tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/foreign-students-19002/articlesForeign students – The Conversation2023-03-29T21:02:01Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2025992023-03-29T21:02:01Z2023-03-29T21:02:01ZInternational students face exploitation in Canada and abroad<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517847/original/file-20230328-3042-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C498%2C4438%2C2303&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">International students are a major source of cheap labour for Canada, income for landlords and revenue for post-secondary institutions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Up to <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/03/17/international-student-scandal-outrage-amid-reports-that-hundreds-of-indian-students-in-canada-could-face-deportation-over-bogus-admission-letters.html">700 Indian international students</a> were recently found to have allegedly arrived in Canada with fraudulent admission letters from post-secondary institutions. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada only discovered the letters were fraudulent years after some of the students graduated and had applied for work permits or permanent residence. </p>
<p>The students have been accused of misrepresenting their intentions on their initial applications to come to Canada and could now face deportation. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517846/original/file-20230328-23-7icde2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a dark suit speaking into a microphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517846/original/file-20230328-23-7icde2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517846/original/file-20230328-23-7icde2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517846/original/file-20230328-23-7icde2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517846/original/file-20230328-23-7icde2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=741&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517846/original/file-20230328-23-7icde2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517846/original/file-20230328-23-7icde2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517846/original/file-20230328-23-7icde2.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=931&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser blamed ‘bad actors’ for taking advantage of international students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Many of the students say <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/international-students-immigration-cbsa-ircc-india-1.6782999">they were misled</a> by an immigration consultant in India who handled their visa applications. Students say that once they arrived in Canada, the consultant told them the courses they believed they had been accepted to were full and they needed to enrol at other colleges. Many students did so without knowing that their initial visa applications were based on fraudulent admission letters.</p>
<p>Federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser blamed “<a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2023/03/17/international-student-scandal-outrage-amid-reports-that-hundreds-of-indian-students-in-canada-could-face-deportation-over-bogus-admission-letters.html">bad actors, particularly from other parts of the world, who are difficult to police from Canada, who seek to take advantage of international students</a>.” </p>
<p>International students are <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-india-canada-international-student-recruitment/">a major source of cheap labour, income for landlords and revenues for post-secondary institutions</a>. And the exploitation and abuse they face does not stop at the border. It continues inside Canada as well. </p>
<h2>Consultants as conduits to migration</h2>
<p>Many immigrants come to Canada through its <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-626-x/11-626-x2020009-eng.htm">two-stage migration</a> process. Individuals arrive as temporary migrants, including international students, then apply for permanent residence once they meet the eligibility requirements. However, this system allows for abuse. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12134-023-01026-8">Research shows</a> two-stage migration can be discriminatory based on race, ethnicity, class and gender.</p>
<p>The number of work permits issued to international students and others coming in through the International Mobility Program has <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2023/03/18/state-of-shock-as-canada-ramps-up-immigration-unsuspecting-newcomers-are-running-into-inflation-shock-from-soaring-prices.html">increased significantly during the last three years</a>, particularly after weekly limits on work hours <a href="https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/after-feds-lift-20-hour-work-rule-for-international-students-immigration-consultant-calls-move-short-sighted-1.6101352">were lifted</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/work-canada/hire-temporary-foreign/international-mobility-program.html">The program</a> allows Canadian employers to hire foreign workers without having to complete a <a href="https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=163&top=17">Labour Market Impact Assessment</a>.</p>
<p>Many international students who want to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/study-permits/post-graduation-work-permit-program.html">remain and work in Canada</a> after graduating are able to do so due to this program.</p>
