5International students
Tier 4 visas
80.Scotland is home to around 50,000 international students,129 with over 21% of students in Scotland being non-UK national in the academic year 2015/16.130 At present, EU nationals can live and study in Scotland without a visa. Tier 4 visas are available to non-EU nationals aged 16 or over who have an offer of a place to study, at a certain level, from education providers with a Home Office licence to sponsor international students.131 Tier 4 visas generally expire four months after the end of a course, and international students must apply for another visa if they wish to stay in the UK after that time. International students moving from a Tier 4 student visa to a Tier 2 work visa are exempt from the resident labour market test and the Tier 2 cap and are not subject to an immigration skills charge.132 The Government has said that exempting international students from the charge was “a key protection to help retain the talented workers and students who are vital in helping the British economy grow”.133
Students and the net migration target
81.Foreign student numbers are included in the figures which are used to monitor the UK Government’s target to reduce net migration. This means that if universities are successful in attracting more international students, as the Government wants them to be, its net migration target is less likely to be met without placing further restrictions on other forms of migration. The higher education sector argues that including international students within the target makes the UK look like a less welcoming country to prospective students than its competitors. Professor Nolan, Universities Scotland, pointed out that removing students from the target would send out a more positive message that the UK wished to welcome in talented people to help the economy.134
82.The Home Affairs Select Committee has recommended that there should be no national target to restrict the numbers of students coming to the UK and that the Government should remove immediately student migration from the net migration target.135 The Scottish Government has also recommended that student numbers are removed from the net migration target,136 as have other parties in the Scottish Parliament.137 Professor Manning told us that the Migration Advisory Committee was considering this question, but that in his view, removing student numbers would make little difference to migration figures because most students left the UK at the end of their studies.138
83.The Immigration Minister confirmed to us that “we want international students to come here, we welcome them. There is no cap on them”.139 More recently the Home Secretary acknowledged that there was a “perception problem” with the decision to include students in net migration figures, suggesting that the Government may be reconsidering this issue.140
84.The Higher Education sector is an important asset to the Scottish economy and encouraging international students to live and study in Scotland is an effective way of bringing new talent to the country. We do not believe it makes sense for the Government to include student numbers in the net migration target, whilst at the same time investing in ways of encouraging more students to come to the UK. Whilst we accept that the actual impact of student numbers on the target may well be minimal, we believe that the message given by current policy is confused and counter-productive. We recommend that student numbers are removed from the figures used to monitor the net migration target, and that the Government clarifies its message to welcome international students to the UK.
Post-study work visas
85.The UK used to have a Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) visa, which replaced a similar Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland visa, that allowed international students to remain in the UK to work after their studies for up to two years. This route was closed to new applicants on 5 April 2012, and there have been calls both in Scotland and across the UK for its reintroduction ever since.141 Professor Boswell told us that the Fresh Talent scheme had been very popular with the higher education sector and with employers and that when it was in operation between 2005 and 2008 it accounted for a boost of around 3,000 students into the Scottish higher education system.142 The Scottish Government’s Post-Study Work Working Group, with representation for all the political parties represented in the Scottish Parliament, found broad support for reintroducing a post study work scheme in Scotland across a range of business, education and student organisations.143
86.Our predecessor Committee’s Report on Post-study work schemes noted that the closure of the Tier 1 (Post-Study Work) visa in 2012 had resulted in the number of non-EU international students moving to work visas after their studies falling by over 80%, far beyond what the Government had predicted, and concluded that the lack of a scheme placed Scottish educations institutions at a “competitive disadvantage compared to countries outside of the UK with more generous post-study work offers” when it came to attracting international students.144 It also noted that retaining non-EU international graduates to work in Scotland was an important element of Scotland’s response to its demographic challenges and skills needs.145
87.In its Report on Demography of Scotland and the implications for devolution, the previous Committee noted its disappointment with the UK Government’s response to its recommendation for the UK Government to work with the Scottish Government to bring forward proposals for an improved post-study work scheme that could better meet Scotland’s needs. Throughout that inquiry, witnesses criticised current arrangements for employing international students after their studies, and reiterated the call for a more effective scheme.146 That Report recommended that UK Government enter into discussions with the Scottish Government to explore introducing formal post-study work schemes for international higher education students graduating from Scottish further and higher education institutions. The Government subsequently rejected this recommendation, saying that the UK already had an excellent post-study work offer.147
