- The majority of students leave at the end of their studies.
There is no evidence to support this claim. The IPS still cannot distinguish departing workers from departing students. A recent Home Office study of a sample of cases, ‘The Migrant Journey’, found that after five years, 20% of students remained in the UK legally. The other 80% were described as “no longer in the immigration system”. However, this is not evidence that they had left the UK.
- International students were worth £8 billion to the UK economy in 2008/09.[1]
Migration Watch UK estimate that non-EU students were in fact worth £4.3 billion, of which £2.1 billion came from tuition fees.[2]
- The UK is beginning to look less attractive to international students.
Results of an NUS survey suggest that 40% of students would not recommend the UK as a place to study. However, Mr David Willetts, revealed that UCAS applications from outside the EU were up by 13% on the previous year.[3]
- The UK has lost share in the global market for international students.
The NUS claim that the UK’s share fell from 10.8% in 2000 to 9.9% in 2009. In fact, student numbers rose from 223,000 to 363,000. A more appropriate measure of the UK share is that of students who go to MESDCs – Mainly English speaking destination countries. The UK had 24.6% of this market in 2000, falling slightly to 23.6% in 2009.
- The timing of the revocation of LMU’s licence is “alarming”
It would seem however that LMU was given a deadline by the UKBA within which to address compliance issues found at an earlier inspection. The situation, it is claimed, had not been addressed satisfactorily so the licence was revoked.
- Reducing student inflows reduces outflows in later years, producing a minimal long term impact on net migration.
Bogus students kept out reduce net migration by the same amount as they would not have left at the end of their courses. A reduction in genuine students reduces net migration by about 20% of the fall.
[1] BIS Report, Value of UK Education Exports
[2] Migration Watch UK, Briefing Paper 2.20, The Economic Value of International Students, URL: http://migrationwatch.co.uk/briefingPaper/document/276
[3] Parliamentary Question 99954, 19th
March 2012, Column 520W, URL:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201212/cmhansrd/cm120319/text/120319w0003.htm#1203202001297
