In response to the government’s Immigration White Paper, released today (12 May 2025), University Alliance CEO Vanessa Wilson said:
“What the country and our economy needs at the moment is stability, and whilst we recognise the political imperative to bring down net migration, this kind of ‘finger in the air’ policy making is risky.
We agree that visa compliance is important, and the immigration white paper correctly states that the higher education sector is, in general, highly compliant. The new compliance metrics proposed seem arbitrary. A more effective way of strengthening compliance further would be to improve information sharing from the Home Office, which would significantly strengthen universities’ ability to identify patterns and reduce risk.
The proposals to introduce a levy on international student fee income are underbaked. It is not clear how this levy would be used, or how it would be protected for skills, and there are serious risks inherent in deliberately cutting into the main source of income for universities – some of the UK’s largest employers – when there are very few other levers they can pull to remain financially sustainable.
Research shows that the UK public think international students make a positive cultural contribution and that for 102 constituencies in the UK, higher education is in their top three exports. Let’s make no mistake: it is not just universities and their students that benefit from international students. The impact of an ongoing reduction in the number of international students choosing to study here would ripple out across regional economies, high streets, local businesses and the public sector. The immigration white paper itself recognises that the impact of changes to the graduate route are uncertain, which begs the question, why take the risk?”
