On February 27, the great and the good of the UK capital gathered at Imperial College London for the launch of the London Growth Plan – marketed as “London’s next reinvention”.
With a Labour mayor in City Hall and a Labour government in Whitehall, London’s policymakers are seizing the opportunity to show how the UK capital can deliver on Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s national growth mission, particularly in the context of English devolution.
Listed in the London Growth Plan are so-called “global city sectors”, which are key to generating future revenue and positioning London on the global stage. It won’t surprise any readers of The PIE News to learn that international education sits firmly within this lucrative list, with the London Growth Plan describing international students not just as “a nice to have” but as “the very foundations of our prosperity”.
By formally recognising international education as a productive export sector, the London Growth Plan paves the way for investment and promotion of London as a welcoming and inclusive destination for international talent. In doing so, it places London’s 50+ universities and higher education institutions right at the heart of this drive for growth. This gives hope that the Study London campaign, recently launched by London Higher, can form the backbone of a concerted destination marketing effort for the region during the Mayor of London’s historic third term.
There remain, however, some glaring inconsistencies to be ironed out. A BBC London news segment aired earlier this month highlighted the importance of international students not just to the London and wider UK economy, but to the financial sustainability of our country’s world-leading universities. While the London Growth Plan calls for a “sustainable settlement for higher education” from the national government, international students are – and must remain – a core part of any future funding formula, and not treated as a separate policy ambition.
After all, without continued support for international education, the London Growth Plan cannot achieve many of its headline objectives. These include the aspiration to turn London into an “innovation maker” by enhancing its exceptional research strengths and establishing a culture of entrepreneurship. Given international student fee income already underpins university research and development activities up and down the country, this vision cannot become a reality without sustaining and increasing international education exports to the capital.
Without continued support for international education, the London Growth Plan cannot achieve many of its headline objectives
Another potential pitfall to the London Growth Plan is renewed speculation around further changes to conditions for the two-year-post-study work visa for international students graduating from UK universities. With forthcoming immigration legislation expected to peg the entitlement to stay and work after graduation to a higher minimum salary threshold, this could cause a seismic shock to the pipeline of talent flowing into London’s future public and private sector workforce.
In domestic debates, there is a tendency to think of this as a problem affecting regions outside of London, particularly in view of the higher salary levels paid by employers in the UK capital. Yet, this is not the case for all sectors and industries, and certainly not the case for many entry-level jobs in a wide range of professions.
Take the creative industries, for example, which are listed in the London Growth Plan as an area of high growth potential, and which have already been as being held back by skills shortages. Graduates entering careers in the creative industries generally need to build up a portfolio of experience. Much of this work is freelance. Hours vary. Income can be low and irregular.
Yet, none of this means that this experience isn’t setting graduates up for long and lucrative careers in their chosen fields in the future. Plus, preventing international graduates from cutting their teeth in entry-level roles in the UK after graduation will prevent us from experiencing the very innovation and fresh ideas needed to enhance our competitiveness in these industries in the future.
The London Growth Plan sets out a route to success for the London and national economy. What we need now is for national government to remove the roadblocks that will enable London – and other UK regions – to lead the country back to prosperity through their most prosperous sectors and industries.
London may well be the first mayoral authority in England to release its plan for growth, but it certainly won’t be last. And if international education makes the cut in every growth plan across the country, including in the devolved administrations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then the pressure will only mount on the UK government from political allies to create the policy conditions to enable international education to thrive.
