UK government says prove it

‘The UK government is now telling Universities and Colleges in the UK that they have to prove the new laws banning work for international students is going to hurt admission rates and graduation rates. Anecdotal evidence has little value’, professor tells UK Council for International Student Affairs conference Visa airport Universities must collect “hard evidence” to prove that the UK is no longer a welcoming place for international students if the sector is to effectively challenge government policies on immigration, a leading higher education spokesperson said.Universities must collect “hard evidence” to prove that the UK is no longer a welcoming place for international students if the sector is to effectively challenge government policies on immigration, a leading higher education scholar has claimed.Simon Marginson, professor of international higher education at the UCL Institute of Education, said the sector must move beyond anecdotal evidence, which has “little value”, if it is to have a voice in the “hostile immigration debate” – even if this means creating “negative publicity for the UK in the short term”.Speaking at the UK Council for International Student Affairs annual conference at the University of Sussex on 1 July, Professor Marginson listed the “problems and barriers” affecting non-European Union students who want to study in the UK, which included healthcare charges, landlord checks of student status and slow and expensive visa processing.“If we are to effectively challenge these policies, and this increasingly tough system of regulation – which has clearly been designed to slow the flow of student numbers – we need hard evidence,” he said.Click here to view the original web page at www.timeshighereducation.co.uk