UK universities would be much better equipped to deal with any issues presented by an influx of international students bringing dependants with them if the Home Office shared more visa data with providers, leaders have said.
With Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government widely expected to announce restrictions on dependants in the coming days, universities say they are not told by UK Visas and Immigrations (UKVI) how many relatives are linked to applicants planning on studying at their institutions.
A record number of dependants were granted UK visas alongside students last year, with a further rise expected when the next set of migration figures are announced this week.
Recent reports have suggested the government was planning to either ban one-year foreign postgraduate taught students from bringing relatives with them to the UK, or that the same rules would be applied to all foreign university students on courses below PhD level.
