Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on implementing the aims of the International Education Strategy to (a) increase the value of education exports to £35 billion per year by 2030 and (b) increase the total number of international students choosing to study in the UK higher education system each year to 600,000 by 2030.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department remains committed to progressing the implementation of the International Education Strategy and has published regular updates, most recently in May 2023, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-education-strategy-2023-update. The strategy sets out progress to date, including total UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity, estimated to be £25.6 billion in 2020, and meeting the international student ambition two years running (2020/21 and 2021/22). Since 2010, the estimated UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity has risen by 61.2% in current prices.
The UK’s International Education Champion, Professor Sir Steve Smith, continues to promote the UK’s education system in key markets, addressing barriers and creating opportunities for education exporters across the sector.
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: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support Jewish university students following recent increases in incidents of antisemitism on campuses.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Antisemitism, intimidation, and threats of violence must never be tolerated on university campuses. The Community Security Trust 2023 annual report highlights the unprecedented increase in antisemitic incidents in higher education (HE) and this unacceptable rise is deeply concerning. All antisemitism is abhorrent and universities should have robust systems to deal with incidents of support for unlawful antisemitic abuse and harassment. We will not tolerate unlawful harassment or the glorification of terrorism.
Since the 7 October attacks, we have actively intervened to ensure that universities act swiftly and appropriately to deal with incidents of antisemitism.
The Secretary of State for Education and the Minister for Skills wrote to all universities on 11 October 2023, urging them to respond swiftly to hate-related incidents, and actively reassure Jewish students that they can study without fear of harassment or intimidation. The Minister wrote again to Vice Chancellors on 16 November 2023, emphasising that they must use disciplinary measures wherever appropriate, highlighting the importance of police engagement, and reiterating that student visas could be suspended where a foreign national is found to have committed or incited acts of racial hatred. This was one of the key actions set out in the five point plan for tackling antisemitism in HE, which was published on 5 November 2023. The plan also involves:
On 22 November 2023, the department announced in the Autumn Statement an additional £7 million over three years to tackle antisemitism in education. The Quality Seal will be the cornerstone of this package for universities, providing a framework of measures that will make clear what good practice is in tackling antisemitism in HE, and making sure that our universities are a safe and welcoming space for Jewish students and staff.
The department will not hesitate to take further action across education to stamp out antisemitism and harassment of Jewish pupils, students and staff.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the income to the public purse from international students in each of the last three years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department does not collect or estimate the impact of international students to the exchequer. International tuition fee income at higher education (HE) providers can be found on the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/finances/income.
The benefits and costs of international HE students to the UK economy and the Exchequer can be found in the Higher Education Policy Institute/Universities UK International/Kaplan report at: https://hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Full-Report-Benefits-and-costs-of-international-students.pdf.
The total net impact on the UK economy of the cohort of first year international students enrolled at UK HE Institutions in the 2021/22 academic year was estimated at £37.4 billion across the duration of their studies. The economic impact is spread across the entire UK, with international students making a £58 million net economic contribution to the UK economy per parliamentary constituency across the duration of their studies. This is equivalent to £560 per member of the resident population.
Asked by: Alicia Kearns (Conservative - Rutland and Melton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with (a) the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and (b) representatives of higher education institutions on the potential impact of such institutions' collaboration with Chinese higher education bodies linked to the People's Liberation Army on national security.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The government takes the risk of foreign interference in our higher education (HE) sector extremely seriously, regardless of its source. The department has made it clear that it will not accept collaborations that compromise national security. The department recognises concerns about interference in the HE sector and regularly assesses the risks facing academia, working with partners across government. The department will continue to take steps to significantly strengthen the UK’s protections from overseas interference in our HE sector, helping to safeguard intellectual property and sensitive research.
The ‘Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023’ will ensure that universities in England have the tools they need to deal with interference with, and threats to, freedom of speech and academic freedom. The Act will enable the Office for Students to monitor the overseas funding of registered HE providers and their constituent institutions and student unions, and to take appropriate action.
The department expects Confucius Institutes at UK universities to operate transparently and within the law, and with a full commitment to the government's values of openness and freedom of expression. The department has taken action to remove any direct or indirect government funding from Confucius Institutes in the UK.
The ‘Integrated Review Refresh’, published in 2023, committed to launching a review of legislative and other measures designed to protect the academic sector, to identify what more the government could or should be doing. This is currently underway and is led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. This will include an assessment of the risks to research security as a result of collaboration with international bodies.
