NUS: A 'politically motivated misinterpretation'

Monday, 6 September 2010 12:00 AM

NUS: A 'politically motivated misinterpretation'

Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, comments on Damian Green proposal to more tightly control the issuing of student visas:

"To suggest that the levels of those coming to the UK to study is too high is a politically motivated misinterpretation of the huge contribution which international students make to our colleges, universities and the economy. The government should be proud that students choose to study in this country creating an education industry worth £12.5 billion a year to the British economy.

"Damian Green has clearly failed to recognise that our home students also benefit from sharing an experience with colleagues and friends from abroad. One week Mr Green is accompanying the prime minister to India - at considerable tax-payers expense - and encouraging international students to the UK and the next he is talking about capping their numbers.

"The problem of the UK Borders Agency's failure to correctly administer visas and ensure that entry conditions are adhered to and the government's failure to fully eradicate bogus colleges that exploit students will not be solved by wielding the blunt instrument of an arbitrary cap on student visas. A cap will inevitably drive valuable students away from UK universities, taking with them billions of pounds of vital funds and denying our universities the breadth of knowledge that places them among the best in the world."

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