Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of an international graduate and alumni strategy to support international students’ employment opportunities in their home country to boost UK soft power, research, trade and engagement with alumni by universities, business and government.

The government fully recognises the important economic and cultural contribution that EU and international students make to the UK’s higher education sector. We want that contribution to continue and we are confident – given the world class quality of our higher education sector – that it will.

The UK remains a highly attractive destination for non-EU students, with their numbers remaining at record highs – over 170,000 non-EU entrants to UK higher education institutions for the seventh year running. The UK is a world-leading destination for study, with four universities in the world’s top 10 and 16 in the top 100 – second only to the USA. We actively promote study in the UK through the GREAT Campaign and to over 100 countries through the British Council.

The government announced on 21 January that the Department for Education and the Department for International Trade will produce an international education strategy in early 2019. The strategy will set out the government’s ambition for international education, and plans to support the sector in driving growth in education exports. This will include making sure we optimise our position in the market for international students.