<p><a href="https://policyresponse.ca/why-canadas-covid-recovery-needs-to-include-international-students/">International student labour is crucial in the post-pandemic recovery effort</a>. But neglectful governments and post-secondary institutions in Canada have allowed fraudulent immigration consultants, abusive landlords and employers to contribute to taking advantage of international students. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KgeGXXmVFs0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">International students facing deportation say they were duped by immigration consultants.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2022, there were <a href="https://cbie.ca/infographic/">807,750 international students in Canada</a>. Around 40 per cent of them were from India.</p>
<p>Many students who come from villages and remote areas are <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Passages-of-Fortune-Exploring-Dynamics-of-International-Migration-from/Nanda-Veron-Rajan/p/book/9780367336622">unfamiliar with international travel and rely on immigration consultants</a> to fill out applications, arrange the required documents and advocate for them in case their application is refused.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429321306">Research</a> suggests that poorer households with weaker social networks and no family history of migration tend to rely on consultants more often. The same study found that 20 per cent of those who did, felt cheated or deceived by consultants. </p>
<p>These consultants can charge exorbitant fees and persuade students to join colleges rather than universities, promising them a faster track to permanent residency. Students can even end up in debt <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/international-students-canada-immigration-ontario-1.6614238">by relying on these consultants</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/punjabinewcomers/">Tania Das Gupta’s ongoing research</a>, which includes interviews with 15 Punjabi immigrants and 18 community workers who work with new migrants, shows how some prospective international students whose test scores were not high enough for Canadian universities rely on consultants to gain admission to colleges instead. <a href="https://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ts/news/canada/2023/03/24/indian-student-fighting-deportation-says-he-was-duped-by-consultant-who-gave-him-bogus-college-admission-letter.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=niagarafallsreview_canada">And sometimes those consultants are unlicensed</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518045/original/file-20230328-16-33wfuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sign at an airport that says Canada Arrivals in English and French." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518045/original/file-20230328-16-33wfuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518045/original/file-20230328-16-33wfuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518045/original/file-20230328-16-33wfuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518045/original/file-20230328-16-33wfuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518045/original/file-20230328-16-33wfuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518045/original/file-20230328-16-33wfuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518045/original/file-20230328-16-33wfuw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In 2022 there were more than 800,000 international students in Canada, and around 40 per cent of them were from India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Exploitation in Canada</h2>
<p>Many international students have to contend with the high costs of rent in many Canadian cities. But racialized newcomers to Canada also <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2022/11/30/newcomers-face-alarming-discrimination-in-finding-housing-says-report.html">face discrimination</a> when trying to find a place to live.</p>
<p>Female students who struggle to pay their rent have <a href="https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-female-foreign-students-endure-harassment-exploitation">suffered sexual harassment and requests for sexual services from landlords</a>. Students also spoke of landlords imposing restrictions on the use of common areas like the kitchen as well as on electricity and water use.</p>
<p>International students often also face <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/12/04/how-canada-can-fix-its-predatory-relationship-with-international-students.html">labour exploitation and wage theft</a>. </p>
<p>Before the pandemic around one-quarter of <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2021011/article/00001-eng.htm">international students with part-time jobs worked in the accommodation and food services sectors</a>. During the pandemic, many of these students <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/the-pandemic-exposed-the-vulnerability-of-international-students-in-canada/">lost their jobs and faced many challenges finding new jobs or alternative income sources</a>.</p>
<p>The exploitation experienced by international students is concerning. These experiences, combined with the immense pressure to succeed, have contributed to deteriorating mental health conditions leading to some <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/12/04/no-parents-should-have-to-bury-their-child-how-a-canadian-funeral-home-owner-is-trying-to-stop-suicides-among-international-students.html">international students taking their lives</a>.</p>
