International students should be welcome to study in the UK

International students are a crucial component of our higher education sector. The learning and research community is at its most effective when it has the widest possible membership, bringing together British students and faculty with scholars from all of the world. That the most popular level for Student visa-holders is at the master’s level also indicates that many international students are mature, with potential field experience that brings added knowledge to the classroom.

Particularly in recent years, they have enabled many of our universities to remain operational after years of government neglect. In the post-pandemic era, this group has made up nearly a quarter of all students and accounted for an average of 22% of all university income (including an expected 66% of all tuition fees by the 2026/27 academic year).

In addition to their contributions to universities, individual students arguably contribute more to the overall economy than most people due to the steep tuition fees imposed upon them (the cohort which began their studies in the 2021/22 academic year were estimated to have contributed a net economic benefit of £37.4 billion to the UK economy during their time on the Student visa).

International students are also an important part of the classroom itself. Again, they comprise approximately a quarter of the entire student body and they bring with them a wide variety of backgrounds and ideas, which in turn enhances all students’ education. In short, international students greatly enrich our society and our economy, and we should welcome them accordingly.

Yet despite the positive impacts they make to the UK, they are not given the same residency rights as are many other migrants, and are even used to justify broader draconian measures in the name of ‘net migration’.

The unfortunate obsession with net migration numbers is not a conversation the Green Party wishes to entertain, as it is too-often discussed without context or nuance. Case in point: international students are included in the numbers despite being legally considered short-term residents.

Under the current system, international students do not qualify for permanent residency, an exclusionary policy we continue to push against. At the same time, the current government, along with the previous one, continues to include them in the net migration numbers in order to create a narrative which justifies punitive policies in the name of control.

Due to the unnecessary inclusion of international students in the net migration conversation, needless and harmful policies have recently been aimed at curtailing their rights to come to study in the UK despite being widely recognised as a net positive both socially and economically. These infringements include further restrictions in January 2024 which bar most Student-visa holders from bringing their close family members to live with them in UK. Further discussions include proposals to limit which universities should even be allowed to sponsor international students. There have even been threats to once again close the post-study visa route, only brought back in 2021 after the previous route was closed in 2012, a decision that only harmed the higher education sector and likely the economy as a whole, as international talent turned elsewhere.

We disagree with the policy examples above. We will continue to support policies which promote the UK’s higher education sector and we will also continue to welcome the contributions of international students to the universities where they study as well as to the country as a whole. As such, we will advocate for the return of Dependant visas for the family members of Student-visa holders, and push against any further conversations which threaten to limit the Student or Graduate visa routes.

The loss of the Dependant visa for international students impacts anybody on a taught master’s course (the most popular course route for international students) who has a partner or child. Prior to the changes brought in Janyary 2024, all master’s students were allowed to bring their close family members, and even this previous policy was already more strict than the global norm – many of the countries we compete against for international students do not even limit family migration for undergraduate students. Again, many of those who study at the Postgraduate level are mature students (who can better afford the steep fees imposed upon them than those studying at the Bachelor’s level) with a spouse and possibly even children, who have experience in their fields and thus make an important contribution in the classroom. By closing our borders to their family members, our higher education system and research areas will only be harmed while the systems in Australia, the USA, Canada, and elsewhere will benefit as these students and their families look elsewhere.

These types of anti-family policies also have a high risk of impacting women and people from certain countries more than others, thus repeating the common Home Office theme of ‘discrimination in another name’ policies seen elsewhere, such as the financial requirements imposed on British citizens to sponsor their foreign spouses, as well as the extortionate and unnecessary cost of visas themselves which are unaffordable to much of the world’s population.

In the UK we have now experienced a decline of Student visa applications for the 2024/25 academic year, with some universities expecting as much as a 50% drop in enrolment for one-year master’s programmes. For the same year, 90% of universities saw a decline in international student applications. Considering the fees paid by international students have become crucial to the maintenance of these universities due to lack of government investment, this could have a very damaging impact on the UK higher education sector – and wider society and economy – in the coming years.

The loss of Dependant visas will not be the only factor for this drop in overall international student numbers, especially when most students will not be impacted by this change. However, it does signal to all prospective students that their welcome in the UK might not be as warm as they would find elsewhere. A growing list of countries and institutions compete for their talent (and fees), and offer incentives accordingly, including more fair tuition fees, longer post-study visa options, and easier access to permanent residency. We should be competing just as vigorously for these (usually temporary) migrants and their talent.

We also want to be clear due to unfortunate debates in recent years regarding which universities should have the privilege of hosting international students: any university which is compliant with its sponsoring responsibilities should be able to host international studies. To study in the UK, at any institution, can be a prestigious and proud moment in an international student’s life. While many will have worked hard to earn their place at Oxbridge or a Russell Group university, many more will have worked just as hard to earn their place at less prominent universities where they can study for a degree taught in English, in a system which might offer what their home system cannot. So long as a university remains compliant with their immigration responsibilities, they should never be threatened with a revocation of their sponsorship privilege simply due to its relationship with the arbitrary concept of ‘prestige’, especially prestige is measured in different ways by different people.

International students contribute greatly to both our society and our economy, specifically of course the higher education system, a strength of this country and a major component of our soft power around the world. We welcome, and will continue to welcome, these individuals to the UK who have been offered a place at a compliant university, and we welcome their families alongside them.