International Education Strategy

Adrian Bailey Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd May 2019 Westminster Hall

[Mr Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Lab/Co-op)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the International Education Strategy.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I emphasise that I will try to keep my remarks brief, because I know other Members with a high degree of expertise on this subject wish to contribute to the debate. In a previous incarnation as the Chair of the then Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, and my Committee conducted an inquiry into this matter, and the issues we found and the potential solutions that we came to are as relevant now as they were then.

Before I go into the details, let me say clearly that I welcome the publication of the strategy. Whatever subsequent criticisms I may make, it is a welcome recognition and a very effective portrayal of the fact that education is not just a public investment in future skills in this country; the quality of our educational offer is such that, over and above that, it is a major income earner for this country, sustaining hundreds of thousands of jobs, often in the most economically disadvantaged regions.

To repeat some of the statistics in the report, we have four universities in the world’s top 10, and 18 in the top 100. That sector is only the peak of a globally recognised education system that provides for the early years foundation stage to A-levels. The net financial benefits to this country’s economy are estimated to be £20 billion, and the sector supports 940,000 jobs. It is estimated that somewhere between 50 and 58 current world leaders were educated at British universities. I assume that the vagueness in the figure is something to do with the vicissitudes of public life, with which we are all familiar. The quality of their British education and British experience is a valuable source of good diplomatic relations for Britain, and in a post-Brexit world, it will be even more important to sustain that if we are to develop our international trade.

In short, we have a great product that brings us enormous benefits in hard cash and soft power. That is allied to a rapidly expanding world market. Precise statistics are difficult to get, but all available evidence shows that students, particularly in the emerging economic powerhouses such as China and India, are increasing in numbers and are highly selective and mobile in their choice of destination to continue their studies. Not surprisingly, as English is the global business language, it is English-speaking countries that start with an advantage in attracting those students, as they can develop their subject expertise while polishing their English language skills.

Given all the advantages this country has, we must ask why our performance has been so limp. The Minister will say—I acknowledge this—that there has been an increase in the absolute number of foreign students being educated in this country, but since 2012 international student enrolments here have grown by 5%, compared with 31%, 67%, and 32% in the USA, Australia, and New Zealand respectively. In 2013, the Government set a target to have international students contributing a net £30 billion a year to the UK economy.

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this timely debate. International students can act as ambassadors for us in a funny sort of way, because they understand the culture of the country. More importantly, the two universities in my constituency, the University of Warwick and the University of Coventry, are involved in research and development in the motor car trade, medical facilities or medicines and other such things. Does my hon. Friend agree that when students go back to their own countries, their knowledge of what we can do and can produce may, in a roundabout way, help our trading relationship with those countries?

[Mr Bailey]

As a fellow west midlands MP, my hon. Friend will have shared the experience of the enormous investment that is coming to the region from Indian entrepreneurs who were educated in this country. That is a hard economic benefit that has accrued.

To get back to the point I was making, we have only achieved £23 billion of the benefit that was targeted way back in 2013.

[Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is making an important case. Has he seen the figures I have seen, which suggest that the number of students coming from India in the last year for which there is data—2017-18—is about half what it was in 2010-11?

[Mr Bailey]

I will touch on that when I talk about the impact the visa regime has had.

The revised target in the strategy is to have 600,000 students contributing a net £35 billion to the economy by 2030. That would require a growth rate of something like 4% per annum. Whatever the headline figures, that seems an unambitious target. It is lower than we achieved between 2013 and 2018, which in itself was a long way behind our major competitors. The target would perpetuate a system where we are lagging behind in building market share in the very important world market in education.

There is constant repetition within the strategy about the opportunities that we will have once we have left the EU. In all my dealings on this issue, I have never heard anyone say that we are losing our market share because of the EU. I have heard plenty of other explanations, but I do not want our discussion to become hostage to a more partisan debate on our membership of the EU. Whether we are in or out, it is vital that we take the right steps now to maximise the contribution of international students to our economy.

[Alex Sobel (Leeds North West) (Lab/Co-op)]

One of the flagship programmes for our student exchange is the Erasmus programme. Non-EU countries can take part in that, but they must accept freedom of movement. Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be hugely detrimental for the UK to leave the Erasmus programme and that the Government must do everything they can to ensure we remain within it?

[Mr Bailey]

Absolutely. I do not intend to go into the detail of the issues with the EU and students, but obviously the Erasmus programme is enormously attractive. Notwithstanding the Government’s good intentions to perpetuate it, there is still a huge degree of uncertainty. Any future strategy must involve perpetuating that programme.