88.In July 2016, the Home Office launched a Tier 4 visa pilot for one-year Masters degree students studying at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Bath and Imperial College London. The pilot visa allowed participants to stay on for six months after the end of the course and to submit fewer evidential documents with their visa application.148 In December 2017 the UK Government announced that the Tier 4 pilot would be extended to a further 23 HEIs, including the University of Edinburgh and University of Glasgow.149 Professor Nolan, Universities Scotland, welcomed the extension of the pilot to two Scottish universities, but pointed out that the Government pilot only applied to Masters students. She said that she was in favour of post-study work visas and that she would like to see a scheme which included anyone on a Tier 4 visa who had stayed in the UK and was complying with regulations.150
89.Professor Boswell pointed out that post-study work visas had been one way in which Scotland’s particular needs could be catered for within the existing UK immigration system.151 She judged that post-study work schemes scored well in terms of political viability, as temporary programmes for graduates were likely to be less controversial, and the scheme would in effect revive the Fresh Talent scheme which received widespread support in Scotland.152
90.Professor Manning said that the Migration Advisory Committee would be considering an appropriate post-study work regime in its September report on international students, and that it was important first to understand what problems were associated with the old scheme. For example, with previous schemes, although the students themselves were high skilled, there were indications that in some cases the jobs they were employed in were not—under the previous post-study work visa, there was no requirement for graduates to take up employment of a particular skill level. This contrasted with the Tier 2 system, where visas were only issued for high skilled roles.153 The Immigration Minister made a similar point, saying that:
What I am really keen to ensure is that graduates move into graduate-level jobs. I do not want to open up any route whatsoever that would enable graduates to move into low-paid jobs that might otherwise be taken up by British people who perhaps do not have that level of qualification.154
91.We agree with the Government that immigration policy should encourage talented and highly qualified people to seek work in the UK, and we believe that post-study work visa schemes are an effective way of doing so. We welcome the Government’s Tier 4 visa pilot to enable one-year Masters degree students to stay on for six months after the end of their course and are pleased that this has finally been extended to two Scottish universities. We recommend that the UK Government closely monitors the pilot with a view to its extension.
92.We call on the UK Government to work with the Scottish Government to explore the possibility of introducing a broader post study work scheme for international higher education students graduating from Scottish further and higher education institutions. In the absence of a UK wide scheme, we recommend that the Government ask the Migration Advisory Committee to include an assessment of Scotland-specific post-study work visa schemes in its forthcoming report on international students.
129 Migration Advisory Committee, International Students: A briefing note to accompany the call for evidence, para 3.1
130 Higher Education Statistics Authority, Higher education student enrolments and qualifications obtained at higher education providers in the United Kingdom 2015/16, Table 1a
131 Home Office, Tier 4 of the Points Based System – Policy Guidance, November 2015, paras 45–6
132 Home Office, Tiers 2 and 5: guidance for sponsors, May 2017
133 UK Government Press Release, Government’s new Immigration Skills Charge to incentivise training of British workers, March 2016
135 ome Affairs Select Committee, Immigration policy: basis for building consensus, Second Report of the Session 2017–19, HC 500 para 70
136 Scottish Government, Scotland’s population needs and migration policy: Discussion paper on evidence, policy and powers for the Scottish Parliament, para 68, February 2018
137 The Scotsman, Davidson challenges PM on immigration target for UK, 9 August 2017
140 BBC News, Sajid Javid pledges “fresh look” at migration rules, 3 June 2018
141 Scotland’s colleges back return of post study work visa, Scottish Government, 25 June 2015, Post Study Work Working Group: Report to Scottish Ministers, Scottish Government, March 2015, UK post study work opportunities for international students, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration, February 2015
143 Scottish Government, Post Study Work Steering Group Report of Final Recommendations, March 2016
144 Scottish Affairs Committee, Post study work schemes, Fourth Report of the Session 2015–16, Para 37
145 Scottish Affairs Committee, Post study work schemes, Fourth Report of the Session 2015–16
146 Scottish Affairs Committee, Demography of Scotland and the implications for devolution, Second Report of the Session 2016–7, HC 82
147 Scottish Affairs Committee, Demography of Scotland and the implications for devolution, Second Report of the Session 2016–7, HC 82
148 Home Office, Tier 4 of the Points Based System – Policy Guidance, Annex 6: Tier 4 Pilot, June 2016
149 UK Visas and Immigration, Twenty three universities join student visa pilot, 18 December 2017
152 Boswell, C, Kyambi, S & Smellie, ‘Scottish Immigration Policy After Brexit: Evaluating Options for a Differentiated Approach’, 2017
Published: 11 July 2018