The Migration Advisory Committee¡¯s review of the graduate visa route will define any abuse purely as a ¡°breach of the immigration rules¡±, while ministers¡¯ wish to judge if the route is undermining UK higher education¡¯s ¡°integrity¡± is ¡°the bit we¡¯ll struggle with the most¡±, according to its chair.

Brian Bell, the MAC chair and professor of economics at King¡¯s College London, also told a Westminster Higher Education Forum event on international student policy that?a major element of the review¡¯s recommendations would focus on urging government to ¡°find out more¡± about the graduate route.

After first indicating in December that the route would be reviewed by the MAC within a wider ¡°plan to cut net migration¡±, home secretary James Cleverly finally set out terms of reference for that rapid review on 11 March ¨C asking the committee to report by 14 May.

A key area of contention between government and universities is the definition of abuse ¨C Tory critics are concerned the route is being used as a back door for low-skill labour, but the route is open to any overseas student who graduates from a UK university and makes no?stipulations in terms of?salary or type of employment.

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Mr Cleverly said in his letter that ¡°we want to ensure the graduate route is not being abused. In particular, that some of the demand for study visas is not being driven more by a desire for immigration rather than education¡±.

Professor Bell said on the government¡¯s focus on abuse in the terms of reference: ¡°We¡¯re going take that to mean unlawful activity; in other words, breaching of the immigration rules. We¡¯re not going to include on abuse the fact that different people want different things from universities or have different objectives or intentions when they come here. That¡¯s not in any way a breach of the immigration rules so we¡¯re not going to consider that as abuse.¡±

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Professor Bell said the review would look at ¡°demographics¡± on the graduate visa route because it was ¡°surprising¡± how ¡°little is known¡± about those on the route, ¡°which universities they attend and which courses they study¡± ¨C and ¡°what they are doing on the route ¨C we assume most of them work but we actually don¡¯t know that; we don¡¯t know what they earn and where they are working¡±.

Mr Cleverly¡¯s letter also asked the MAC for ¡°analysis of whether the graduate route is undermining the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system¡±.

¡°That¡¯s the bit I expect we¡¯re going to struggle with most, to think of what exactly that means,¡± said Professor Bell.

He also highlighted the ¡°very short timeline¡± for the review set by the government, meaning that the MAC cannot conduct its usual call for evidence. It will hold a round table with universities and a forum for university leaders, he added.

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On interaction between the graduate visa with other factors, Professor Bell said: ¡°We¡¯re not going to try to explain how the higher education sector should be funded, that¡¯s way outside our remit, but of course we will have to engage with the discussion about how important those [international students¡¯] fees are for subsidising the losses universities tend to make on domestic students, but also of course the very large losses they make on research funding as well.¡±

The review will also, said Professor Bell, look at ¡°what we think will happen to the graduate route because of changes already announced and implemented by the government¡±, such as restrictions on overseas students¡¯ dependents introduced in January.

He also noted that the government often talks about attracting ¡°the best and brightest¡± international students, ¡°but don¡¯t define what ¡®best and brightest¡¯ means¡±.

¡°I think there¡¯s a question we will have to engage with, with policymakers, to think about what exactly they mean by that,¡± he added.

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The key element of the review ¡°was just to get some facts on the ground here¡±, continued Professor Bell. ¡°Because there are so few facts on the graduate route and lots of assertions.¡±

He added: ¡°My own personal view is that I think an awful lot of what we¡¯ll end up saying is we still don¡¯t know enough ¨C perhaps we¡¯ll always say that because we¡¯re a bunch of academics¡­But we¡¯ll probably find there are still quite big gaps in our knowledge once we¡¯ve done this piece of work, particularly given the timeframe we¡¯ve got.

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¡°I wouldn¡¯t be surprised If quite a bit our recommendation to government is to do more to find out about the graduate route.¡±

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com