New - After Cameron warned of dangers of radical changes to grad visa route. George Osborne says it would be “absolutely ridiculous”. Sunak backing away from big changes

It's very clear from poll after poll and every bit of data we have that peoples' concern about immigration primarily relates to asylum seekers not legal migration.

👩‍🎓👨‍🎓We agree with John Foster of CBI:

“Studying at university is one of our biggest export successes. Attracting international students boosts local economies and losing competitiveness would put support for undergraduate teaching and innovation at risk.”

NEW: Our annual report on the financial sustainability of the higher education sector is out today, which shows a decline in financial performance in 2022-23, and increasing pressure on finances in the coming months.

Read the report and Insight brief: bit.ly/3UHPGOw

England’s universities face ‘closure’ risk after student numbers dive on.ft.com/3WJA27Y

Glad to see this important contribution from the The Spectator today, following the MAC report.

“It would be ridiculous to clamp down on foreign students” spectator.co.uk/article/it-wou…

Remarkably bad grace from a lot of Tory MPs today on the MAC review.

The govt set the terms of reference.
The govt set the timetable.
The govt provided the data.

If it comes back with answers to your questions that you don’t like, you don’t claim foul and shout at the ref.

🗣️Our CEO Dr Tim Bradshaw: “The MAC’s thoughtful review is crystal clear - the Graduate Route should be retained in full”.

Find out more:

russellgroup.ac.uk/news/mac-revie…

#MAC #InternationalStudents #GraduateRoute

No evidence foreign students are abusing UK graduate visas, review finds dlvr.it/T6rv18

The Migration Advisory Committee review has concluded that the UK’s graduate route should remain in place after it found “no evidence” it was being widely abused #MACreport
timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-should…

Breaking: UK should keep two-year graduate visa, MAC review recommends timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-should… via Times Higher Education

This is absolutely right: there is no doubt that international students bring huge economic benefits, especially in levelling-up areas, and are a source of soft power for the U.K. Universities UK International Russell Group Universities UK

Did you know?

International students contribute £240 million a year to the local economy of Middlesbrough and Darlington. 🎓🌎

Cutting off the Graduate Route undermines this contribution.

Thank you for highlighting our report findings Jo Johnson

loom.ly/C9E2Ko4

Those who argue that HE’s funding problems are unfixable really should read the Jo Johnson piece here. The core problem is that unis are losing money on teaching home UGs, and that’s absolutely fixable and really not complicated. But a couple of further thoughts… 1/3ish

University funding is not working. Over the past decade, funding for students has plummeted and will hit a 25-year low by 2026.

HEPI has brought together voices from across HE to explore potential options. Read my full chapter on the stepped repayment model below

Another brilliant publication by the HEPI team! We at LE Education were delighted to get to analyse the cost implications of this wide range of thought-provoking policy proposals for HE funding in England and Scotland.