In an effort to build public support as they seek to push for change to U.K. government policy, universities in Britain have revived a campaign celebrating the impact of international students on the country.
The #WeAreIntenational campaign, launched by Sheffield University in 2013 following a clampdown on rules governing international students, was relaunched at an event in Parliament on Tuesday. The campaign focuses on the economic benefits that students brought to individual universities and local economies and seeks to highlight the role they should have in furthering Britain’s industrial strategy going forward.
Campaigners are optimistic, particularly in the wake of the general election which reduced the government’s majority, that change could be brought, in particularly around the inclusion of international students in immigrant numbers. Keeping them in the numbers has added to the pressure on politicians to bring in more and more restrictive immigration measures, as well as to the growing sense that international students were not welcome, particularly in the context of other countries across the world making great efforts to woo them.
Economic factor
“We have to make a final push… it’s very important. We keep making the argument, rational, important arguments, about the economy,” said Sir Keith Burnett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, who accompanied Prime Minister Theresa May on her visit to India last year. “It’s turning out to be a global issue — you are either an open powerful society capable of doing things or you close your ability to be what you want to be.”
“It’s very important we keep saying, in the context of Brexit and the focus on exports, what they have done for us,” he told The Hindu at the event. “It’s actually a major part of the economy of Sheffield and if you looked at the impact of a reduction, it’s really serious and not just for the local economy.” He estimates that the 14,000 or so international students in Sheffield contribute around £20 million (net) to the city’s economy, creating around 10,000 jobs.
Industrial strategy
Neil Carberry, director of people and skills at the industry body Confederation of British Industry, said universities should be viewed as a crucial part of Britain’s industrial strategy.
“The more international we are the more we can attract people from across the world to come here, to stay, or to go back, to build links…the better it is for us the better it is for them.”
“We have won the argument, we have yet to win the policy change,” said Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield, who expressed his disappointment about how an initiative to remove students from international migration figures was rushed through ahead of the general election.
Yinbo Yu, International Student Officer at the National Union of Students, said the campaign also presented an opportunity to raise some of the other issues facing international students — including the impact of visa restrictions on their ability to stay and work in the U.K. after their degree, a rise in hate crime across the country, and forthcoming legislation updating Britain’s immigration regime.
“We’re hoping it will not include any tougher measures for international students. But whatever comes out of this Nill, we are going to stand with our students since we have their democratic mandate.”
