“Universities here might not think that they’re selling economic migration – but that is what we think we are buying.”
That was one of the more arresting quotes from a students’ union officer that we’ve been spending some time talking to over the past few weeks, as we’ve tried to get our heads around the remarkable increase in Nigerians and their dependents coming to the UK on the student immigration route.
The concerns that abound from SUs have mainly focused on meeting the immediate needs of the students that the sector has been recruiting – family accommodation, childcare and pregnancy is one thing; timetabling that facilitates participation when living and working near to campus is impossible is another; problems with finance and banks are common; and student hardship policies that recognise that the UK is spectacularly more expensive than we warned students about matter too.
