Mac to the Future: International Students, Employability, and Visa Ventures

There has been a lot in the news and social media recently about international students, visa changes, immigration and work. In March 2024, the government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to conduct a high-speed review of the Graduate visa route which is critical for international students. The review found ‘no significant abuse of the graduate route.’ ?The rise of international students to Universities in the UK has grown significantly in recent years. To remain in business, this growth has been critical with the domestic fee for students frozen for all but one of the last 10 years.

The new Labour government in the UK have been making positive noises about supporting our international students and making the UK a welcoming place for them. This comes with in a backdrop of domestic and international geo-political unrest including riots with international governments issuing caution to international students and visitors. With the rise in living and energy costs, coupled with government changes to visa rules, Universities are often losing money teaching domestic undergraduate students.? Despite income from international students, this has contributed significantly to major financial pressures on Universities, with the real possibility of mergers or Universities going bust if things remain on their current trajectory. That would be economically and culturally catastrophic for UK towns, cities and regions.

Meanwhile, the debate rumbles on about international students retaining ‘the best and brightest’ and further visa changes that could ‘prevent abuse’ and reduce the much-maligned migration figures. Whilst there are sections of the British public that are concerned about ‘taking back control of our borders’, when surveyed, the public are generally much less concerned about international students. Whilst they currently make up a significant proportion of those figures as it stands, there have been many calls to ?decouple international students from immigration figures.

At the University of Chester, like many Universities of our kind, we have seen a rapid growth in international students – particularly from the Commonwealth of Nations. This growth brings great challenges and opportunities to help balance the books and also to welcome international talent and international and cultural diversity to our University and the region. Government policy and visa changes including the frozen domestic fees create great challenges and the visa changes such as no dependents send off signals to critical markets (such as Nigeria), that students are unwelcome in the UK. ?The Mac review found that ‘Any additional restrictions on the Graduate route will likely further exacerbate the decline in international student numbers.’

At our University, we spend a lot of time and energy making sure that our international students are welcome and that they are in a better position to gain experience and to progress into great things when they graduate. This has been shown through a range of excellent results in international student surveys and awards that the University has received in this area. Employability and opportunity are critical to most applicants because studying takes a significant financial and time investment, so the return on that investment for our students is critical.

Around 79% of international students on the graduate route nationally have paid tax and 68% of international students could be employed over a longer period – but we know that many of these are in lower paid care or non-skilled work. With so many visa changes, it is hard to measure with accuracy over time. Despite this, this article on international graduate students shows that:?

·????? 69% of respondents say they progress more quickly in their career than peers educated elsewhere

·????? 82% of graduates say their degree was worth the investment

·????? 83% of respondents say their degree helped them get their job

At our University, we do pride ourselves on employability support and our proximity to jobs – however, it is an incredibly challenging market for skilled work and even tougher for international students.? Aligned with our citizen student strategy at Chester and in the spirit of being world ready. We take every opportunity to support our students and guide them into great opportunities. We have created opportunities for our international students to take on research consultancy projects with local organisations, to provide them with opportunities to develop real live skills in the UK. Whilst also helping to contribute to the growth of businesses and organisations within the region. An example of such is our MBA students who have provided such research consultancy work for Grosvenor Hart Homes. We set up a live streamed show recently for our staff students and others and invited various internal and external guests to come and speak to us on these topics relevant to international students.

One of the recent guests is an international student influencer who has her own podcast and creates videos on social media relating to employability. From the many thousands of comments on the posts from international students, it is telling that nationally they are finding it incredibly challenging to find the kind of skilled work that they are looking for. There are lots of comments of students unhappy with working in lower paid or less skilled roles and calling for Universities and organisations to support them more. Furthermore, they would like organisations to acknowledge their skills and experience gained in their home countries. Employing international students, complex visa regulations and costs for things like the skilled worker visa are complex and avoided by some organisations, so more clarity and simplicity is needed.

We need our new government to support international students with action and to utilise data more clearly, support skilled student employability and transparently support Universities and organisations. We need to work together to not only safeguard the annual ￡42 billion economic boost to our economy but also the skills, knowledge and cultural richness that our international students bring to the UK. This will also maintain the world class reputation of our Universities as places for all of our students to be world ready and position them to progress to the next opportunity. Supporting our domestic and international students to prosper and thrive will bring a brighter future for all of us.