Education: Conservatoires

Lord Wills Excerpts

Wednesday 10th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wills]

My Lords, I, too, congratulate my noble friend Lord Lipsey, and I thank him for initiating this important debate. As the noble Lord, Lord Maclennan, has said, the number of noble Lords who are participating indicates the importance that this House attaches to the role of these crucial institutions in our cultural life. In the couple of minutes available I want to focus, as my noble friend Lord Lipsey and the noble Lord, Lord Low, did, on the position of international students. Not only do they make an invaluable contribution with the considerable fee income that they bring in to these institutions, they are also largely responsible for an important and irreplaceable creative input, widening the diversity of excellence and musical influence, which benefits all students. It is therefore important that we should do everything possible to encourage these students to continue to come and study here.

I want to raise four particular concerns by asking the Minister four questions. First, as we have already heard, the replacement of the post-study work immigration route with a qualification through graduate employment raises particular problems. It is largely irrelevant to musicians, very few of whom go on to earn a salary. Will the Minister undertake to look at what can be done to make these provisions more appropriate for musicians? Secondly, in small institutions such as the conservatoires, with relatively few overseas students, a small number of visa refusals, sometimes for reasons way beyond the control of the conservatoires themselves, can affect their status as highly trusted sponsors. Again, will the Minister undertake to see what can be done to make these provisions more appropriate for the conservatoires?

Thirdly, the Minister will be aware, as my noble friend Lord Lipsey has already alluded, that the US federal loan board has withdrawn loans for studying at UK institutions that do not offer their own degrees, and that includes conservatoires. Can the Minister confirm that the Government are doing all they can to get the US authorities to look again at this decision and say when Ministers expect next to meet their US counterparts to discuss the issue? Finally, the Minister will accept that the decision about London Metropolitan University’s highly trusted sponsor status has created alarm among overseas students. What are the Government doing to reassure these students that they are welcome to continue to come and study here?