Universities UK has published a new ComRes poll that once again reveals that the majority of the British public are happy to continue welcoming the same number of international students, or even more, to the UK.
The latest poll is the result of interviews conducted online during March 2017, which gathered responses from over 4,000 British adults.
Key findings (taken directly from UUK’s website) are that:
- ‘After discovering the contribution international and EU students make to the economy and the jobs they generate, 73% of the British public would like to see the same number or more international students coming to the UK (24% say they would like to see more, on top of the 49% who would like to see the same number)
- ‘In relation to the UK government’s immigration policy, only 26% of British adults think of international students as immigrants
- ‘Two in three (64%) British adults think international students have a positive impact on the local economies of the towns and cities in which they study
- ‘58% of British adults agree that this economic contribution helps to create jobs
- ‘61% of the British public think that international students have a valuable social and cultural impact on the towns and cities in which they live
- ‘Three quarters (75%) of the British public agree that international students should be able to work in the UK for a fixed period of time after they have graduated, rather than returning immediately to their home country after completing their study.’
UUK’s research comes in support of an amendment proposed by the House of Lords which aims to ensure that ‘no student…be treated for public policy purposes as a long term migrant to the UK, for the duration of their studies’, which will be voted on by MPs in the House of Commons.