Lord Karan Bilimoria, chancellor, University of Birmingham, has been a strong supporter of offering opportunities to international students and has been strongly recommending that the UK government have an open approach to the student visa and post-work visa policies.
During his recent India visit, Lord Bilimoria led a delegation to meet the prospective students from India who got an offer from the University and also to formally launch the new Joint Master’s program in Sustainable Energy Systems. On the sidelines, Lord Bilimoria spoke to Education Times about the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) review report on the Graduate Route visa scheme in the UK. The British universities along with the international students were concerned over the UK government’s decision to restrict the Graduate Route visa scheme. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who had earlier taken a strong stand on abolishing the graduate route and was considering restrictions on the visa which allows graduates to stay on and work for up to two years after their degree course, is no longer planning to go ahead with it. The government backtracked the plan following strong opposition from key cabinet members, including the education minister and prominent British university stakeholders.
Lord Bilimoria, who was instrumental in instituting the Graduate Route in 2007 and presented it in the House of Lords to support the international students, has been actively campaigning against Rishi Sunak’s decision to end it. “As a former international student myself who came to the UK at the age of 19 to study for seven years, I know how hard it is to raise money to study and get a job in the UK. Although I am a Tata Scholar and Mahindra Scholar, I had won several other scholarships which I had to pay back,” he says. “Students take education loans, and parents make great sacrifices to raise the funds for education. I understand how valuable a two-year work visa is to find a job after completing the course,” he says.
“It was taken away by the Conservative government in 2012, and as the former president of the United Kingdom Council of International Student Affairs (UKCISA), we have been fighting to bring back the two-year post-study work visa now known as the Graduate Route visa,” he adds. “We released a report in 2018, making various recommendations on the visa option. The top two recommendations included bringing in target international students which was 600,000 students and the second was to bring back two years post-study work visas,” adds Lord Bilimoria. Former PM Boris Johnson listened to that and in 2021, it was brought back.
The visa option has rocketed the Indian students back to the UK and it has also prompted the competitor countries such as the US, Australia, Canada and Europe to introduce several attractive post-study visa options. “This is the global race to get the best international students, including students from India. Unfortunately, the current government, which is anti-immigration, anti-universities, and anti-international students is trying to please the far right-wing members of their party. They continue to include international students in the net migration figures,” he says.
The UK which has a net population of 67 million, having a migration population of 700,000 is a high figure. But the net migration figure includes illegal immigrants coming to the country on boats. Genuine refugees from Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong immigrants have a valid reason. “Workers coming with point-based immigration system through a legitimate route are valid, just as seasonal immigrants who come to work. But to include students in the similar category is wrong,” adds Bilimoria. “Our competitor countries place students in the temporary migrants category and do not include them in the net migration figures. In May 2023, the government changed the option for master’s students’ partners and children to apply to live in the country although they paid NHS and visa fees. Only the PhD students are allowed to get their partners on a valid visa,” he adds.
The government was hoping to find misuse and abuse of the Graduate Route in the MAC report. This, unfortunately, was not the case, says Lord Bilimoria. International students bring in £42 billion to the UK economy every year. The diversity that international students bring to the campus is immense. Besides the strong soft power of international students, they also boost the university finances. “Undergraduate home fees are currently capped by the Government at £9,250. With the inflation going up and the cost of running the universities going up, international students are the only way to survive this, as they pay a higher tuition fee,” adds Bilimoria. Only 15% of international students are enrolled in the UK while the rest is occupied by domestic students, thus without international students, the UK students will not get the fee subsidies, adds Lord Bilimoria.
With the UK economy improving, the threat of recession is slowly rebounding. International students need not be threatened by the economy as there are plenty of jobs available. There is a shortage of labour in every sector, which can be explored by international students, he adds.