The PIE: What proportion of your business comes via agencies?
FB: Around 90%

The PIE: What has feedback been like from agents in terms of access to work in the UK – is that something has made a definite impact to your partners [since rules were tightened]?
FB: It depends on the source market. Many students from southern Asia; Indian, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladeshi students .. quite a lot of them have been reliant on working when they come to this country. When the changes were announced 6-9 months ago, the first signs from local media in India, said, “The UK is closed for business”.

The PIE: Did Cambridge Education Group notice a drop-off for September 2011 start as a result of changes to work rules?
FB: Yes and I believe our competition did too.

The PIE: Where are they going instead?
FB: There’s no question about what happening. In my analogy, the UK has pulled up its drawbridge, and said it’s going to be much more difficult to get into our castle, whereas at the same time, America has been – since the Obama administration got in – lowering the drawbridge. Post-Bush, they are being much more welcoming. With the financial hits that everyone is suffering and in America too – America has just over 4,000 universities and community colleges – they desperately need more students.

“So the US government is doing what I would suggest is the right thing”

So the US government is doing what I would suggest is the right thing. And of course, Australia is poised to be making it a lot easier for international students [to enter/work] so the UK is bound to be impacted.

The PIE: As well as ability to work part-time while studying, what about the fact that it is harder to find a job and [gain a visa to] stay in the country? How important is that?

FB: I think its hugely important for everyone at any level, whether you are an Oxbridge graduate or coming out of college with a fashion qualification  – for all of them, the word employability is huge.

The PIE: Can you foresee the UK government moving position in the short-term?
FB: I think they’d be totally and utterly mad not to. The rest of world is doing that. There are already battlelines drawn amongst ministers on this. It’s a v simple clash, between politics and business.

The PIE: I think anyone in this industry would agree…
FB: I think we need to re-address the way in which we define the term ‘migration’. Penalising genuine students seeking a UK education seems at odds given the huge benefit to our economy and the greater reliance universities are going to have on international students in light of the drop in UK and EU student applications.