Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the economic effect on universities in Scotland of the removal of the post-study work visa.

The Home Office produced an Impact Assessment in respect of its reforms of student routes in June 2011, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/257825/ia-students-.pdf

We closed the Tier 1 (Post Study Work) route in 2012 because too many individuals in the route were unemployed or in low-skilled work, and too many were using the student route merely as a means to work in the UK, without any intention of study.

Under the current provisions, there is no limit on the number of genuine students who can come to the UK. Nor is there a limit on the number of graduates who can remain in the UK after their studies. All that non-EEA graduates of UK universities require to stay on to work is a graduate level job with an appropriate salary and an employer who is a Tier 2 sponsor.

The number of non-EU domiciled students enrolling at Scottish higher education institutions has not declined: in 2013/14 it was 28,610, compared with 28,500 in 2011/12.