<p>The Canadian government and post-secondary institutions need to act now and proactively ensure that international students are not being taken advantage of both outside and within Canada.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202599/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tania Das Gupta receives funding from Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Partnership Engage Grant. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yvonne Su does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recent reports that 700 international students and graduates could be deported from Canada reveal how the immigration system leaves them open to exploitation.Tania Das Gupta, Professor, School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, York University, CanadaYvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1800062022-04-01T12:58:49Z2022-04-01T12:58:49ZThe war in Ukraine ruins Russia’s academic ties with the West<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455350/original/file-20220330-30357-6hu86l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5485%2C3670&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. universities are cutting ties with their Russian counterparts, such as Moscow State University, shown here. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/students-walk-towards-the-main-building-of-the-moscow-state-news-photo/1231041466?adppopup=true">Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Since Russian President Vladimir Putin <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-orders-military-operations-ukraine-demands-kyiv-forces-surrender-2022-02-24/">invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022</a>, universities across Europe and the United States have <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/u7secretariat/news/u7+-statement-on-the-war-in-ukraine.html">condemned the war</a> and cut ties with Russia altogether. In the following Q&A, Arik Burakovsky, an <a href="https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/research/experts/arik-burakovsky">expert on relations</a> between the U.S. and Russia, shines light on the future of cooperation between Russia and the West in the realm of higher education.</em></p>
<h2>What kinds of ties have existed between Western and Russian universities?</h2>
<p>Since the end of the Cold War in 1991, Western and Russian higher education institutions have formed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12874-6_7">hundreds of partnerships</a> and <a href="https://eng.globalaffairs.ru/articles/universities-as-actors-and-instruments-in-diplomacy-the-academic-soft-power-potential/">cooperated on different initiatives</a>. These activities have included academic exchanges, curriculum development, joint online courses and collaborative research projects.</p>
<p>Russia has worked over the past two decades to make its universities <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/russias-5-100-project-working">more prestigious</a>. The Russian government <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43580583">internationalized and updated</a> its higher education system. This meant moving away from Soviet traditions and <a href="https://russiancouncil.ru/en/analytics-and-comments/analytics/russia-and-the-bologna-process-20-years-later/">adopting European higher education standards</a>, particularly transitioning from the one-tier, five-year “specialist” degree to the two-tier “bachelor-master” system.</p>
<p>In their <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9w65m2fj">desire for global competitiveness</a>, Russian universities built <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2020.1789938">international branch campuses</a> throughout former Soviet countries. They also offered more opportunities for <a href="https://www.economics-sociology.eu/files/ES_Vol8_1_Stukalova.pdf">Russian students to study abroad</a> and attracted more international students. The <a href="https://www.rbth.com/business/2016/12/12/how-russian-universities-are-profiting-from-foreign-students_655731">number of foreign students in Russia</a> nearly tripled, from 100,900 in the 2004-2005 academic year to 282,900 a decade later.</p>
<p>Russian universities have opened <a href="https://www.rbth.com/education/331792-universities-masters-english">more courses taught in English</a> and established joint- and dual-degree programs with Western universities in a variety of disciplines. For example, the <a href="https://meduza.io/en/feature/2018/06/22/regulators-have-revoked-their-accreditation-of-the-moscow-school-of-social-and-economic-sciences-one-of-russia-s-last-major-private-colleges">Moscow School for the Social and Economic Sciences</a> offers joint bachelor’s and master’s degree diplomas with the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.</p>
<h2>What have these relationships produced?</h2>
<p>Western and Russian students have learned about each other’s <a href="https://www.rbth.com/education/327799-7-reasons-to-study-in-russia">cultures, languages and societies</a>. Scientists in Russia and the West have worked together on research projects related to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russian-space-chief-says-rocket-launches-europe-will-be-replaced-2022-03-24/">outer space exploration</a>, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cern-suspends-collaborations-with-russia/">particle physics</a>, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-war-on-ukraine-upends-arctic-climate-change-research-11648299602?mod=science_list_pos2">climate change</a>, <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/it-looks-iron-curtain-2-arctic-research-russia-curtailed-after-ukraine-invasion">biodiversity in the Arctic</a> and many other areas. </p>
