Officially responding this week to a critical report from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee, BIS and the Home Office said that they would continue to use the international definition of net migration, which includes foreign students.

“We welcome all genuine students, coming to attend any university or college that meets our requirements. [But] the Government is also committed to reducing net migration,” they said.

“All the UK’s major competitors include students in their figures for net migration… The UK will continue to comply with the [United Nation’s] international definition of net migration.”

The Office of National Statistics will improve its methodology to “contribute to policy development”

In its report, the BIS Select Committee – the fifth parliamentary committee to criticise the government’s stance – had claimed the Government’s ambitions were “clearly in conflict” with its goal of “expanding the United Kingdom’s share of the overseas student market”.

It added that this was undermining a “key export area” worth around £14 billion a year. This is borne out by a slide in enrolments at private language schools and colleges and slowing growth at universities, as illustrated with new net migration figures also published this week.

However, in their response, BIS and the Home Office rejected the committee’s call to adopt the OECD’s definition of net migration which excludes international students. They also defended new policies to curb visa abuse, saying that international recruitment at universities continues to grow while falling “in those parts of the education sector where abuse has been prevalent” (namely at English language schools and private colleges).

They made no mention of the 23.5% fall in Indian undergraduate enrolments last year following the removal of the post-study work visa.

President of Universities UK, Eric Thomas, said the response was disappointing. “The government refers to historical figures from 2011-12 to suggest that numbers of non-EU students are increasing. But the decline in the number of new entrants in 2011-12, as well as feedback from universities, suggests a very different picture, particularly in relation to non-EU postgraduate students.”

“We need the Home Office and UKBA to work constructively with universities”

In a concession to critics, BIS and the Home Office acknowledged that foreign students were poorly recorded in emigration data, making it hard to “ascertain their overall impact on net migration”. They said that the Office of National Statistics would improve its methodology to “contribute to policy development”.

Thomas said the tone of the Government’s statement was “more positive”, but action was needed. “We need the Home Office and UKBA to work constructively with universities to ensure that genuine international students are not discouraged from coming to the UK because of an unnecessarily obstructive visa system,” he said.

Figures this week show net migration to the UK fell by a third – to 163,000 – in the year ending June 2012, compared with the previous 12 months.

Director of Migration Policy, Glyn Williams, had previously confirmed the government position in January, as reported here.