Asked by: Lord Bilimoria (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what current funding they provide for the UK Council for International Student Affairs to provide support for international students, and what assessment they have made of the sufficiency of this funding following the recent changes to immigration rules.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has provided a 3 year grant to support the work of the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) for international students in England.
The government remains committed to the ambitions set out in the International Education Strategy, including the aim to host 600,000 international students in the UK per year by 2030. The department is proud to have met this ambition two years running. The department’s offer to international students remains very competitive and the department is committed to ensuring the UK remains a destination of choice for international students from across the globe.
Universities offer a range of dedicated support to their international students before they arrive in the UK, on arrival and during their studies. Organisations such as UKCISA and the British Council continue to provide information to international students entering the UK.
Asked by: Lord Bilimoria (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of ceasing funding for the UK Council for International Student Affairs to provide international student support, following the recent changes to the student immigration rules.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government appreciates the significant economic and cultural contribution that international students make to UK higher education (HE). The department is proud to have met its international student recruitment ambition two years running.
The department’s offer to international students remains very competitive and the department is committed to ensuring the UK remains a destination of choice for the brightest and best international students from across the globe. The UK has a highly sought after HE experience, which is respected by international students. Universities are independent autonomous institutions and can offer a range of dedicated support to their international students before they arrive in the UK, on arrival and during their studies.
The changes to migration policy announced in 2023 strike the right balance between acting decisively on migration while protecting the UK’s position as a world-leader in HE.
Asked by: Lord Bilimoria (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria they used to determine which countries qualified for the recent relaxation of Tier 4 visa requirements for overseas students; and of those, which were not met by India.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The addition of new countries and competent authorities to Appendix H is based on objective data. The factors which are considered include the volume of students from a country and their Tier 4 immigration compliance risk. We will keep Appendix H under review, adding and removing countries and competent authorities from this list, based on objective criteria at each refresh.
Asked by: Lord Bilimoria (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to secure the release of Mohammed Nasheed, former President of the Maldives.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), regularly raises former President Nasheed’s case, and those of others, with the Maldivian government, as has the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron). Both individually met Mr Nasheed’s wife and representatives of his legal team on 24 June, after which the Prime Minister called for the release of all political prisoners in the Maldives, including Mr Nasheed. Mr Swire has also discussed these matters with the Commonwealth Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and many other concerned international partners.