Or at least that’s my take on it anyway.
First, it was the ridiculously long lines at Heathrow. Next, it was getting a frantic email from my university telling me that if I did not show up to an ‘international student check’ in two hours (thanks for the notice) that I was at risk for deportation (yeah, they actually used the word ‘deportation.’ Not cool.). Next, it was the end of Tier 1. And now there is this: London Metropolitan University has had its visa license revoked. This one is particularly lovely because of the timing, close enough where this year’s incoming students may not have left for uni yet, but not far enough away that they already haven’t spent a boatload on airfare. And think of the returning students who are probably already in the UK and in the middle of their degrees!
Granted, London Met definitely doesn’t have the best reputation out there and isn’t a particularly great university, but as long as the government continues to punish students for systematic errors in the university system and Border Agency there are going to be problems.
Why do universities feel the need to recruit so heavily outside of the country?
Money! “Overall foreign students contribute an estimated £5bn a year to the wider economy, including fees. Universities UK says this could increase to £16.9bn by 2025.” If international students stopped pouring in UK universities wouldn’t even be able to stay afloat to educate UK nationals. Sad, but true. This is probably a good hint that the current university system is unsustainable, which is why, as of this year, the fees for ‘home’ students have gone up to the same rate that international students used to pay.
Any other reasons?
The UK education system could not fill all those places in UK universities with UK nationals if it tried. Seriously. There’s a reason why there were more Scandanavians on my course than English, Scottish, Welsh, or Northern Irish people. Mainly, they had the grades and UK students increasingly don’t. The solution is not to make more universities that have lower standards (like the US), but to improve education in schools overall.
Thankfully it’s only another two years until these loonies can be voted out. This government, more than any other, has highlighted the problems with ideological conservatism: it’s proponents know what they’re against, but they don’t really have any plan to show what they’re for and are left hopelessly running around pushing buttons trying to hit the right combination of things that will set the country ‘right’.
Amy x
