Immigration: Foreign University Students

Debate between Lord Henley and Baroness Prashar

Tuesday 3rd July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, what the noble Lord says is complete nonsense. Britain is not seen as a no-go area; we are seeing an increase in the number of students coming here to reputable universities. If this was a no-go area there would be a decrease in the numbers of students.

[Baroness Prashar]

My Lords, now that the Government have taken the steps to deal with bogus students, what steps are being taken to encourage bona fide and genuine students to come to the UK, and who is taking responsibility for that?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, it is for the universities themselves to encourage people to come to them. As I have put it on a number of occasions, we want to control the bogus students. We have not seen a reduction in the number of proper students who come to proper universities. We have, in fact, seen an increase over the years, and I do not see why any changes we make to the way in which we count our immigration statistics are likely to discourage people from coming to this country.

Immigration

Debate between Lord Henley and Baroness Prashar

Wednesday 7th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My noble friend makes a very valuable point about the demographic changes we are facing. People have fewer children, we are an ageing population and we live longer. I welcome and acknowledge what she says. However, there is a limit to the number of people we can get into the country and we want to make sure that the net migration figure is sustainable in the long run.

[Baroness Prashar]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that overseas students are not immigrants and should therefore not be included in the net migration figures?

[Lord Henley]

The noble Baroness makes a very good point. The changes we are making for overseas students are intended to make sure that they can come here to study and can possible stay on, but we do not want them to bring their families where that is not necessary or to stay on as permanent residents afterwards if that is not appropriate.

Immigration: Students

Debate between Lord Henley and Baroness Prashar

Tuesday 15th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I do not accept what my noble friend had to say, and I would refer him to the comments made by Universities UK about the reforms, saying that they will allow British universities to remain at the forefront of international student recruitment. I also refer my noble friend to the latest figures for non-EU university student applications for the 2012 academic year which are mostly for medical, dentistry, veterinary and Oxbridge courses, and those show an 8.8 per cent rise.

[Baroness Prashar]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that the Government should introduce a transitional measure for those students already in the UK whose colleges closed either as a result of action taken by the UK Border Agency or because many private and public sector providers voluntarily relinquished their licence because the system became too burdensome? It is estimated that there are some 5,000 internal students with no course, no sponsor and the majority have lost their fees. Would it not be more humane and less damaging for the reputation of the UK if those already here could retain their current visas and work entitlements while moving to an alternative sponsor? This would avoid students, particularly those from poor countries, staying here illegally.

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, we want to make sure that we continue to have high-quality students coming to the UK, and that is why I am very grateful for the support of Universities UK for the reforms that we are proposing. What we do not want are bogus students coming over for what might be called rather dubious or possibly non-existent institutions. As I have made clear, what we have done certainly has the support of Universities UK and will benefit universities in the UK, although it might not benefit what I would describe as the somewhat dubious institutions that have been acting in this field. We want to clamp down on the abuses of the immigration system that have crept in here.