Welsh universities have called for the government to have a greater recognition of regional demographic variations across the UK, as well as the need for a national education champion to promote Wales on the global stage.
“The current Labour government has been very clear that it is place based and I think we have an opportunity to say that we want students who come and stay and who contribute – and many would – but the earning threshold for Wales doesn’t work the way that it should,” Rachael Langford, Cardiff Metropolitan University vice-chancellor, told delegates at The PIE Live Europe.
“Wales needs an international education champion on the world stage to join Steve Smith in England and the excellent work that he does, and Professor Wendy Alexander in Scotland,” added Langford.
“We have to be realistic that a graduate salary in Wales or in the Northwest of England is not going to be the same as it is in London or the Southeast, but that doesn’t make it less of a graduate job,” said UKCISA chief executive, Anne-Marie Graham.
“Immigration is not devolved and it’s not likely to be, but it’s difficult because it lacks that nuance, and it’s not just regional differences but it’s sectorial differences as well,” added Graham.
While education is devolved across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the UK’s immigration strategy is set at a national level by the government in Westminster, meaning that policies can ignore demographic variations.
After rising last year, the UK’s salary threshold for individuals applying for the Skilled Worker Visa stands at £38,700, though there are some exceptions, including certain healthcare and education jobs, as well as social care workers and STEM PhD students.
After thresholds were hiked up by the Conservative government, UK businesses raised concerns that the new rates could deter international students and said that regional variations had not been considered.
Of the near-20,000 international students recruited by IDP Education to the UK each year, approximately 8% apply to Wales and only 1.3% enrol, said IDP partnerships director Rachel MacSween, adding: “We’ve got some work to do”.
“Employability is, time and time again, the number one driver for student choice for the UK,” said MacSween. “When we speak to students, it always comes back to return on investment, work experience and graduate opportunities,” she advised.
Immigration is not devolved and it’s not likely to be, but it’s difficult because it lacks that nuance
Anne-Marie Graham, UKISA
With Australia and Canada reducing international student intake, and the US grappling with an increasingly volatile policy landscape, “there is an opportunity for Wales and for the UK to have our warm welcome to international students heard loud and clear”, said Langford.
Last month, Universities Wales published a set of recommendations to promote Welsh internationalisation, including developing a dedicated international strategy and advocating for closer engagement with the UK government on immigration policy.
The report follows a £500k funding pot that was announced last month by the Welsh government to strengthen institutions’ global partnerships and promote Wales as a study destination.
With international students providing a significant financial boost to UK universities, Langford said that it was her “hope and expectation” that the report would ensure that “funding is not seen as the be all and end all”.
“We mustn’t lose sight that we’re not just talking about markets, about educational products, but we’re talking about people, people who have hopes and dreams to come and study, ambitions that we in Wales know we need to work together to help them achieve,” she added.
Though there is more destination marketing to be done in Wales, delegates heard that students surveyed by IDP ranked Scotland and Wales higher than England for student satisfaction, with institutions encouraged to leverage the welcoming rhetoric central to Wales’ national identity.
What’s more, Langford highlighted the benefits of being a smaller, more agile nation whose institutions are united in their internationalisation goals and can work together more easily.
“The Welsh government is an arm’s reach away. That ability to have dialogue, gain some leverage and get what we need from Welsh government is pretty special and that means that cooperation is not just an aspiration, it’s a reality,” she said.
Meanwhile, UK stakeholders are anticipating the publication of the government’s immigration white paper in the coming months, which is expected to place a greater emphasis on soft power and recognise the reciprocal benefits of international education.
