The United Kingdom (UK) government will lose revenue of about £41.9 billion with the implementation of the new students migration policy.
The UK government has banned foreign students from bringing family members to the country when coming for studies. This policy is proposed to curb increased migration to the UK which has seen the figure surged to 504,000 – its highest ever.
Minister for Immigration, Mr Robert Jenrick, had noted that this increase was attributed to some exceptional factors, especially Ukraine and Hong Kong schemes which contributed 350,000 immigrants (69.4 percent of the total). He identified an adjustment in the package for study visas to exclude international students from bringing dependents as one of the solutions.
However, data show that student migration (with dependents) contributed just 30.6 percent to total visas as at June 2022.
Proportion of international students in the UK
Data from the Office of National Statistics show that immigrants from the Middle East and Asia top international students in the UK. There are 150,185 students from this part of the world studying in the UK.
The students from European Union countries (EU14) are 59,190, while students from African countries are 46,625.
A breakdown of the data from the Office for National Statistics shows that 140,130 (37.6 percent) of the international students in the UK are from four countries.
India has the highest with 43,175 citizens studying in the UK. This places Indian students at 11.6 percent of the total international students.
Students from China are the second largest. There are 41,810 Chinese students (11.2 percent) undergoing various programmes in UK universities.
Romania has 35,340 students in UK universities, ranking the third country with the highest international students. This places Romanian students at 9.5 percent of the total international students.
With 19,805 students in UK universities, Nigerian students rank fourth, taking 5.3 percent of the total international students.
UK university revenue generation
Universities in the UK generated £41.9 billion in revenue in the 2021.22 academic session. This was an increase from the £31.3 billion generated in the 2018/19 academic year.
Analysis by the University UK shows that on the average, each constituency in the UK is £58 million better off due to the revenue generated from international students. This pitches it at £560 per citizen across the UK.
Data from a sample of five UK universities show that international students pay more than home students to study for master’s degree programmes. A random sample of some universities in the UK shows that the difference between home students and international students is from 14.83 percent to 154.95 percent. This shows that international students pay far more than the home students to study similar masters programme courses.
Debating the policy on the floor of the house, a member of the UK parliament representing Glasgow North West constituency, Ms Carol Monaghan, said the government would lose huge revenue if they pursued this policy.
Quoting data from the Higher Education Policy Institute, she said, “in the last year, nearly £43 billion was generated as revenue to the UK economy alone from international students, and my constituency alone benefited from this up to £83 million.”
She noted that from the assessment of international students, the UK had benefited tremendously through the provision of much-needed skill-sets in key sectors such as healthcare, STEM – science, technology, engineering and maths – and IT.
She said the the UK would lose a lot if the policy took effect as these students would search for other countries that could offer them similar options. She noted that many students coming to the UK looked beyond their studies to be part of the UK experience, stressing that a drop in international students would pose additional challenges to the universities already facing financial difficulties.
A dependent, Mr John Edache, who had to move to the UK on the instance of his wife’s study visa, said there was no way they would have considered the UK under such circumstances.
“The truth of the matter is, culturally, we as Nigerians are wired differently from everyone else. We are a people that family matters a lot to. So my wife wouldn’t want to go to school for a year without me and vice versa. Not very many Nigerians would consider going away without their families,” he said