University leaders said they were “disappointed” by comments from the new home secretary raising concern about the “very high” number of international students and their dependants in the UK.
Suella Braverman, who was appointed to the role in September by new prime minister Liz Truss, said family members were “piggybacking” on student visas, and were “not contributing to growing our economy”.
In response, Universities UK International said the comments were “disappointing and risk undermining the government’s own target to grow education exports to £35 billion by 2030”.
