Covid-19: International Language Schools

Graham Stuart Excerpts

Wednesday 1st July 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Graham Stuart)]

On behalf, I am sure, of everyone in the House this evening, I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Caroline Ansell) on delivering such a powerful and passionate speech on behalf of the sector and on championing it so effectively. I am also grateful to colleagues across the House for engaging with this issue.

As you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, I have form in this area, having previously been Chairman of the Education Committee. I am now the joint chair, with my hon. Friend the Minister for Universities, of the Government’s education sector advisory group. I have witnessed the truly world-class excellence of UK English language teaching. It is a superb British success story, which enriches the economic and cultural life of the country. As has been said, it helps to bring young people from across the globe to our shores. It enables them to gain a better grasp of our language and a more intimate understanding of, and often affection for, our country. It strengthens our ties with nations worldwide, as international students share their experiences of the UK with their friends and families, building our profile in some of the world’s fastest growing global markets. It fosters business, opportunity and prosperity in all regions and nations of the UK and helps to level up our country.

[Alison Thewliss]

The Minister is extolling the virtues of international education, and on that I agree with him. The Glasgow International College, which lies just over the boundary of my constituency in Glasgow North, had me in to visit, and young people I spoke to there were enjoying the experience very much, but would like the opportunity to stay on post their studies to live and work in Scotland. Would he consider that a good option?

[Graham Stuart]

As a trade Minister, I am hesitant to veer off into a Home Office area of responsibility. It is always important to remember, as a member of the Government, that you are like a member of the Borg: you have but a single thought, and you should ensure that you entirely comply, regardless of what your face may say on any particular issue. The words are terribly important.

English language teaching is central to broader educational success. We have more than 500 accredited centres based right across the country, creating tens of thousands of jobs and generating education exports. We think the figure may even be more like £1.6 billion, but I suppose people have different numbers. It is a very significant number and is part of that wider education piece, with well over £20 billion of educational exports from this country last year.

Our world-class ELT providers are having a profound impact on the young people they teach, in many cases helping develop a lifetime of affinity to and affection for the UK. Some 80% of students told English UK—the organisation that represents the more than 400 ELT providers—that they planned to return to this country after their courses ended for travel or further study. That is a huge vote of confidence in our ELT sector and our country as a whole as we compete in an increasingly competitive global educational marketplace.

[Anthony Mangnall]

I am sorry to add a further point, but does my hon. Friend also recognise the significance of the facts that 35,000 jobs are dependent on ELT schools and that host families play a significant role in hosting those international students?

[Graham Stuart]

My hon. Friend makes suitable points, although in an Adjournment debate I think two bites of the cherry is a little greedy. His points are none the less well made.

English language teaching is a crucial industry for many of our coastal towns and cities, whose economies and cultural life are enriched by the presence of international students. That includes the five accredited ELT centres in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne.

We have focused tonight so far predominantly on the direct benefits that the sector delivers, but English language teaching plays a key role in underpinning the UK’s wider education system by helping unlock the door for thousands of overseas students to courses at British universities and further education establishments. ELT is not only valuable in itself, but is a pipeline to the broader, wider educational offer.

[Angela Richardson (Guildford) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that it is not only vital for these students to be able to apply to courses at universities, but that the centres run tests that help them actually have the level of English they need to get into the universities? If they want to apply for citizenship, the centres also provide that opportunity. They are vital not only for those coming over for courses, but for those who want to stay and make their life in this country.

[Graham Stuart]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The sector provides a major direct benefit and a huge enabling benefit in various ways. As my hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne said, ELT providers have been particularly hard hit by the impact of covid-19, because they rely almost entirely on exports for their income. As has been said, the two biggest markets, Italy and China, were among the first to be closed. This summer season, which would, as my hon. Friend said, normally be a peak period for our ELT sector, looks likely to be badly affected as the short courses that make up such a large proportion of their income are curtailed.

