There is undoubtedly a “weakening consensus” on the benefits of international students among British politicians, Lord Jo Johnson has told sector stakeholders.
As he and multiple other big names in the higher education sector were announced as the first commissioners in the International Higher Education Commission, he talked about the difficulties international students are facing in terms of how they are viewed in the country.
“The basic policy architecture is still in place, but I think political support for it is weaker than it was two or three years ago – and I do think we need to acknowledge that and to understand why it’s become weaker,” he told attendees of the IHEC launch event.
“To my mind, it’s ironic that some of the loudest critics of international students and what they bring to the UK are actually on the right of the Conservative Party because the success of the UK in international student mobility was a Thatcherite reform.
