The UK Government’s new immigration plans are inhumane and will hurt international students and Scotland’s education system.
Plans to reduce the length of the Graduate Route Visa from 2 years to 18 months will make it harder for students receiving an education in Scotland to put that education to use in a way that benefits us all. It will make international student’s lives harder, deter people from studying in Scotland, and make our education sector and our society less rich.
Due to systematic underfunding from governments, Scotland and the rest of the UK’s Higher Education system has sadly become reliant on charging international students extortionate fees to plug the gap. The crisis in tertiary education will not be fixed through exploitation of those coming from abroad but only by our governments recognising the value of education and ensuring public funding to match.
Migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and international students didn’t make public transport too expensive, they didn’t make rent unaffordable, they didn’t underfund our NHS, colleges, schools, universities, care homes and other public services. Making life harder for them won’t make anyone else’s life easier and in many cases will do further damage to already strained public services.
We call for the UK Government to put an end to the hostile environment and if they are not prepared to do so then we call for them to devolve the relevant powers for Scotland to take its own path and better recognise the needs of students, the education system and our communities.
Sai Shraddha S. Viswanathan,
NUS Scotland President
