here - United Kingdom Parliament

1735 Student Visas
6 JUNE 2013
Student Visas
1736
a constituency with a university or a higher education
institution in it wants that for those institutions. It is up
to the Minister to ensure that we continue to recruit
overseas students and that they benefit from their learning
experience in this country.
2.36 pm
Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): Let me first pay tribute
to my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich
West (Mr Bailey) and all other Members who signed up
to ensure that we had this afternoon’s debate. It is
perhaps a sort of irony that the quality of the debate
has been high, with an enormous degree of unanimity
on the issues. I suspect that if the Chamber had been
fuller, the debate might have been more partisan and
there might have been less unanimity, but the debate we
have had is a tribute to the way in which the argument
has been advanced in several Select Committees and
through the Select Committee process itself. Sometimes
if we just look rationally at the facts, it is easier to reach
a cross-party position.
I studied abroad. I did part of my primary education
in Spain; I studied theology at the Instituto Superior
Evangélico de Estudios Teológicos in Argentina; so I
understand the complications and difficulties of studying
in other countries. I note that the hon. Member for
Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), of whom I am
particularly fond, referred to Erasmus, talking about
what has happened since Erasmus came here in the 16th
century. It is interesting because when Erasmus first
came here to study at Cambridge university in 1506, he
did not complete a whole year so I do not think he
would have been included in the net migration target.
When he came again, in 1511, staying until 1515, he
taught as the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at
Cambridge university. In that case, he would have come
here under the tier 2 visa, which would have been
completely different and not the subject of this afternoon’s
debate.
Mr Andrew Smith: Does my hon. Friend think that
the Home Office still has Erasmus’s passport?
Chris Bryant: That is a point well made.
Another hon. Member—I cannot remember who it
was—referred to the fact that many Heads of State
from around the world have studied in the United
Kingdom. [Interruption.] It was the hon. Member for
Croydon Central (Gavin Barwell), who speaks sanely
and sensibly on many of these issues. As he said, some
studied at Sandhurst, as many have been military leaders
as well. It must surely be good, in terms of our soft
power, that the Heads of State of Denmark, Portugal,
Iceland, Norway, Turkey and many other countries
have studied in the United Kingdom.
I would also point to those who have had a more
courageous political career, such as Aung San Suu Kyi,
and, for that matter, to the large number of people who
have come to the United Kingdom, studied here, stayed
on and ended up teaching here, gaining Nobel prizes in
classic instances such as Sydney Brenner, César Milstein
and Aaron Klug. Perhaps most interesting of all,
T S Eliot, now thought of as the quintessentially British
poet of the 20th century, was originally born in the
United States of America, came to study here at the
beginning of the first world war and ended up staying
here for the rest of his life. Perhaps it was because he
had the experience of being a migrant student that he
ended up writing so much about travelling and the
difficulty of living in other cultures.
Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con): The hon.
Gentleman just mentioned Sandhurst, and I ask him
not to forget the royal naval training college at Darmouth
and the RAF training college at Cranwell, which I
attended. During my flight officer training we often
thought it was the Omani officer, with the overseas
costs, who actually funded the training costs of the
British RAF officer cadets.
Chris Bryant: Indeed, that is an important point. If
we look at the number of people from Latin American
militaries—air force, navy or army—who have historically
had the Prussian tradition of military and then come to
the UK to train in a British environment and completely
changed their attitude towards democracy and the way
in which the military operate in a democratic society, we
see another positive aspect of people coming from
other parts of the world to study here.
Many hon. Members have rightly referred to the
economic benefit of international students coming to
study in this country. The Government estimate in
2009, produced by the Department for Business, Innovation
and Skills, was that this country’s higher education
exports came to a value of some £8 billion and could
rise to £16.9 billion by 2025. That is one of the most
significant areas of growth potential in the economy. As
my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Central (Paul
Blomfield) said, the University of Sheffield has produced
an important report on the economic benefits that can
arise from international students coming here. My hon.
Friend the Member for Washington and Sunderland
West (Mrs Hodgson) referred to the importance to the
north-east of not only people studying and paying for
their courses—many British people do not understand
that international students pay fully for their course
and, indeed, pay over the odds compared with British
people, doing so in advance—but all the other benefits
that come to the local economy. According to the
University of Sheffield’s study, the relevant figure for
Sheffield is £120 million a year.
In addition, we need to consider the wide range of
subjects studied. Some people want to say, “It is just
about the brightest and the best coming to the United
Kingdom.” I wholly agree with those who have said that
it was absolutely right for the Government to deal with
issue of bogus colleges, but it is not just university
degrees at Oxford and Cambridge that we should be
concerned with; this is also about postgraduate studies
at many different universities and the English language.
I would prefer people who are learning English around
the world to learn about taps, not faucets, and about
pavements, not sidewalks, because I would prefer them
to have a British understanding of the English language
and get it from the horse’s mouth.
Many schools and universities have valued enormously
exchange students coming to the United Kingdom, and
they are important in relation to the shorter-term student
visitor visa. There is not only an economic advantage to
consider, but a social advantage, in terms of, the quality
of the education students are able to get. If they are
studying international politics or history and people