Study in UK: Labour govt has no plans to lift visa restrictions

This visa restrictions were introduced in January to curb foreign students bringing dependents with them to UK.

Study Abroad: UK Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said that the Labour government is not intending to lift visa restrictions implemented in January by the former Tory Government.

While responding to the Sky News, Bridget Phillipson said, “We don’t intend to change that. But what I do say is that international students who come to our country and study do make a tremendous contribution. In economic terms, where it comes to the communities where they will come and live: Sunderland – where I’m a Member of Parliament – we have lots of students that come from around the world, often as postgraduate students, that study and make a contribution."

"But it’s also a big part of our reach around the world, the impact that we can have as a country, the business links, the trading links, the opportunities and the bridges that we build between nations," added Bridget Phillipson.

Increasing tuition fees would be unpalatable: Ms Phillipson

She also added that they are not planning to increase the tuition fees as the students already facing many financial challenges with high housing and cost of living.

While replying to the question, of whether tuition fee caps would be increased in the next five years, she said, “I do recognise the challenge, and I hear that message from institutions as well, but I think that’s a really unpalatable thing to be considering. Not least because I know that lots of students across the country are already facing big challenges around the cost of living, housing costs, lots of students I speak to who are already working lots of jobs, extra hours, in order to pay for their studies.”

The government is also not aiming to reform the system overall, she added.

“I think the last government were far too focused on picking fights and on suggesting somehow that university wasn’t for some people, rather than actually acting in the national interest to make sure that our brilliant universities, who are a beacon around the world and are so well respected, are able to succeed into the future,” she said, as reported by The Pie News.

“It is not the case that international students are taking places that would’ve otherwise been available to domestic students, in fact they are cross subsidising students from the UK, and we’ve seen a drop in undergraduate admissions from international students in this phase," she added.

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