University and SU defiant over international students

**The University and Students’ Union (SU) will continue to push for international students not be included in net migration figures, despite a government refusal to remove them from the count.**

Net migration to the UK – the number of people coming to the country minus the number who leave – was reported to have dropped to 163,000 last month. This is 20,000 below the previous quarter and 84,000 below the 247,000 recorded in the 12 months to June 2011.

The Conservatives pledged in their 2010 manifesto to reduce net migration to less than 100,000 by 2015.

Critics have claimed, however, that the drop is mainly due to a fall in international student numbers, which could be harmful to the British economy.

“We will continue to stress to all policy makers of all political persuasions that the UK should welcome international students to our Universities,” said a spokesperson for Warwick.

SU education officer James Entwistle called the government’s refusal ‘incredibly damaging’ and said the SU will continue to engage with the National Union of Students (NUS) on the issue.

“International students were one of few growth areas for UK universities, and at Warwick often produced a surplus that could be invested into teaching, facilities and research,” he said.

“I hope the University will accept the risks of the situation and avoid any unnecessary or damaging increase in fees for international students, which we’ve seen over the last few years, which could spell disaster for having a diverse and international campus.

“The recent claims of reducing net immigration by a third is a sham when international students are excluded, so for political point scoring it is very disappointing.”

Third-year Economics student Alicia Chau from Hong Kong said that she is considering Australia rather than Britain as a place to work since she already has citizenship there.

“I have decided to focus on applying for jobs in Australia as I don’t need a visa and I can compete with other graduates on equal grounds and will probably get a better chance in getting employed,” she said.

Ms Chau also suggested that there should be different policies for international students compared to other migrants.

“I think international students have different objectives and reasons to come to the UK compared to other migrants,” she said.

“I won’t say it is necessarily unfair that international students are included in the same category as other migrants – they are still migrants, after all – but perhaps there should be separate immigration policies used to treat international students in the UK.”

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