Education briefing – What does the immigration white paper mean for recruiting international students?

As with the changes set out in our earlier briefing, the white paper does not specify when the below changes will take effect. Some of the changes may require additional legislation which may take time and, as the Prime Minister said in his related 28 November speech: “It won’t be quick or easy”.

Whilst there are a lot of significant policy-level changes, the white paper does not go into specific details and further information will be needed before the full effect of all the changes can be properly assessed. Some of the below proposals have been met with resistance and we are aware that a number of organisations are already lobbying the Government in an attempt to mitigate any perceived detrimental impact of the proposals.

Key takeaways from the white paper, with regards to students are as follows:

• Levy on higher education provider income from international students - the Government is considering the introduction of a levy on higher education provider income derived from international students, with the intention of reinvesting these funds into the higher education and skills system. Whilst the White Paper has indicated that further details will be provided in the Autumn budget, there are concerns that this could have a significant impact on higher education institutions’ finances.

• Reduction in period of permitted stay following end of studies - graduates will only be permitted to remain in the UK after their studies for a period of 18 months reduced from the current 2 years. The graduate route allows employers without a sponsor licence to recruit from a wide pool of graduate talent and there is a risk that the proposed reduction could negatively impact the pool of talent from which UK employers can recruit and reduce the attraction of studying in the UK.

• Increased recruitment requirements for international students - strengthening the requirements for all sponsoring institutions to recruit international students by raising the minimum pass threshold for each Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) metric by five percentage points. For instance, sponsors will need to maintain a course enrolment rate of at least 95% and a course completion rate of 90% to meet the compliance standards. This adjustment will place additional burdens on student compliance and may potentially reduce the number of international students coming to the UK and negatively impacting both institutions finances. 

• Banding system for rating BCA performance - implementing a new Red-Amber-Green banding system to rate the BCA performance of each sponsor, so that it is clear which institutions are achieving a high rate of compliance, and which are at risk of failing.

• Interventions for close-to-failure sponsors - there will be new interventions for sponsors who are close to failing their metrics, including placing them on a bespoke action plan designed to improve their compliance, and imposing limits on the number of new international students they can recruit while they are subject to those plans.

• Requirement to sign up to the Agent Quality Framework - for those sponsors wishing to use recruitment agents for overseas students they will be required to sign up to the Agent Quality Framework, which involves further administrative burden for sponsors.

• Consideration of local impacts - in respect of future international student recruitment, sponsoring institutions will need to demonstrate that they are considering local impacts when taking its decisions on international recruitment. This will be applicable where institutions are looking to increases its international recruitment and are seeking an increase to CAS allocations.

The UKVI has significantly increased student sponsor compliance activities, resulting in a notable increase in enforcement actions against licences. We anticipate that many institutions, particularly universities, will undergo inspections over the next 12 months. Multiple institutions are already subject to action plans and scheduled for revisits in the upcoming months.

The underlying political pressure to reduce net migration figures, coupled with the recently released white paper proposals, is likely to exacerbate the current climate of increased scrutiny and enforcement faced by educational institutions. Therefore, it is imperative for institutions to proactively review and evaluate their compliance practices and address any areas of deficiency.

The practice of conducting mock audit inspections to identify risk areas has become increasingly prevalent in the market. Institutions may find these exercises valuable for obtaining an independent assessment of their compliance risks, along with practical advice and recommendations for improvements. This can demonstrate to the UKVI that compliance risk management is a priority for institutions and can be instrumental in mitigating any areas of risk identified.