The department also works with the sector to improve HE providers’ overall resilience and economic security. The department has encouraged Universities UK to publish a number of guidelines and case studies to enable HE providers to assess risks associated with international collaboration.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate of the number of international students who go on to work in the NHS after studying in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on how people move through the immigration system in the Migrant Journey report. The report contains information on the number of people starting a journey each year broken down by immigration route (e.g. study) and how many extend into other categories (e.g. work) following their initial leave. The statistics do not show which sectors people were employed in. The latest report covers up to the end of 2022.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total number of dental undergraduate training places available to (a) UK and (b) international students was in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2023-24.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for Students (OfS) publish annual data showing the number of entrants to dental degrees in England each year from 2012 to 2023, split by those paying home fees and those paying other fees, which can be used as a proxy for the numbers of domestic and international students respectively.
This data can be found at:
The Government controls the number of dental school places that it funds. The OfS sets a maximum number of funded places for dental degrees on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education. Each provider is allocated a number of these places, but may take slightly fewer or more people than their allocated number, for example if exam results are unexpectedly good. For this reason, the target for funded places does not necessarily match actual intakes, though the difference is often not large. Therefore, we have linked to entrant figures in response to this question.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published on 30 June 2023 sets out an ambition to expand dentistry training places by 40%, so that there are over 1,100 places by 2031/32.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the British Council on the families of students invited to study at universities from the state of Palestine via scholarship programmes.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The best way to provide protection for vulnerable people in Gaza is an end to the fighting as soon as possible and the return of the hostages held by Hamas. That is why the government is calling for an immediate pause to get aid in and the hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.
The UK is currently supporting non-governmental organisation and UN partners to deliver medical aid and care in the Gaza Strip. This includes support for primary healthcare, trauma and emergency care services, disease surveillance and outbreak response, and deployment of Emergency Medical Teams. The government is also exploring further options to help meet the medical needs of Palestinians.
Universities offer a range of dedicated support to their international students before they arrive in the UK, on arrival, and during their studies. This includes both pastoral care and financial support. If a student is experiencing difficulties, they should contact the university to discuss their circumstances. Universities have their own hardship funds to support students who are going through financial difficulties, and like domestic students, international students can apply to their provider to access these funds.
The department is also an active funder of the Higher Education Scholarships for Palestinians (HESPAL) programme. This programme, facilitated by the British Council, provides young academic staff with potential in universities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories with the opportunity to complete a Masters or PhD programme in the UK. There are currently fifteen HESPAL scholars in the UK, five of which are from Gaza. The British Council has met with UK university partners to discuss the best means of support for these scholars. These conversations have covered safeguarding issues, one-to-one support to scholars and both virtual and physical platforms to enable scholars to come together and support one another. Departmental officials continue to engage with the British Council to identify further support for current and former HESPAL students.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to help provide support to Palestinian university students with (a) injured and (b) deceased family in Gaza.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The best way to provide protection for vulnerable people in Gaza is an end to the fighting as soon as possible and the return of the hostages held by Hamas. That is why the government is calling for an immediate pause to get aid in and the hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.
The UK is currently supporting non-governmental organisation and UN partners to deliver medical aid and care in the Gaza Strip. This includes support for primary healthcare, trauma and emergency care services, disease surveillance and outbreak response, and deployment of Emergency Medical Teams. The government is also exploring further options to help meet the medical needs of Palestinians.
Universities offer a range of dedicated support to their international students before they arrive in the UK, on arrival, and during their studies. This includes both pastoral care and financial support. If a student is experiencing difficulties, they should contact the university to discuss their circumstances. Universities have their own hardship funds to support students who are going through financial difficulties, and like domestic students, international students can apply to their provider to access these funds.
The department is also an active funder of the Higher Education Scholarships for Palestinians (HESPAL) programme. This programme, facilitated by the British Council, provides young academic staff with potential in universities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories with the opportunity to complete a Masters or PhD programme in the UK. There are currently fifteen HESPAL scholars in the UK, five of which are from Gaza. The British Council has met with UK university partners to discuss the best means of support for these scholars. These conversations have covered safeguarding issues, one-to-one support to scholars and both virtual and physical platforms to enable scholars to come together and support one another. Departmental officials continue to engage with the British Council to identify further support for current and former HESPAL students.