University Alliance welcomes the Government’s Productivity Plan, unveiled by the Business Secretary Sajid Javid today.
Maddalaine Ansell, chief executive of University Alliance – Britain’s universities for cities and regions – said:
“We welcome the Government’s Productivity Plan which recognises the important role universities play in securing the UK’s future success. Alliance universities have a long history of making the difference to our cities and regions – working in partnership with business and civic leaders to provide the high quality teaching and research with impact we need.
“We welcome the opportunity to take this to the next level though working with LEPs, businesses and other universities to map our regions’ research and innovation strengths and plan how to maximise these.
“Through our enterprising and innovative business schools we can also help build leadership and management skills within businesses of all sizes. We are also well-placed to deliver Degree Apprenticeships in this area.
“As the Government rightly recognises, productivity depends on highly skilled workers. We should do everything we can to support our own people to gain these skills but this should not mean shutting the door to skilled people from overseas. We call on the Government to recognise the contribution that international students who go on to work in the UK make to our productivity. We should remove international students from the net migration figures and re-introduce the two-year post-study visa.”
