Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment has been made of the effect of changes in immigration policy on levels of university recruitment.

Numbers of international students studying at UK universities are at record highs - over 170,000 entrants to UK higher education institutions for the sixth year running. The latest Home Office visa data also shows that, since 2011, university-sponsored visa applications have risen by around 11 per cent.

The Government fully recognises the important contribution that international students make to the UK’s higher education sector, both economically and culturally. There remains no limit to the number of international students who can come to the UK to study.