.<br />
The majority deterrent to that within the existing visa<br />
structure is the high salary threshold, which precludes<br />
much postgraduate working in areas w<strong>here</strong> salaries for<br />
graduates are lower or in professions w<strong>here</strong> salaries<br />
for graduates are lower.<br />
Credibility interviews are the process that the Home<br />
Office is using to interview would-be international students<br />
in their home countries to establish the credibility of<br />
their claims to want higher education in this country.<br />
The feedback that I am getting time and again from<br />
universities is that that approach appears to be inco<strong>here</strong>nt<br />
and inconsistent. Taken together with the change in<br />
regulations, it reinforces the perception abroad that<br />
Britain is no longer open to business. The fact that the<br />
Prime Minister needs to go to these countries and make<br />
these statements is a tacit admission that t<strong>here</strong> is a real<br />
problem and a gap between the regulatory regime as<br />
stated by the Government and the perception of it abroad.<br />
Dame Joan Ruddock (Lewisham, Deptford) (Lab): I<br />
congratulate my hon. Friend on his speech. In London<br />
alone, tuition fees are paid by overseas students to the<br />
value of £870 million, so we have a tremendous gain<br />
from these students coming <strong>here</strong>. At my local colleges,<br />
Goldsmith’s and Trinity Laban, the student experience<br />
is vastly enhanced by the presence of foreign students.<br />
Mr Bailey: I thank my right hon. Friend for her<br />
intervention. I will elaborate on that point in a moment,<br />
and I am sure that Members representing other universities<br />
would seek to do so.<br />
We really need to sing about the fact that further and<br />
higher education in Britain is a success story. It is not<br />
just a way for people to fulfil their personal career<br />
ambitions or to develop themselves culturally and socially,<br />
important though that is; it is an industry that earns<br />
£8 billion in exports and contributes £14 billion, in all,<br />
to the British economy. In certain towns, particularly in<br />
more deprived regions, it is crucial in sustaining employment<br />
levels and economies. Four UK universities are in the<br />
world university top 10 rankings, and a very high percentage<br />
are in the top 200. It is not just about the contribution<br />
that international students make to the economies of<br />
the local areas in which universities are located. Increasingly,<br />
universities are working in collaboration with local<br />
businesses to ensure that the research and skills that<br />
they develop are harnessed for commercial purposes or<br />
with the public sector to assist in the local community. I<br />
have seen fantastic examples of that work up and down<br />
the country, and it is crucially underpinned by international<br />
students.<br />
Last year, 12% of the total student body comprised<br />
international students, 49% of whom enrolled in courses<br />
in engineering, maths and computer sciences—the very<br />
areas w<strong>here</strong> t<strong>here</strong> are serious skills shortages and the<br />
maximum economic dividend for our businesses. Any<br />
policy that restricts access into those areas will have, in<br />
the long term, profound implications for the capacity of<br />
our local businesses to grow the economy.<br />
Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con): I congratulate the<br />
hon. Gentleman on securing this debate from the<br />
Backbench Business Committee. He may well come to<br />
this point, but I would like to make it as well. Many<br />
people who come to this country to study get a very<br />
good impression of it. They get educated <strong>here</strong> and they<br />
experience our values and understand what we stand<br />
for. When they go back, they become a friend of this<br />
country in their own societies. That is terribly important<br />
for the future of our country and, indeed, their countries.<br />
Mr Bailey: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his<br />
intervention, although he has taken half my next point.<br />
Perhaps he made it considerably better than I would.<br />
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Lab): Will my hon.<br />
Friend give way?<br />
Mr Bailey: Very quickly, but I have already taken a<br />
lot of interventions.<br />
Jeremy Corbyn: I appreciate that, and I am grateful<br />
to my hon. Friend. He will be aware that I represent the<br />
constituency that includes London Metropolitan university.<br />
Although things have moved on a long way and some<br />
overseas students are now being recruited, will he express<br />
regret about how that university has been treated and<br />
the damage that was done to Britain’s international<br />
reputation by the Home Office’s handling of the situation?<br />
Mr Bailey: Whatever the case for taking action t<strong>here</strong>,<br />
the way that it was handled has undoubtedly had<br />
considerable adverse repercussions abroad. Perhaps the<br />
case needs to be examined to see whether similar problems<br />
that may emerge in future can be dealt with in a less<br />
damaging way.