In 2013, the tier 1 post-study work visa was abolished and stringent requirements were placed on international graduates who wanted to work in the UK following their studies. As a result, the number of students remaining to work following their studies fell by 87% between 2011 and 2016, from nearly 47,000 to just over 6,000. When the BIS Committee visited China in 2012, that was a big issue raised by our Chinese hosts. Similarly, in India it is a highly contentious issue, which I know has been raised by the host Government with our Government and business deputations ever since. The perception is that Britain no longer welcomes foreign students. However often the Government repeat the mantra that we are open for business, while we have a restrictive visa regime, and reported difficulties in obtaining visas, potential applicants will be deterred and our ability to compete with rival countries will be inhibited.

It is understandable that the brightest and best from other countries will want to come here not only for their education, but to use and contribute to our top class research, either in the private sector or the field of academia. From the UK’s perspective, it is ridiculous to invest money in developing talent only to then export it to other countries to use in their private sectors, sometimes in competition with companies in this country.

The fact is that far more generous post-study work offers are available in our competitor countries. That is why we are lagging. My disappointment with the strategy is that it does not identify the core problem, which explains what I consider to be our second rate performance, or provide evidence that the Home Office is willing to change it. The best the strategy offers are the so-called actions 3 and 4. Action 3 is:

“Government will strengthen the UK's visa offer for international higher education students”.

Action 4 is:

“The UK Government will keep the visa application process for international students under review”.

Those are warm words, but they are not strong or specific enough to motivate the brightest and best foreign students to choose the UK as opposed to other countries with a more generous and specific offer.

Why has this come about? The reason is the Government’s flawed and failed target to reduce net migration to below 100,000. The compilation of statistics of student movements within the net migration figures is worthy of a debate in itself. I do not have time to go into it in depth, but I will make two observations. First, there is considerable polling evidence that the public are far more supportive of the right of students to study and to work for at least two years thereafter than they are tolerant of other forms of immigration. About 75% of people support that approach.

Secondly, the statistical basis of compiling student immigration statistics using the international passenger survey, which was the basis used to introduce the visa policy, was seriously flawed. It overstated the number of students overstaying—the proportion is now considered to be less than 3%. In short, we have a student visa regime that is based on flawed statistics, that runs contrary to public opinion, and that undermines both our ability to recruit the maximum number of students and the economic benefits of our amazing institutions. That is one reason I will support the amendment tabled by the hon. Member for Orpington (Joseph Johnson), who I am glad is present, to the Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill.

In chapter 1.7 of the strategy, titled “A whole-of-government approach”, different Departments are listed as supporting the strategy, including the Foreign Office, the Department for Education, the Department for International Trade, the Department for International Development, and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The conspicuous absentee is the Home Office. Perhaps the Minister can explain why the Home Office is missing from the whole-of-Government approach, when its particular responsibilities are central to the policy’s success.

It is vital that the Home Office is signed up to both the policy and the processes if we are to meet, and hopefully exceed, our targets. The policy will be successful only if we have a visa regime that is competitive with rival providers. I ask the Minister what work the Department is doing with the Home Office to ensure that the visa offer, and the associated costs and processes, are at least as attractive—preferably more attractive—than other national providers?

I would like to discuss many other issues, but I will leave time for other Members to contribute. Unless the Minister can provide an adequate answer on the core issue, I suspect that in five years’ time our successors will debate it again, and we will be further behind in the vital race to secure the potential economic benefits from this market.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Bailey]

This debate merits a much longer time being spent on it, given the quality and expertise shown in the contributions. A whole range of issues was raised.

I accept what the hon. Member for Henley (John Howell) said about the importance of transnational education, but I do not think this is either/or. A better visa offer, generating more foreign students coming to this country, would of itself mean more capital and more experience for those higher education or other institutions to carry out work in other countries as well. Ultimately, there would be a more all-embracing educational offer from this country.

I accept that the Minister and his team are fully signed up to this particular approach. I welcome his comments about Home Office involvement, but the fact remains that in the actual strategy, under the whole-of-Government approach among the Departments listed, the Home Office is a significant absentee. However, we will judge the strategy by what comes out of it. I very much hope that subsequent involvement of the Home Office, the Minister’s Department and other relevant Departments will demonstrate that they are addressing the issues raised today, as I am sure he will raise those issues with them.