<p>However, as geopolitical tensions grew over time, the Russian authorities became apprehensive about what they believed to be efforts “to educate young people in a pro-Western way, <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/11/30/russia-deports-us-college-professor-after-bard-hit-with-undesirable-label-reports-a75697">form a protest electorate</a> and inculcate a hostile ideology.” Subsequently, Putin began to stifle <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/russian-foreign-agent-rules-are-chilling-academic-freedom">international academic bonds</a> by imposing <a href="https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/08/14/russia-is-imposing-new-restrictions-on-communication-with-foreign-researchers-here-s-what-we-know-about-those-rules-so-far">restrictions</a> on them.</p>
<p>Russia has dissolved academic connections with the West through legislation on so-called “<a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/russian-foreign-agent-rules-are-chilling-academic-freedom">foreign agents</a>” and “<a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-lawmakers-bill-undesirable-organizations/31298911.html">undesirable organizations</a>.” The government ramped up scrutiny of foreign funding and outlawed dozens of Western think tanks, charities, and universities that previously had worked in Russia. These banned organizations include the <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-labels-atlantic-council-policy-center-in-washington-undesirable-/30075730.html">Atlantic Council</a>, a nonpartisan international affairs think tank in Washington, D.C., and <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/06/22/russia-blacklists-bard-college-as-undesirable-org-a74290">Bard College</a>, a private liberal arts college in New York state.</p>
<p>In 2021, Russia <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/06/01/russia-bans-unauthorized-foreign-influence-educational-activities-a74065">banned all educational activities</a> not approved by the government. This includes cooperation with foreign universities. Before Russian academics meet with foreign scholars, they must <a href="https://meduza.io/en/feature/2019/08/14/russia-is-imposing-new-restrictions-on-communication-with-foreign-researchers-here-s-what-we-know-about-those-rules-so-far">notify the government</a>.</p>
<p>In my work at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University since 2017, I have managed collaborative teaching, research and academic exchanges with universities and think tanks in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok. I have seen students and experts in the two countries <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/11/21/what-i-learned-about-the-russian-american-relationship-last-week/">gain mutual understanding</a> of international affairs by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/05/30/spoiler-alerts-went-to-moscow-and-all-you-get-are-these-lousy-observations/">sharing diverse perspectives</a> and learning from one another. </p>
<p>These interactions were formally ended by the university where I work on March 15, 2022, as they are now considered “<a href="https://tuftsdaily.com/news/2022/03/17/breaking-fletcher-school-severs-relationship-with-two-russian-universities-in-response-to-war-against-ukraine/">morally unacceptable</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455623/original/file-20220331-25-35uvvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man walks down a street covered in rubble and debris." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455623/original/file-20220331-25-35uvvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455623/original/file-20220331-25-35uvvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455623/original/file-20220331-25-35uvvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455623/original/file-20220331-25-35uvvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455623/original/file-20220331-25-35uvvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455623/original/file-20220331-25-35uvvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455623/original/file-20220331-25-35uvvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Western universities have condemned Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-damaged-building-following-a-shelling-in-ukraines-news-photo/1238903495?adppopup=true">Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Does Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threaten these relationships?</h2>
<p>Yes. The Ukrainian government has <a href="https://www.cara.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/220305-Appeal-of-Ukrainian-Universities-and-Minister-of-Education.pdf">called for an academic boycott</a> of Russia. Many colleges have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-education-moscow-e35900391f7ea2e87d842cf3d2c70296">pulled students out of Russia</a>. They have also <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/mit-ends-skoltech-partnership-over-ukraine-war">paused scientific cooperation</a>, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/03/09/colleges-cut-financial-ties-russia">cut financial ties</a> and <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/russia-links-scrutiny-adds-donations-pressure-uk-campuses">increased scrutiny of donations from Russia</a>. These moves are all part of a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/10/1085792668/colleges-russia-ukraine">global wave of condemnation</a> against the invasion.</p>
<p>While many academic leaders have <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/news/2022/03/06/u-s-colleges-move-cautiously-in-cutting-ties-to-russia">urged caution</a> about moving too quickly, some American and European universities have already <a href="https://thepienews.com/news/universities-divided-on-cutting-ties-with-russia-as-denmark-suspends-institutional-cooperation/">frozen their relationships</a> with Russia completely. Universities in <a href="https://sciencebusiness.net/network-updates/university-tartu-estonian-universities-halt-cooperation-russian-and-belarusian">Estonia</a> and <a href="https://www.brusselstimes.com/210264/belgian-universities-suspend-links-with-russian-universities">Belgium</a> collectively decided to suspend all ties with Russia.</p>
