Student migration in the UK

Article

The government's overall objective is to reduce total net immigration to the UK 'from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands'. Net immigration via routes over which the government does have control, including student migration from outside the EEA, will have to be cut by substantially more than half in order to meet this overall objective.

Data on compliance in the student visa system is limited, but suggests that rates of non-compliance are relatively low. Given this, it is clear that cuts of the magnitude sought by the government will not be achieved simply by stamping out abuse. Indeed, even stopping all student migration for courses below degree level would not reduce the total numbers sufficiently to meet the government's overall objective.

There is a risk that the proposed changes in the student visa regime impose substantial (and very real) costs on the education sector and the wider economy simply in order to deliver largely illusory reductions in migration statistics.

Related items

  1. Graphic depicting a stack of pound coins in the background and one sideways pound coin displayed on its side in the foreground

    The full-speed economy: Does running a hotter economy benefit workers?

    How a slightly hotter economy might be able to boost future growth.
  2. The outside of Rochdale town hall on a sunny day, with flowers in the foreground

    Making the most of it: Unitarisation, hyperlocal democratic renewal and community empowerment

    Local government reorganisation need not result in a weakening of democracy at the local level.
  3. West Midlands Metro Tram at Victoria Square in Birmingham city centre during 2022 Commonwealth Games

    Transport and growth: Reforming transport investment for place-based growth

    The ability to deliver transformative public transport is not constrained by a lack of ideas, public support or local ambition. It is constrained by the way decisions are taken at the national level.