Higher education institutions need to make a clearer case for how international students benefit the UK – and show that they can be sustainably accommodated by the system – to stop the issue becoming “part of a new culture war”, according to a former universities minister.
Conservative MP Chris Skidmore, who held the post for two stints between 2018 and 2020, feared that plans by the current home secretary, Suella Braverman, to place restrictions on two-year post-study visas could be a “catastrophic mistake” for the country.
If limits such as granting visas only to those studying “high demand subjects” go ahead, the UK would be introducing prohibitive measures at the exact time its international rivals are going in the other direction and broadening the amount of time students are able to stay and work in the country, Mr Skidmore said.
