Gillian Keegan has signalled that she disagrees with the Home Office’s plan to cut migration by targeting overseas students, adding the financial boost from international students to British universities was “hugely valuable”.
The education secretary has said the university sector is something Britain “should be very proud of”, amid briefings that the home secretary, Suella Braverman, is considering looking at cutting the number of international students coming to the UK, or changing the terms of their stay.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Keegan said: “It’s world-leading, a great advert to our country. We have a strategy which is very much focused on growing the revenue.”
She said she wanted to expand the amount of money Britain gets from education export revenues, programmes that take place outside the UK through partner institutions, distance learning or international campuses, from £26bn to £35bn by the end of the decade.
