Time to reset limiting gov’t policy on international students

Not only would this be for the benefit of society, and for the best learning experience of all students when in the UK, it would also support the higher education sector which is a key player in research & development and skills, but currently hamstrung by funding if certain income streams are capped for other reasons.

The University of Buckingham, as the only independent university in the UK with a Royal Charter and one of the smallest with around 3,300 students, is in a rather different (and unique) position in that we receive no government subsidies at all. Our graduates come at no cost at all to the government or the UK taxpayer’s purse.

We are also different in that our Honours degrees are achieved in two intensive years of study, rather than the more traditional three years. We keep class sizes small, with Oxbridge-style tutorial groups which are personalised and support independent learning. Similarly, we are proud of our four-and-a-half-year medical degree, compared to five or six years elsewhere. 

Our university fees cover all of the student placement costs in NHS hospitals, unlike other universities where the taxpayer and government pay for this, as well as all the teaching costs at Buckingham.

From an international students’ perspective, one of our values at The University of Buckingham is ‘community’: “we are a global community of students, scholars, professionals and alumni, sharing our passion for understanding”.

It is very important to us that we foster that global community, as our student body is made up of about 50% home and 50% students from the rest of the world. Within that we have students from over 100 countries, and alumni living in 185 countries. Those alumni are running companies and leading countries, and achieving extraordinary things all over the world.

Many international students study at The University of Buckingham School of Medicine, the only independent medical school fully accredited by the General Medical Council. We currently have 210 students per year on our innovative four-and-a-half-year medical programme. Our highly motivated, self-funded students graduate to then support better health and wellbeing in countries across the globe, but also in the UK.

From an international students’ perspective, one of our values at The University of Buckingham is ‘community’

With an acute shortage of physicians here we provide a way to achieve a medical degree in an accelerated fashion and support GP practices with their waiting lists by providing a pipeline of well-trained and highly motivated physicians. Our aim to increase capacity in a way that is driven by a focus on positive patient impact and does not compromise on standards and quality, is an indicator of the value we bring.

However, underpinning policy around international students is neither kind to Buckingham nor the wider sector.

Overall, we provide a well-rounded teaching and learning experience where our students learn together and learn from each other. We also provide a supportive environment for our students while they study with us. For home students they may not be far from their friends and families, but for international students, the previous UK government introduced a rule saying that they could not bring their dependents with them. 

As our students are often more mature and study accelerated courses, we feel the decision about dependents should be reversed – for the success of international students support from family could make the difference. In fact, as international students are actually quite different from those who wish to come and overstay their visas, we wish to lobby for removal of international students from the migration figures. 

Data shows that international students at universities gaining qualifications do go back to their own countries, unless they are employed to carry out roles for which they are needed and employed via appropriate mechanisms, such as physicians (i.e. they don’t overstay), so at least they should be in a separate category.

Our motto is Alis Volans Propriis – Flying on Our Own Wings. This is something we help our truly global community of students and alumni to do. It is also something we wish to request the new Labour government would allow us to continue to do – please don’t clip our wings. 

Allow universities to support skills development for the benefit of the global society we need for a better future for all.