International Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Students (S&T Committee Report)

Lord Rees of Ludlow Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rees of Ludlow (CB)]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, for chairing this study, and for his comprehensive speech. I echo his thanks to the staff of the committee, and I declare an interest as a member of Cambridge University.

We must be aware that overseas students display huge diversity in interests as well as nationality. The bulk of them are doing undergraduate degrees, but those doing masters or doctoral degrees tend to be a larger proportion of all students in those categories. We are in an international market for talent in which our strong higher education system ought to give us an edge. My concern is that the various obstacles being put in the way are preventing us from achieving our potential.

The most insistent theme of our committee’s evidence was the general regret at the removal of the post-study work visa scheme in 2012 and unease with the more stringent and vexatious requirements that have replaced it. As the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, has said, a specially compelling witness was Sir Andrew Witty. He came as chancellor of Nottingham University but spoke with the authority of a chief executive of a major company, GSK. He noted, with regard to the four-month limit, that the clock starts when the students finish their course, not when they formally graduate. This puts them under even greater time pressure in seeking a job. Some try and fail, but too many are less confident: they assume failure and do not even try. Sir Andrew recommended a year from finishing the degree, which might then obviate the need for the specific entrepreneurial route. In the US, for instance, students are given a five-year visa for a four-year course, which makes it possible to gain work experience without hassle. Germany offers 18 months.

It was pointed out, particularly in evidence from Leicester University, that for students from India or Pakistan the work experience is perceived as a highly valued supplement to one-year master’s courses. Let us not forget what a huge investment in rupees Indian students make and how life-changing their experience here can be. The decline in perceived opportunities tilts the balance, in their minds, in favour of the US, Canada and elsewhere. Of course, such perceptions feed back to India and weaken the field applying here in future years.

Another issue that we raised is the salary threshold of £20,700. The Government’s response was that this was not too high and that its purpose was to prevent people staying on in unskilled occupations. However, we were told in evidence that new graduates in a subject such as pharmacy, without professional accreditation, would not get an offer at that level, but they would get lower-paid jobs offering the kind of valuable experience that would help them and convince them that they had made the right decision coming here. In fact, a similar concern was expressed recently in a radio interview with no less an authority than David Willetts, who pointed out that the threshold salary may be appropriate for London but is not so easy to achieve in the Midlands or the north of England, and so has the effect of sucking overseas graduates into the south-east. He suggested that there should be flexibility, with rather lower wage requirements in other parts of the country. Technical jobs paying less are genuinely valuable work experience—certainly not the same as unskilled work. The potential of such work is part of the package that allows students from India and Pakistan to get good value from the sacrifices that they make to come here.

A further impediment is that employers, especially in SMEs, continue to perceive complexity in the current rules for becoming sponsors. This was clear from the evidence, despite the official claims that it takes only 30 minutes to do so. The doctorate extension scheme is welcome, but again there were concerns that the application was not straightforward because the application has to be made no more than 60 days before the uncertain completion date of a PhD.

Subsequent to our report, further measures have been introduced by the Immigration Act 2014. These need to be carefully monitored. For instance, the NHS surcharge will increase application fees significantly. For a PhD student on a four-year course, visa and associated costs will increase from £310 to around £1,000, with the same amount for each dependant. The pilot scheme in the West Midlands for immigration checks by landlords would need thorough assessment before any decision was made to roll out the requirement nationally. There is a risk that it will deter landlords from renting to overseas students, especially in university cities where accommodation is already scarce.

The Government did not accept our committee’s recommendation for a biennial review to monitor the impact of frequent policy changes such as these, which are widely reported overseas and fuel the perception of the UK as inconsistent and unwelcoming to international students. Universities would like a period of stability, not only for their planning purposes but because it would give confidence to potential applicants. Of course, there was huge relief in January when there was no follow-through on the Home Secretary’s proposal to abolish even the four-month grace period, but the fact that this was prominently floated will surely in itself have deterred some applicants this year.

Many are perplexed at the Government’s reluctance to distinguish in their public pronouncements and policy between students and other immigrants—something that has been urged by several other committees apart than our own. Students are a substantial fraction of non-EU arrivals. As we know, the Government are being pressured about the gap between their 100,000 target and the three-times higher reality. It seems baffling that they are not eager to highlight the distinction and thereby at least blunt the manifest contradiction between the rhetoric from the Home Office and that from BIS. Perhaps the Minister could clarify that.

There is a growing worldwide demand for young people with STEM qualifications, and indeed with expertise in other fields of learning. As has been said, our universities are especially well placed to attract students at all levels: undergraduates, those who seek the professional development that a taught master’s course provides, and those seeking PhDs. In the competition for talent, our traditional rivals have been the US, Canada and Australia, but mainland Europe is more attractive now to students, especially from Asia, because courses are also offered in English.

We should surely also prepare for the disruptive effects of distance learning. So-called massive, open, online courses—MOOCs for short—have perhaps been overhyped, but they have their greatest potential at the level of vocational master’s courses, especially in subjects that do not require laboratory work. These MOOCs offer the UK an opportunity; the Open University especially has a real chance to excel in marketing this kind of distance learning. Its downside will be that as online courses develop, expensive residential courses in the UK will lose their allure unless enhanced by the genuine prospect of work experience, which requires relaxing visa regulations.

It may not be easy, even with optimum policies, to sustain the level of foreign students, the best of whom are surely an asset who should be welcomed and encouraged to stay. That is why we must surely avoid the own goals stemming from erratic and burdensome regulations. Foreign students who stay enhance our talent pool; those who return can forge links with this country that enhance our soft power. Overseas students should be welcomed—their paths should be smooth.