United Kingdom Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is considering plans to allow students from Nigeria and other countries who come to British universities from overseas to do more paid work around their studies, with more hours and a wider range of jobs on offer.
The Times reported that the government is hoping to use British and overseas students to deal with shortages in areas such as hospitality and retail.
Currently, Nigerian students and other overseas students in the UK numbering 680,000 are limited to 20 hours of paid work a week during term time, a limit designed to prevent student visas from being used as backdoor routes to jobs in this country.
But discussions have begun within the government about either raising this cap to 30 hours or removing it entirely.
However, the idea, which is primarily aimed at tackling a surge in job vacancies of over 1.3 million empty posts at present, may run into opposition from Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
Ms Braverman had earlier proposed to reduce the number of foreign students to meet Sunak’s pledge of cutting overall immigration after net migration reached an all-time high of 504,000 last year.
The minister plans to reduce the time foreign students can stay in the UK after finishing their course from two years to six months.
Nigerian students have become the third largest foreign student group in the UK, following in the footsteps of India and China – after a seismic 686 per cent increase since before the pandemic.
Home Office figures reveal 65,929 Nigerian nationals were granted a sponsored study visa in the year ending June 2022.
There are nine million economically inactive people with 1.3 million empty posts and students are seen as a way of filling vacancies in hospitality and retail which are particularly struggling with recruitment.
International students made up 476,000 of the 1.1 million migrants who arrived in the year to last June.
Government sources told The Times ministers were looking at ‘what more we can do to remove barriers and encourage students to work’.
Some universities describe the plans as ‘positive news’ for overseas students struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
A review led by Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, is looking at ways of both tempting some of the nine million economically inactive people back to work and encouraging those already in employment to do more hours. Students are seen as a way of filling vacancies in hospitality and retail, which have particular recruitment problems and have long employed those who need to work their way through college or university.
Government sources said that ministers were looking at “what more we can do to remove barriers and encourage students to work” and lifting the cap on foreign students’ hours was “part of a swathe of ideas being considered”.
The idea is at an early stage and has yet to be agreed across government. Questions have already been raised about how big an impact it will have.
In 2022, no fewer than 476,000 international students came to the UK, pushing net migration to a record 504,000. This was the result of government policy and a 2019 target to hit 600,000 students by 2030, reached eight years early.
The latest proposals treat foreign students as a benefit to the economy beyond the fees they bring in and the money they spend. Letting them work more is seen as a “win-win” that will help students with the cost of living crisis and ease labour shortages.
The most serious threat to the policy is likely to be Braverman’s scepticism about foreign students.
She has drawn up proposals to reduce the number to meet Sunak’s pledge to cut overall immigration after net migration hit a record-high of 504,000 last year. International students made up 476,000 of the 1.1 million migrants who arrived in the year to last June. The proposal has not been sent to the Home Office yet.
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