Former universities minister Chris Skidmore has criticised new restrictions on UK student visas, claiming they represent a populist “attack on universities based on ignorance” that seek to “stigmatise” higher education and drag it into a migration “culture war”.
Speaking to Times Higher Education, Mr Skidmore, who served as universities minister under Theresa May and Boris Johnson, said he was profoundly disappointed with the UK government’s growing antagonism towards a sector that should be regarded as one of the UK’s “greatest assets”.
“Governments will come and go but our academic sector is truly world-leading and there is so much potential that has been missed by not supporting it properly,” said Mr Skidmore, who resigned as a Conservative MP in January over the government’s bill to guarantee annual oil and gas licences, which he believed would break Britain’s pledge to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Kingswood seat held by the former energy minister since 2010 was lost to Labour in a by-election last month.
As universities minister, Mr Skidmore launched the UK’s first International Higher Education Strategy in March 2019, which targeted 600,000 overseas enrolments by 2030 – a goal achieved in 2021-22, when 680,000 international students were studying for UK degrees.
