Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to
arrest the decline in the United Kingdom’s global market share in
international higher education students, which fell from 11 per
cent in 2008 to eight per cent in 2019.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education () (Con)
My Lords, in 2019 we published the International Education
Strategy, which commits to hosting at least 600,000 international
students per year by 2030. We have met that for two consecutive
years, with nearly 680,000 studying here in 2021-22—a 37%
increase on 2019 and almost double the number in 2008. While the
international student market is becoming more competitive, the
absolute number continues to grow, which is testament to the
global reputation of our higher education sector.
(Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. Three years ago,
after the Government had removed all post-study work
opportunities and rolled out the then Home Secretary’s policies
of an unwelcoming environment, the UK slipped from second to
third among English-speaking destinations for international
students, with Australia overtaking us. The international
education strategy to which she has referred was a response to
the failure of those policies. While it has indeed reversed the
deadline, Universities UK is now saying that new government
proposals will restrict its ability to recruit international
students. International students make a huge contribution to the
economy, and surely the Government need to make more of promoting
the UK as a welcoming and accessible destination for study and
post study. Is it not the case that the Minister cannot deny that
the Government’s policy of restricting student visas will have
the opposite effect?
(Con)
I really do not recognise what the noble Lord is saying. In 2019,
we had 496,000 international students coming to this country;
last year, there were 679,000. We have introduced a graduate
route, which allows international students who are graduates to
work in this country. We have increased our educational exports
from this area from £19 billion to £25.6 billion and are heading
to our target of £35 billion.
(LD)
My Lords—
(Lab)
My Lords, is it not lamentable—
(LD)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that we should have a diverse
international student population in our universities, and is she
not concerned that, of the 590,000 non-EU students, those from
China, India and Nigeria dominate? Is she concerned about the
120,000 Chinese students and maybe their effect on security?
(Con)
The Government absolutely agree that we need a diverse population
of international students. The noble Lord mentions India and
Nigeria; those were two of the countries that were specifically
targeted in our International Education Strategy, and we are
delighted to see how successful it has been.
(CB)
My Lords—
(Lab)
My Lords, is it not lamentable—
(CB)
My Lords, it is not just international students who are important
to our universities but international research funding. In this
context, does the Minister agree with the analysis that shows
that, in the two oldest universities in this country, Oxford and
Cambridge—I declare an interest as a retired Oxford
professor—funding from the European Union has fallen from £130
million a year to £1 million a year? What is the Government’s
assessment of the impact of this loss of £129 million a year, and
what are the Government going to do about it?
(Con)
I cannot argue with the noble Lord’s figures; I do not have them
directly in front of me. Obviously, the balance in the
relationship between government and universities, as autonomous
institutions, is a delicate one, which both sides respect. He
will be aware that we are delighted at the EU’s recent openness
to working with us on the Horizon programme.
(Con)
My Lords—
(Lab)
My Lords, is it not—
(Con)
My Lords, would my noble friend care to reflect on the fact that
in Scotland, which has St Andrews as the oldest university, the
failure of the Scottish Government to have tuition fees for
Scottish students has meant that there are no places for Scottish
students, and the universities are having to raise the money by
having more international students, at the expense of youngsters
in Scotland?
(Con)
I cannot really comment on the experience of youngsters in
Scotland. I can say that, from our perspective in England, we
believe that the presence of international students is a great
source of soft power for the nation—both those in our
universities here and the more than 500,000 students who study in
British universities overseas.
(Lab)
My Lords—
Noble Lords
Hurrah!
(Lab)
I am deeply grateful to the House for its delayed courtesy.
It is surely lamentable that the number of university students
from, particularly, European universities, has declined in
department after department. I know from my experience how
enormously enriching the Erasmus scheme, for example, was. It was
invented by a fellow Welshman, Hywel Ceri Jones, and we are
deeply grateful for it. Furthermore, as has been said, university
students from elsewhere contribute enormously to the local
economy in a variety of ways. Can we not try to reverse this
trend by a very much more European-focused policy in our
universities, in the hope of restoring what has been lost,
perhaps never to return?
(Con)
I am not sure that I agree entirely with the noble Lord. We are
interested in a diversity of students from different parts of the
world. I am not clear from the noble Lord’s question what is
particular about European students. All our international
students bring cultural diversity. We welcome students from
Europe as we welcome students from all parts of the world, and
all contribute enormously to our economic well-being.
(CB)
My Lords, international students certainly enrich our academic
community, but there is a danger that they can displace UK
students, as the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, said, because of the
much higher fees that can be charged to them. This is a
particular issue in veterinary science, in which I declare my
interests. The core funding there from government is inadequate
to fund the full course. Over 20% of the graduates that we
produce in our British veterinary schools now are overseas
students who are not destined to work in the UK workforce, at a
time when we have a desperate shortage of vets. Can His Majesty’s
Government please look at this issue?
(Con)
I am more than happy to take that back to the department.
(Lab)
Does the Minister agree that it is regrettable that universities,
and particularly their international students, increasingly are
seen by some vocal commentators as a convenient political
battlefield rather than existing for the public good? Given
reports that the Government are considering reforming migration
rules for international students, can the Minister confirm
whether a comprehensive impact assessment has been conducted
around the proposed changes?
(Con)
Quite obviously, in all areas of policy there are different
aspects which we would consider in great detail—the economic
impact, our international soft power, which I mentioned, and a
number of others.
of Newnham (LD)
My Lords, my noble friend has already mentioned two of the target
countries in the Government’s strategy—India and Nigeria. Can the
Minister explain why Saudi Arabia is one of the five target
countries and whether diversification could not go a little
further? I refer to my interests as laid out in the register.
(Con)
The Government are looking at the range of countries that we
should prioritise beyond our initial focus. Saudi Arabia is
obviously an important strategic partner for us on many
levels.
(Con)
My Lords, can we take it, following the Prime Minister’s
brilliant negotiations over the Northern Ireland protocol, that
we will now be participating fully in the Horizon project?
(Con)
I think I have already addressed Horizon. My noble friend may be
aware that the Secretary of State at DSIT met with the EU’s
ambassador to the UK, Pedro Serrano, on 14 March and discussed
collaboration in this area. We hope very much that this leads to
more positive relationships regarding Horizon.
