Pulling students out of the net

Removing international students from the net-migration figures is easier said than done, argues Carlos Vargas-Silva.

Reducing net migration to “tens of thousands” was a key Conservative Party election promise in 2010. The British press and perhaps even the British public will judge whether the party’s immigration policy has succeeded or failed based upon it. Because international students account for a large part of non-European Union immigration to the UK, politicians have focused on cutting international student numbers in order to achieve the target.

Universities have countered that higher education is an export industry that offers a rare example of growth during the prolonged economic downturn. They have developed arguments for removing students from the net-migration target that sound convincing: international students are likely to be among the brightest and best and are therefore important to the nation’s long-term competitiveness; they support the UK’s world-class (and multi-billion pound) higher education sector; and, anyway, most students don’t tend to settle in the UK (according to the Home Office’s Migrant Journey report).