Students fuel 20 per cent immigration rise
Updated on 26 August 2010
A surge in the number of foreign students studying in the UK helped drive up net migration by 20 per cent last year, official statistics show. University think tank million+ tells Channel 4 News of the £5.6bn "invisible" windfall foreign students bring to the UK.
The government handed out 35 per cent more foreign student visas in the year to the end of June 2010, granting a total 360,000 students entry to study in the UK.
Meanwhile, the number of work related visas issued dropped back 14 per cent to 161,000.
The news comes as British students fight for university places through clearing - with up to 200,000 UK students set to miss out on a place because of a government cap on the number of home students universities are allowed.
Despite the record number of student applications – up 11.6 per cent this year – there is no such cap on the number of foreign students.
The £5.6bn "invisible" windfall foreign students bring to the UK
The collapse of sterling last year made it 30 percent cheaper for foreign students to study in the UK than it was three years ago. But even with the weak pound, they are paying a premium.
Of the 488,735 foreign students currently studying in the UK, the lion's share - 168,405 - hail from the Americas, while students from the Middle East and Asia took 159,690 places last year.
There are 86,775 Indian students, 30,945 African students and around 3,420 from Australia, New Zealand and other Oceanic countries. The number of students from the European Union has largely flatlined - up by little more than 100 to 39,145.
Professor Les Ebdon, chairman of the university think tank million+ and vice chancellor of the University of Bedford, told Channel 4 News that foreign students are worth more to the UK economy than the pharmaceutical or aerospace industries, generating a vast £5.6bn every year.
Foreign students will typically pay between £9,000 and £20,000 a year on university fees alone, before paying for accommodation, food and entertainment. "They provide excellent 'invisible' earnings from which we are able to grow universities," said Prof Ebdon.
The University of Bedford collected £30m in fees from foreign students last year, he said. The money, and the foreign students themselves, help create the "global village", preparing students for real life. "It is essential that we are able to think and act on a global scale," he added.
The Home Office's annual report on migration recorded an overall rise of 20 per cent in net migration – the difference between the total number of arrivals and departures.
Net migration has jumped to 196,000 from 163,000 in 2008-2009. While the number of people coming in the country has dropped by 4 per cent, there was a 13 per cent fall in the number of UK citizens moving abroad, and a 37 per cent climb in the number of people granted UK settlement. Together with the rise in students, migrants helped swell the British population by almost 200,000 people.
Meanwhile, the figures show a 29 per cent drop in applications for asylum. Two-thirds of the decrease was due to a fall in the number of Zimbabwean asylum seekers, the Home Office said, down from 1,560 in the second quarter of 2009 to just 405 in same period this year.
Between April and June, the government considered more than 5,200 applications for asylum and turned down 76 per cent.
In the run-up to the installation of the new coalition government in May, Prime Minister David Cameron drew a tough line on immigration, vowing to drag net immigration down to "tens of thousands" to the levels of the 1990s.
In July, the government introduced a temporary cap on the number of skilled non-EU immigrants granted entry to the UK, ahead of a permanent limit due to kick in next April.
The move has drawn criticism from business leaders, who fear it may dilute the talent pool for businesses – and therefore hinder Britain's economic recovery.
The Home Office figures showed the number of work visas granted has fallen in all categories - highly skilled, skilled and temporary – down 18 per cent, 9 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.
Mr Green said in a statement today: "These statistics show why we must tighten our immigration system in order to reduce net migration to manageable levels.
"While it is important that we attract the brightest and the best to ensure strong economic growth, uncontrolled migration places unacceptable pressure on public services.
"We have already placed a temporary limit on non-EU nationals coming to the UK to work and are looking at how we can tighten up the Student Tier of the Points Based System to ensure that every student who comes to the UK is genuine."
There are long-running concerns that not all students are genuine - as some colleges doubt evidence of a 35 per cent rise in foreigners joining their ranks.
Mr Green told Channel 4 News: "It's absolutely certain that there are some economic migrants - or bogus students - and that there have been or still are some bogus colleges, defrauding genuine students and damaging Britain's reputation."
