Parliamentary Briefing

Westminster Hall Debate: Immigration Rules for International Students

16 Nov 2016

International students and graduates provide wide-ranging benefits to UK universities, home students, businesses, local and national economies and help to progress the UK’s wider strategic partnerships and interests.

Current immigration policy is undermining the success and market share of one of the UK’s most successful export sectors.

Surveys of the public confirm that they do not consider international students to be immigrants. However, international students are included in migration numbers and the insistence that those students are counted this way rather than separately is hindering rather than helping initiatives which would add value to the UK’s reputation for high quality higher education and support the UK’s world-leading and diverse university system to trade internationally.

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