The Government, as my hon. Friend also touched on, have responded to an unprecedented challenge in an unprecedented manner. DIT is playing a pivotal role in cross-Government work to help our education exporters as we co-ordinate our efforts with the Home Office, the Treasury, BEIS, DFE, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, MHCLG and the Department for Transport to give the ELT sector the support it needs.

As the Exports Minister and co-chairman of the education sector advisory group, I very much see DIT playing that role. We cannot take on the visa element, which is naturally that of the Home Office; we cannot deal with reliefs for business rates or whatever, because that naturally would be for MHCLG; but I will, as best I can, seek to champion the sector. I can assure my hon. Friend and other Members across the House that we are working closely with other Departments to champion and spread understanding of the importance of the sector.

ELT providers are taking advantage of the wide range of other key measures that we have put in place to help UK firms weather the crisis. I will not rehearse them now, because my hon. Friend has already done so—whether it is CBILS or the job retention scheme. There are other support measures: small business grant funding; the bounce-back loan scheme for small and micro enterprises; and, indeed, the possibility of applying for VAT deferral for up to 12 months.

Meanwhile, the Home Office has made a number of temporary changes to support the education sector, including ELT providers and international students, during this crisis. Those include extending the leave of students in the UK whose visa as a short-term student expires before 31 July but who cannot travel due to covid-19; permitting students to start their new course of study while their application is awaiting a decision, or indeed to undertake an additional course as a short-term student whose leave has been extended; and lifting the prohibition on distance learning for international students to ensure that they can continue to study while institutions are physically closed.

DIT’s support for our ELT providers during this crisis has been informed and developed through our close partnership with representatives of the sector. The joint DIT-DFE education sector advisory group, which, as I say, I co-chair, and of which English UK is a member, is key to this work. The body helps to co-ordinate our work to boost UK education exports and sets the strategic direction for our dedicated DIT education team.

Crucially, the advisory group also monitors the progress of the Government’s international education strategy, which I very much enjoyed helping form, which aims to increase the value of education exports to £35 billion annually and grow the total number of international students hosted by UK universities to 600,000 by 2030. This country is determined to be open to people from all over the world to come and be educated here. The strategy will provide the foundation stone for growth as we grasp what I believe, post-covid, will be golden opportunities ahead for UK education exports as the global economy recovers.

Helping to inform this endeavour is the DIT-led English language training working group, which includes representatives from across the sector. This partnership ensures that the English language teaching sector’s voice is heard loud and clear as we work together to build for the future. DIT has been working hard to put the interests of the UK’s ELT providers front and centre of our work to grow the UK’s education exports worldwide.

I think I have addressed my hon. Friend’s point about having a Department to champion the sector. When I became chairman of the education sector advisory group, I suggested that we should reach out to the DFE, and it is now co-chaired with my hon. Friend the Universities Minister, because working across Government is really important. I pay credit to the Home Office, which has been an integral part of that too. We have developed a much more flexible and supportive system over the last few years for the education sector.

What plans do we have to champion the industry? I would very much say that it is part and parcel of that international education strategy, and the English language teaching element is absolutely vital. As I have also said, there is a pipeline to that, which needs to be recognised for its importance, not only in itself, but for what it does to others. We believe that English language teaching is a truly world-class UK export, which helps to put this country on the map for hundreds of thousands of young people worldwide. Covid has had a terrible impact on our ELT providers, as it has on many other areas of our economy, but we are working to ensure that this dynamic sector has the support it needs to thrive once this crisis has abated.

As we move back to growth, we will use the ambitious free trade agreements that we are negotiating with key global partners to open up further opportunities for education in the years ahead. My message to our ELT sector is that this Government are placing education at the very heart of our efforts to build a truly global Britain, which champions free trade and commerce on the world stage. We are building a Britain that is ever more welcoming for students from across the world and our brilliant English language teaching providers will give them the key to unlock their full potential for the benefit of us all.

Question put and agreed to.