President of Birkbeck Baroness Bakewell expounds benefits of welcoming international students
The President of Birkbeck, Baroness Bakewell, has urged the Government to recognise the benefits of attracting international students to study in the UK.
The President of Birkbeck, Baroness Bakewell, has urged the Government to recognise the benefits of attracting international students to study in the UK.
Speaking in a House of Lords debate posed by Baroness Sharp of Guildford, who is a Fellow of the College, on what consideration the Government had given to removing international students from the net migration figures – potentially by including them as non-immigrant admissions – Baroness Bakewell remarked that international students make an important contribution to the ‘soft power’ of the UK overseas.
She questioned why there had been such little movement from the Government on the issue, considering how frequently the subject had been raised in public debates around immigration, and urged recognition that international students bring both financial wealth and their skills to the UK when they come to study here.
She also echoed the opening remarks of Baroness Sharp, who highlighted a Universities UK statistic that – including off-campus spending – each international student brought around £26,000 a year to the United Kingdom.
Baroness Bakewell also suggested that the introduction of a post-study work visa could be a potential solution to the issue. She said:
“At this very moment, the country could use an upbeat immigration story and this could be it. Students come here bringing their wealth and skills, our universities offer them levels of study that they cannot find anywhere else and some of them, just some of them, overstay.
“For the most part, the vast majority of those returning home have a good story to tell of our academic standards, our outstanding university life and the nature of life in this country in general. That is a huge plus in the soft power that we exercise around the world. That success story needs to be celebrated.”
Further information
- Information for prospective international students
- Full transcript of the debate
- Baroness Bakewell, President of Birkbeck