A Nobel-prize winning scientist credited with a discovery that could spur economic growth in the UK has lambasted the government's student immigration policies, saying they deter foreign talent. Russian-born physicist Professor Sir Andre Geim isolated the "super material" graphene in the UK but said new salary thresholds on non-EU students were "stupid". A Nobel-prize winning scientist credited with a discovery that could spur economic growth in the UK has lambasted the government's student immigration policies, saying they deter foreign talent.
Russian-born physicist Professor Sir Andre Geim isolated
graphene at the University of Manchester in 2005, a "super material” which commentators say could transform the development of touch-screen technology, clothing fabric and even energy creation.
However, in a speech this weekend he hit out at the government's drive to reduce net migration, and tougher student visa policies to achieve it, saying his discovery would "probably not have happened if I had been unable to employ great non-EU PhD students and post-docs".
"We need to distinguish between good and bad immigration – there is a difference between a person who brings a family of 20 who cannot speak English and a bright overseas student," he said.
"I can't stress enough how stupid it is that the Government has put immigrants and overseas students in the same category"
Graphene, an atom-thin, carbon-based material with apparently unmatched electronic and physical properties, made headlines last month when Chancellor George Osborne allocated £21.5 million to its development (after spending £38 million last year). The material is already being commercialised by Korea and China, and Osborne believes it could help steer the UK back to economic health.
But Sir Andre, who was knighted in this year’s honours list, said that the government's current policy of including overseas students in net migration counts (which it wants to reduce to the "tens of thousands" by 2015) would harm the economy in the long run by stymieing discovery.
He singled out policies such as the new minimum salary requirement of £31,000 for non-EU workers (and £20,000 for graduates), saying they undermined students' chances of finding science jobs by adding to existing hurdles such as language barriers.
“Most students already do not plan to stay in this country – around 10 per cent will," he said. "I can't stress enough how stupid it is that the government has put immigrants and overseas students in the same category. [Education] is a billion-dollar industry and overseas students should be made welcome.”
55% of masters degree qualifiers and 42% of PhD qualifiers from STEM degrees hailed from overseas in 2009-10
Others to have criticised the government’s stance on foreign students in recent months include the Conservative London mayor, Boris Johnson – said by some to be more popular than the Prime Minister. In November, during a trade mission to India, he warned that the Coalition's visa policies were
sending the “wrong signal” and the UK was losing business to Canada, the US and Australia.
In December, the House of Lords EU Committee
became the fifth parliamentary committee to call for international students to be removed from net migration targets. "Failure to do so will impair both the quality of the UK’s higher education sector and its ability to attract talented individuals in an increasingly competitive global market,” Lord Hannay of Chiswick, chairman of the Home Affairs, Health and Education Sub-Committee, said.
Skilled science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) graduates are vital to a country's economic growth, but the UK faces a shortage with 40% of employers struggling to find suitable employees according to the Confederation of British Industry. At the same time, 55% of masters degree qualifiers and 42% of PhD qualifiers from STEM degrees hailed from outside the EU in
2009-10.
A Nobel-prize winning scientist credited with a discovery that could spur economic growth in the UK has lambasted the government’s student immigration policies, saying they deter foreign talent.
Russian-born physicist Professor Sir Andre Geim isolated graphene at the University of Manchester in 2005, a “super material” which commentators say could transform the development of touch-screen technology, clothing fabric and even energy creation.
However, in a speech this weekend he hit out at the government’s drive to reduce net migration, and tougher student visa policies to achieve it, saying his discovery would “probably not have happened if I had been unable to employ great non-EU PhD students and post-docs”.
“We need to distinguish between good and bad immigration – there is a difference between a person who brings a family of 20 who cannot speak English and a bright overseas student,” he said.
“I can’t stress enough how stupid it is that the Government has put immigrants and overseas students in the same category”
Graphene, an atom-thin, carbon-based material with apparently unmatched electronic and physical properties, made headlines last month when Chancellor George Osborne allocated £21.5 million to its development (after spending £38 million last year). The material is already being commercialised by Korea and China, and Osborne believes it could help steer the UK back to economic health.
But Sir Andre, who was knighted in this year’s honours list, said that the government’s current policy of including overseas students in net migration counts (which it wants to reduce to the “tens of thousands” by 2015) would harm the economy in the long run by stymieing discovery.
He singled out policies such as the new minimum salary requirement of £31,000 for non-EU workers (and £20,000 for graduates), saying they undermined students’ chances of finding science jobs by adding to existing hurdles such as language barriers.
“Most students already do not plan to stay in this country – around 10 per cent will,” he said. “I can’t stress enough how stupid it is that the government has put immigrants and overseas students in the same category. [Education] is a billion-dollar industry and overseas students should be made welcome.”
55% of masters degree qualifiers and 42% of PhD qualifiers from STEM degrees hailed from overseas in 2009-10
Others to have criticised the government’s stance on foreign students in recent months include the Conservative London mayor, Boris Johnson – said by some to be more popular than the Prime Minister. In November, during a trade mission to India, he warned that the Coalition’s visa policies were sending the “wrong signal” and the UK was losing business to Canada, the US and Australia.
In December, the House of Lords EU Committee became the fifth parliamentary committee to call for international students to be removed from net migration targets. “Failure to do so will impair both the quality of the UK’s higher education sector and its ability to attract talented individuals in an increasingly competitive global market,” Lord Hannay of Chiswick, chairman of the Home Affairs, Health and Education Sub-Committee, said.
Skilled science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) graduates are vital to a country’s economic growth, but the UK faces a shortage with 40% of employers struggling to find suitable employees according to the Confederation of British Industry. At the same time, 55% of masters degree qualifiers and 42% of PhD qualifiers from STEM degrees hailed from outside the EU in 2009-10.
