Theresa May: don’t close the doors on international students

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/22/theresa-may-international-students

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Theresa May has announced plans to force foreign graduates to leave the country before they get a chance to apply for work here.

As international students’ officer at the National Union of Students (NUS), I believe this to be discriminatory, counter-intuitive and impractical. It appears to be yet another way of scapegoating non-EU international students, to fulfil the government’s target of reducing net migration.

I’m from Nepal and was a student in London myself, so I know first hand how difficult it is to be an international student in the UK.

The post-study work visa, which offered two years of working to all graduates, was scrapped in 2012, meaning that the UK is already restrictive for foreign graduates trying to find work here.

The government is happy to accept the £8bn they provide each year in tuition fees (page 9), but when it comes to providing them with work opportunities, the UK is shutting its doors to them – even when it suffers from skills shortages in many industries.

I predict that a dwindling number of international students will want to come here in future. After all, many other countries – Germany, for example – offer them a better deal than the British government, which treats them as cash cows.

The government also plans to introduce healthcare charges of up to £150 per year of study for international students from outside the EU from April 2015, as part of its attempt to combat “health tourism”.

International students have little or no access to emergency funds, which puts them in a vulnerable position anyway, and now the government seems hell bent on making their lives miserable.

While the NHS fee may not appear huge, it’s symbolically pandering to an anti-immigrant rhetoric. It’s one of many measures that negatively affect international students – including attendance monitoring, proposed landlord checks for migrants and credibility interviews.

Almost all of these have come along in the last few years. Is this coincidental? Or is it a systematic attempt to reduce the number of non-EU students, because of the rise of an anti-immigrant sentiment in the UK?

I believe it’s the latter. The government is basking in the glory of how much it has done to reduce immigration by scapegoating non-EU international students. This is why the proposed NHS fee is problematic.

Louisa Acciari, a French and Brazilian PhD student at the London School of Economics, says: “My experience of using the NHS as an international student is that it can be inconsistent.

“Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great and for most things it’s been fine. But I’ve found that if you need a more thorough examination, or something more serious, the waiting times are so long that I may as well have gone back to France.”

The proposed payment won’t result in an improved standard of service – and international students could end up paying for something they may never even use.

An American postgraduate student, who wanted to remain anonymous, says: “To introduce such a fee would be a disaster. We’re already treated like criminals – I’ve been detained at the airport on more than one occasion, simply because I’m American.

“I pay higher fees and pump so much money into the economy via outrageous rent and expensive shopping, and I’m resentful and bitter about how this government treats us. I’ve found England to be a xenophobic country and studying here has been frustrating and disappointing.”

This hostility is being felt across the international student community. Research by the NUS last year found that over half (50.7%) of non-EU international students in the UK feel unwelcome by the government.

Crucially, clamping down on non-EU international students doesn’t make economic sense. Research by the University of Sheffield found that even when costs to public services such as the NHS are taken into account, international students make a net contribution of over £120m a year to Sheffield’s economy.

There are only two possible justifications for the NHS fee, says Acciari. “Either it’s because international students ‘consume’ more health services than UK students – which hasn’t been demonstrated, or it’s an attempt to compensate for the poor funding of NHS. But if NHS is under-funded, why should the cost be put on us?”

Kuhan Kanapathy, 21, a finance and accounting international student at the University of Bath, says: “The decision to impose fees on international students for NHS registration is inconsiderate, unfair and untimely – especially as incoming students may not even use the services provided.

“Students from overseas are already contributing monetarily through higher tuition fees, visa costs and other living expenses.”

The recent visa restrictions proposed by May, and any further charges for international students, will adversely affect the public purse, while unfairly targeting a group that contributes a huge amount to the education sector, economy and local communities. I urge the government – don’t close the door on international students.