Foreign students to reportedly be barred from UK unless studying at top universities

LONDON — Foreign students wanting to survey successful Britain may beryllium turned distant unless they person secured a spot astatine a "top university," according to a study by The Times newspaper.

Ministers were allegedly discussing however to trim flows to the U.K. aft grounds levels of nett migration were reported connected Thursday. 

According to the report, determination volition besides beryllium restrictions connected however galore household members the students are capable to bring into the state with them. The rules volition besides lone use to overseas students who aren't already surviving successful the U.K.

Roughly 1.1 cardinal radical arrived successful the U.K. successful the twelvemonth to June, with astir 560,000 emigrating successful the aforesaid period, leaving nett migration astatine a record 504,000 people, according to the Office for National Statistics connected Thursday.

The reported plans to deter overseas students from studying successful Britain look to spell against the government's International Growth Strategy from 2019, which was designed to summation the fig of planetary students studying successful the U.K. each twelvemonth to 600,000 by 2030. 

That target was reached successful the 2020/21 world twelvemonth erstwhile much than 605,000 non-U.K. students enrolled successful higher education, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

The strategy was originally enactment successful place to "support the UK acquisition assemblage to entree planetary opportunities," according to the authorities website.

A typical for the Home Office said determination would beryllium nary remark connected the "speculation" astir the thought that overseas students whitethorn beryllium prevented from entering the U.K.

It did, however, supply a connection from Interior Minister Suella Braverman, who said it was "understandable" grounds numbers of radical travelled to the U.K. successful airy of the warfare successful Ukraine, the evacuation successful Afghanistan and the crackdown connected rights successful Hong Kong, but that the British nationalist "rightly expect" migration to beryllium reduced implicit time.

"This level of migration has enactment unit connected accommodation and housing supply, health, education and different nationalist services. We indispensable guarantee we person a sustainable, balanced and controlled attack which is wherefore we proceed to support our migration policies nether review," Braverman said successful the statement.

"My precedence remains tackling the emergence successful unsafe and amerciable crossings and stopping the maltreatment of our system. It is captious we reconstruct nationalist assurance and instrumentality backmost power of our borders," she wrote.

The Conservative authorities has launched a bid of initiatives aft pledging to trim nett migration to the U.K. successful its 2019 manifesto, including its arguable plans to deport migrants to Rwanda and deals with France to target tiny vessel crossings.