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This is a back door channel to illegal immigration, nothing more. The students never turn up to courses and go to live with relatives in cities miles away. Th

This is a back door channel to illegal immigration, nothing more. The students never turn up to courses and go to live with relatives in cities miles away. The bloated UK university sector (your experience of a UK university, if you have it, is not typical of the vast shadow educational establishment which rakes in billions per year and delivers almost nothing in return) obviously has no interest in stopping this. This has been spoken about for years now among people who work or have worked in these third-rate unis. As immigration filters up the political agenda I expect we'll start to see a mass decimation of these pseudo-educational establishments.

willvarfar 2y ago
Aren't the anecdotes in the article about students who actually turn up and study?
Sanchless 2y ago
Do you have anything you can cite that supports your point about this being a back channel immigration method? I live in a city that has a huge number Chinese students, who I regularly see coming and going from the campuses. Not all top universities, either. It does seem to me like these foreign student communities can be overly insular but I've never seen any evidence that they're illegally overstaying at any scale. As they generally come from wealthy backgrounds and societies that heavily emphasise family values, I am skeptical that they'd get higher quality of life in the UK than their home countries.
- arccy 2y ago
  the goal is legal residency, not illegal overstaying. the universities offer the path of: pay money, get a visa. by not teaching anything, the "students" are free to go work and earn back the outrageous tuition fees, or if they're rich enough, just go enjoy life around europe. free (long term) movement/immigration for the people to anywhere desirable is dead in the modern world, you generally need to pay (golden visas, "education") or be paid (work visas).
  - ojhughes 2y ago
    The vast majority of Chinese students do not plan on migrating to the UK. They usually do it so they can complete a Masters in 1 year instead of the 2 years required by Chinese universities. Having an international degree also holds weight in the domestic job market.
  - pjc50 2y ago
    The visa is (a) not permanent and (b) only valid for the UK, which was never in Schengen; if you are a non-EU national you need to get a visa for each European country you plan to visit, separately, according to their rules.
  - andygh 2y ago
    Teir 4 Visas place quite significant restrictions on what kind of work you can or can't do, and when: https://www.gov.uk/student-visa https://www.gov.uk/student-visa If you've ever applied for a job in the UK, you'll know that companies take their right to work compliance obligations very seriously.
- tompccs 2y ago
  To be clear - nothing in the article or my comment mentions Chinese students, whose numbers have stagnated or if anything gone in reverse. Most students now come from India, and the fastest growing regions sending students are now South Asia and Africa: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/chart-6 https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/chart-6
flanked-evergl 2y ago
And with Labour there will be no justice here. Tax payers just have to keep paying more while the burden is just increased daily and the actual tax payers get less. Hopefully this will be the end of Labour for good.
- rcxdude 2y ago
  And the status quo is in no way the responsibility of the previous government which continuously spewed anti-migrant rhetoric while doing basically nothing to reduce total immigration?
  - flanked-evergl 2y ago
    The Tories are definitely also responsible, and I hope this is the end of the Tory party. They are even worse than Labour in that they have been basically defrauded the voters by claiming to be conservative but being anything but. Labour at least made it clear to their voters they plan to run the country off a cliff at max speed, which is why they won by default and have no mandate.
- Aachen 2y ago
  I don't know that accusing the current ruling party (I'm not familiar with UK politics so I'm not for or against this party) of irrational policy that results in the hard-working natives to pay more and more tax money to support all those freeloading foreigners, without including any substantial argument to support that claim, or alternatively linking a source, is a good fit for an HN discussion
- pjc50 2y ago
  These students are paying the UK, not the other way round. Without them the taxpayer would have to pay more for UK student fees. On the other hand, nobody anti-immigration ever cares about facts or how the system actually works.

willvarfar 2y ago

Aren't the anecdotes in the article about students who actually turn up and study?

Sanchless 2y ago

Do you have anything you can cite that supports your point about this being a back channel immigration method? I live in a city that has a huge number Chinese students, who I regularly see coming and going from the campuses. Not all top universities, either. It does seem to me like these foreign student communities can be overly insular but I've never seen any evidence that they're illegally overstaying at any scale. As they generally come from wealthy backgrounds and societies that heavily emphasise family values, I am skeptical that they'd get higher quality of life in the UK than their home countries.

arccy 2y ago
the goal is legal residency, not illegal overstaying. the universities offer the path of: pay money, get a visa. by not teaching anything, the "students" are free to go work and earn back the outrageous tuition fees, or if they're rich enough, just go enjoy life around europe. free (long term) movement/immigration for the people to anywhere desirable is dead in the modern world, you generally need to pay (golden visas, "education") or be paid (work visas).
- ojhughes 2y ago
  The vast majority of Chinese students do not plan on migrating to the UK. They usually do it so they can complete a Masters in 1 year instead of the 2 years required by Chinese universities. Having an international degree also holds weight in the domestic job market.
- pjc50 2y ago
  The visa is (a) not permanent and (b) only valid for the UK, which was never in Schengen; if you are a non-EU national you need to get a visa for each European country you plan to visit, separately, according to their rules.
- andygh 2y ago
  Teir 4 Visas place quite significant restrictions on what kind of work you can or can't do, and when: https://www.gov.uk/student-visa https://www.gov.uk/student-visa If you've ever applied for a job in the UK, you'll know that companies take their right to work compliance obligations very seriously.
tompccs 2y ago
To be clear - nothing in the article or my comment mentions Chinese students, whose numbers have stagnated or if anything gone in reverse. Most students now come from India, and the fastest growing regions sending students are now South Asia and Africa: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/chart-6 https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/chart-6

flanked-evergl 2y ago

And with Labour there will be no justice here. Tax payers just have to keep paying more while the burden is just increased daily and the actual tax payers get less. Hopefully this will be the end of Labour for good.

rcxdude 2y ago
And the status quo is in no way the responsibility of the previous government which continuously spewed anti-migrant rhetoric while doing basically nothing to reduce total immigration?
- flanked-evergl 2y ago
  The Tories are definitely also responsible, and I hope this is the end of the Tory party. They are even worse than Labour in that they have been basically defrauded the voters by claiming to be conservative but being anything but. Labour at least made it clear to their voters they plan to run the country off a cliff at max speed, which is why they won by default and have no mandate.
Aachen 2y ago
I don't know that accusing the current ruling party (I'm not familiar with UK politics so I'm not for or against this party) of irrational policy that results in the hard-working natives to pay more and more tax money to support all those freeloading foreigners, without including any substantial argument to support that claim, or alternatively linking a source, is a good fit for an HN discussion
pjc50 2y ago
These students are paying the UK, not the other way round. Without them the taxpayer would have to pay more for UK student fees. On the other hand, nobody anti-immigration ever cares about facts or how the system actually works.