Theresa May's government has made reducing immigration a predominant objective. As Theresa May makes her Brexit negotiations, after triggering it on 29th March, she would emphasise on tougher immigration, perhaps risking the state of the economy and country's reputation for openess further.
The Conservative Party, had declared that they would bring immigration down by tens and thousands. Though that target should not have included students, but it eventually has. As the Financial Times pointed out, migration quotas do not take into account the flexible nature of modern economies, particularly in the UK where international workers have fuelled economic growth and filled skills gaps.
Supporters of keeping students in the target are concerned that if an exception is made for students, pressure will grow to do the same for other migrants, such as temporary business visitors. However economically speaking, fees paid by international students account for 29% of all tuition, even though they make up just 14% of the student population.
If international students choose to no longer come to the UK, the financial impact on institutions would be significant, including shutting down of towns whose economy totally depend on universities. Welcoming international students is also vital to protect the UK’s reputation for academic excellence. In the 2016 Shanghai Rankings of universities, the UK has four institutions — Cambridge, Oxford, University College London, and Imperial College London — among the world’s top 25. Only one other European university makes that list. While other countries have welcomed increasing numbers of international students, in the UK the inflow has stagnated. Enrollment of Indian students in UK universities have gone down by 50%.
This is an occasion when the Prime Minister should actually take the advice of the Brexiters. Making a U-turn on immigration definitely makes good sense.
On the other hand companies fear that immigration rule changes aimed at the highest and lowest skilled European workers will leave a 'squeezed middle' of technical jobs that cannot be filled from abroad. The Home Office is yet to set out future visa rules for EU nationals but the system is expected to include work permits for skilled migrants who have firm job offer in Britain, and seasonal programmes for agricultural workers.
