Moves to reduce immigration, from the Home Office, will lead to fewer international students in Britain and will have a huge financial impact on UK cities and universities, says a Labour MP.
Sheffield Central MP, Paul Blomfield, has made a call against the government’s proposed review of the Graduate Visa Route, which will be published by 14 May, describing it as “lashing out on students”.
Changes to visa laws are expected to include a rise in salary expectations for international students looking to be sponsored for a Skilled Work Visa from £26,200 to £38,700.
Visa changes are expected to result in a fall in international student applications to UK universities after Universities UK (UUK) warned of a 33 per cent fall in the number of study visas being issued in the last year.
Mr Blomfield warned that a continued fall in international student applications would “come with consequences”.
Research conducted last year by UUK, the Higher Education Policy Institute, Kaplan International Pathways and London Economics found that international students had contributed £41.9 billion to the UK economy overall.
Mr Blomfield therefore described the government’s rapid review agenda as, “lashing out in all directions, no matter what the cost”.
Mr Blomfield said the review and the fall in numbers of international students would have a huge impact on his constituency, as Sheffield Central has the largest number of students in the country.
He emphasised the possible consequences for Sheffield’s wider economy, with reports showing that the city’s 2021/22 cohort of international students have created a £273 million net impact for the city.
According to Mr Blomfield, a further 10,000 jobs within Sheffield may also be dependent upon international students, and the loss of these would cause a “significant impact on the city”.
The impact, he anticipates, will particularly stretch to universities themselves, both in Sheffield and other UK cities, due to their reliance upon international student fees.
Although Mr Blomfield thinks both the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam could withstand a significant drop in international student numbers, he said both would be damaged by such an outcome.
Alongside the financial implication of the review, Mr Blomfield also emphasised the “cultural enrichment” that international students bring to Sheffield.
He said: “There are huge benefits for UK students at both of our universities to be studying alongside students from different countries.
After advocating for students and being voted the Guardian Inspiring Education Leader in 2015, Mr Blomfield is continuing to support the needs of students within Sheffield as he has done in previous years.
Following this, he emphasised a message of welcome to all international students considering studying in Sheffield but said “we need policies to match.”
From this he indicated that a Labour government would also follow these sentiments and would continue to work to eradicate negative narratives that surround the image of international students.
While Mr Blomfield is standing down at the General Election, after 14 years as MP, he said: “We would reframe the public discourse around these issues and we would, as we always have, recognise the value of international students.”
