The UK’s new minister of immigration has come out swinging in his first public address, accusing the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, of stating “falsehoods” and chastising universities for complaining about required authenticity checks.
He has also warned that he may reconsider the level of visa refusals that institutions cannot exceed to comply with highly trusted sponsor (HTS) rules.
James Brokenshire, who was appointed last month after Mark Harper resigned because of his cleaner’s immigration status, denied claims that the Conservative party’s goal to reduce net migration to below 100,000 is inhibiting universities’ ability to attract foreign students.
In a blow for the UK HE sector, his speech today at cross-party think-tank Demos saw him blast Cable’s comments that foreign students are only defined as immigrants because they stay in the UK for more than a year.
“But does he think all students return home after their studies? That’s the very simple reason foreign students must be counted as immigrants, and Vince knows it,” he said. “He must read these statistics, so you have to wonder why he keeps asserting these falsehoods.”
He praised the government for managing to decrease issued student visas by 29% since 2010 while still managing to attract the brightest and the best–the people we need to fill our skills shortages”.
Challenging arguments that including students in net migration targets was harming the attractiveness of UK universities abroad, Brokenshire rebutted: “These are claims often made but when you look at the facts these arguments are dismissed for the ludicrous fiction that they are.”
He asserted that the trusted status granted to universities and colleges isn’t an “automatic right” and “carries responsibilities”.
“I’m sorry, but is it really unreasonable to require universities to ensure students are genuine?”
“I’m sorry, but is it really unreasonable to require universities to ensure students are genuine? After all, they would hardly admit a British student without checking their A-Level results,” he said.
The minister remarked that the government has seen further examples of abuse from bogus colleges and economic migrants seeking to exploit the system. He hinted that government might rethink the margin of refusals institutions are allowed on students they’ve sponsored.
“The vast majority of education institutions are nowhere near that refusal rate. But some are: which gives rise to considerable concerns about those institutions and their approach,” he said. “I think that at 20% the refusal rate figure may be too generous and we may need to look again.”
Reiterating the Conservative party’s immigration mantra, Brokenshire said: “Let me be very clear about this – there is no cap on the number of genuine students coming from abroad. Categorically, unequivocally – no cap.”
Brokenshire’s comments come after figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics showed last week that net migration has risen to 212,000 a year, more than double the Government’s target, although the most significant reason for the swell in migrants was EU migrants seeking work opportunities.
