Bell recently spoke at The PIE Live Europe 2025, where he asserted that international students will stay in UK net migration figures, regardless of what the government’s policy on immigration might be.
Now the MAC chair is back again with more no-nonsense responses as he answers more of your questions on immigration.
Q: Is there a country with an immigration system you admire? Who is getting inbound immigration right and why is it so difficult to control?
Anonymous
A: No country gets it really right. It is just very difficult to predict how particular immigration policies will play out – and everything is subject to lots of shocks. And a policy that seems to work for a certain period of time may work very badly under different circumstances.
Q: Payroll data does not accurately reflect the graduate labour market – sectoral and regional differences in graduate jobs are not adequately explored. How can we make assumptions about graduate jobs without nuanced data?
Anne-Marie Graham, UKCISA
A: I’m not sure why payroll data would not reflect the graduate labour market (or indeed any other labour market) – it simply tells us what people are getting paid. Of course, graduates expect to get fast wage progression over the first five-10 years of their career – but, again, we can see that in the data.
Wage differences tend to be bigger within, rather than across, regions, and you can’t have an immigration system with hundreds of thresholds – and the immigration routes do have different thresholds for different occupations, subject to some overall minima.
Q: Is there a double standard for international graduates, where we expect them to walk immediately into a high-paying job whereas plenty of research clearly demonstrates that graduates can take two-three years to earn a ‘graduate’ salary?
Anonymous
A: Anyone who is under 26 years old gets a “new entrant discount” to the normal salary thresholds for four years. So, we don’t expect them to walk into a high-paying job. There is a difference between graduating from a UK vs a non-UK university if you are over 26. It is, however, important to make sure that people are being paid appropriately.
Q: How should universities and government track and support Graduate Route students to give them (and the visa route) the best chance to succeed?
David Amor, Higher Insights
A: In our Graduate Route review, one of the things we were concerned about was how many universities didn’t really seem to be helping international students make the most of the graduate route.
Q: What alternative pathways or policy adjustments would you recommend to ensure the UK remains a competitive destination for global talent?
Prabakaran Srinivasan, Weryfyr
A: I am a bit sceptical about the phrase global talent. I suspect it doesn’t really mean anything, except that everyone seems to think they are employing global talent!
If you are truly talented, it is not that hard to come to the UK to work or study – no restrictions on studying, only needing median earnings in most jobs, global talent visa, etc. We could probably make it all a bit simpler (and cheaper) but I suspect the effects of such changes are quite marginal. Sometimes you hear people talk about global talent and then they want to pay about the minimum wage.
Q: How do you believe the evolving UK immigration policies will impact the long-term career prospects and global mobility of international students, particularly those from emerging markets?
Jin Yuan, Uoffer Global
A: Immigration policy is only one of many factors that determine mobility of international students and so it is hard to pinpoint any particular causality. I think it is much better to just focus on what immigration policy we think is appropriate for the UK.
Q: Given the recent policy changes, including restrictions on dependant visas and the sharp increase in the salary threshold for skilled worker visas, how does the MAC assess the potential impact on the UK’s ability to attract international students?
Anonymous
A: Immigration policy overall should not have the attraction of international students as its objective. We should have policies that maximise the welfare of the resident population.
Q: What are the UK government’s key objectives in attracting international students? Is the primary goal simply to fill university spaces, or is there a broader strategy to retain top talent and address critical skill shortages in the UK labour market?
Michael Ijaiyemakinde, University of Kent
A: You would need to ask the government! [The MAC is an independent, non-statutory, non-departmental public body that only advises the government.]
Immigration policy overall should not have the attraction of international students as its objective
Brian Bell, The MAC
Q: Is there a better option than salary thresholds, given they fail to take account of regional and industry variations?
Anonymous
A: I don’t think so. They do recognise differences across occupations (and therefore industry to a certain extent) and regional differences (except for London) are much bigger within regions than across them.
Q: Will the graduate route visa remain in its current form?
Andrei Olteanu, University of Law
A: That is for the government to decide.
Q: The UK issues many more visas compared to the USA, which hosts much higher number of international students compared to the UK. Would it not help to mainly focus on long-term immigration trends and their impact on health, social and other services?
Janet Ilieva, Education Insight
A: I’m not sure I understand this. We issue visas to all international students who don’t otherwise have the right to enter the UK for the duration of their studies – most other countries do the same thing. Whenever we examine a visa route we look at the impact on public services (though often the data is poor).
Q: Can you share any insight on why some students from specific countries claim asylum after receiving a student visa? Will this be included in the BCA metrics?
Anonymous
A: This is not something the MAC has looked at, so I can’t provide any insight.
Q: In terms of the care system, why have these services not been given special consideration? The NHS and social care are both essential and will continue to have a shortage of labour if they can’t afford to pay higher salaries. How can this message be heard?
Ann Muston, Cambridge English Class
A: The care system does get special consideration. No other RQF1-2 occupation can use the immigration system and the salary thresholds are much lower for care workers than other workers. But immigration is too often used as a way of avoiding addressing the low wages in the sector.
Q: How do we change public sentiment about international students and their role in our universities?
Andrew Plant, QS
A: Now this is one for universities to think about!
Q: Do you think the current policy risks impact the UK’s ability to attract high calibre students in strategically important sectors such as AI, fintech and cybersecurity?
Jenny Hyde, Abertay University
A: No – if we have great universities that provide courses in these subjects that are world class, students will come (and there are no serious restrictions on students coming to the UK). And if they are great students, they will be able to find work in the UK after graduation if that’s what they want, first on the Graduate Route and then the Skilled Worker route.
Q: What role would you like the Office for Student’s (OfS) to play in regulating best practice in this area of edu-immigration?
Anonymous
A: I’m not sure. Immigration policy is for the Home Secretary so I’m not sure what role the OfS has in this area?
Q: Do you think that higher education as a sector can govern ourselves without a better steer on what is expected from government?
Ben Bilverstone, MH Global
A: Not sure about governance. But the government does need to think more about the funding model for higher education – immigration is inextricably linked to this.
Q: Putting VAT on school fees means international students who would have benefitted from education here for K-12 are not staying in the UK due to cost. Other countries give bursaries and these international may now go elsewhere – do you see this as a positive or negative?
Anonymous
A: I think the early evidence is that the behavioural response to VAT on school fees has been quite small – and it would not surprise me if the effect was smaller for international students.
Do you agree with Brian Bell’s responses? Please comment below or email editorial@thepienews.com to share your views.
