Limits on overseas student families would undermine British universities - Yorkshire Post Letters

For many years the British Universities have provided post graduate courses of the highest standard of quality. This is an industry that is both highly successful and one that is a great provider for UK Plc.

In fact, for every £ spent the UK receives £10 in benefit and income. This is not only beneficial financially, but supports academic and research work of the highest order.Top UK Universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial Collegiate are major players on the world stage. However, this is a very competitive market with Harvard, MIT and others in the USA and McGill and University of Toronto Universities in Canada.

Post-graduate students by in-large are more mature students who come to the UK to study and undertake research for a finite period, then returning to their home nation.

They and their families generally should only be counted in the immigration figures on a temporary basis.

The recent Government decision to exclude overseas higher degree students from bringing their families during their study period will put British universities at a distinct disadvantage in what is a world market.

It may look good on a tabloid newspaper headline, but it will be to Britain’s severe disadvantage both culturally and financially. It is yet another example of this present government’s authoritarian and morally bankrupt policies that are systematically undermining our agriculture, motor industry and now post-graduate university sector.