Britain’s universities are one of its crown jewels. They are vital to competitiveness, skills and innovation and bring in lucrative export earnings. But this week migration advisers, business leaders and the sector regulator have warned that falling overseas student numbers due to a government clampdown on immigration threaten serious harm to universities, which rely on overseas student fee income. Cutbacks loom; some universities could close. Company bosses say that would undermine a key reason to invest in the UK. For a post-Brexit Britain that has not only pledged to raise domestic skills but must continue to fight globally for capital and talent, this is a huge economic own-goal.
The government has targeted international graduate students as part of efforts to reduce net legal migration from a record 745,000 and 670,000 in the past two years. Such influxes put strain on housing and services, and immigration is back among voters’ top three concerns. The worries, however, are also fanned by the government’s own rhetoric.