<p>The Massachusetts Institute of Technology ended its <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2022/02/25/mit-abandons-russian-high-tech-campus-partnership-in-light-of-ukraine-invasion">high-tech teaching and research cooperation</a> with the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Moscow on Feb. 25. The partnership, which began in 2010, had been bolstered by a <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2020/02/18/mit-extends-russian-tech-partnership-despite-scrutiny-from-feds">five-year extension and multimillion-dollar funding</a> in 2019. Yet the program had been <a href="https://sciencebusiness.net/news/mit-cuts-ties-russian-academic-partner-over-ukraine-war">mired in controversy</a> since 2018 over sponsorship from <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm0338">sanctioned oligarch Viktor Vekselberg</a>.</p>
<p>Many European governments, such as <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/germany-halts-academic-collaboration-russia-over-ukraine-war">Germany</a>, <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/dutch-universities-freeze-russia-relations-over-ukraine-war">the Netherlands</a>, <a href="https://sciencebusiness.net/news/denmark-tells-universities-suspend-all-cooperation-russia">Denmark</a>, <a href="https://www.vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2022/03/13/913261-sovmestnih-nauchno-obrazovatelnih">Finland, Poland, Norway</a>, <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/dutch-universities-freeze-russia-relations-over-ukraine-war">Latvia and Lithuania</a>, have asked their universities to cut ties with Russia entirely. The United Kingdom announced on March 27 that it will <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-cuts-most-russian-research-ties-and-funds-ukrainian-refugees">halt tens of millions of pounds in funding</a> for all research projects with links to Russia. </p>
<h2>What are the reasons given for and against severing ties?</h2>
<p>Proponents claim these actions are needed to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00601-w">take a moral stance</a> against Putin. They also say they are meant to <a href="https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/harvard-professor-calls-on-mass-universities-to-sever-ties-with-russia/2668223/">fight corruption</a>, reduce the <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/why-russian-spies-really-like-american-universities">risks of spying</a>, block <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/russian-universities-must-suffer-tougher-sanctions">Putin’s propaganda machine</a> and prevent <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bc0d920ef35d4c8296f79cebb1a9bd6f">technology theft</a>. Chris Philp, the United Kingdom’s minister for technology and the digital economy, says he does not see how “anyone <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cut-ties-russian-universities-says-uk-government-minister">in good conscience</a> can collaborate with Russian universities.”</p>
<p>Opponents argue that by shutting out Russian academia, the West is <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/west-should-not-freeze-out-russian-academics">alienating Russian students and scholars</a> and <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/freeze-russia-relations-end-era-science-cooperation">setting a bad precedent</a> for international academic cooperation broadly. They maintain that <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-ukraine-dilemma-u-s-colleges-debate-whether-to-sever-or-sustain-ties-with-russia">scientific openness</a> promotes democracy and human rights, helps <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-universities-need-to-open-the-lines-of-communication-with-russians-not-close-them-179080">counter misinformation</a> inside Russia and encourages conflict resolution.</p>
<p>Lawrence Bacow, president of Harvard University, emphasizes the value of <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/academic-ties-especially-important-amid-global-tensions-bacow">academic diplomacy</a>. He points out that “individuals are not necessarily responsible for the policies of their governments.” On March 9, the university’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies <a href="https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/statements-russias-war-against-ukraine">suspended its relationships</a> with Russian universities whose administrations expressed support for the war.</p>
<h2>How will these severed ties affect higher education in Russia?</h2>
<p>By closing lines of communication with Russia, Western universities may be <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russian-academics-boycott-support/">unwittingly aiding</a> Putin’s efforts to isolate Russian students and academics. Putin wants to convince <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/03/15/russia-students-putin-opposition/">young people</a> and academics, who <a href="https://cepa.org/russian-youth-and-civic-engagement/">tend to be more pro-Western</a> and <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-academic-freedom-threat-precarity/">anti-authoritarian</a> than the rest of the population, that there is no hope for them now that they are alone. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.forbes.ru/forbeslife/459339-izolacia-ot-mirovogo-soobsestva-i-utecka-mozgov-kakoe-budusee-zdet-rossijskuu-nauku">Russian researchers say</a> they increasingly feel disconnected from the West and disheartened about the future of Russian science. The Russian government declared on March 22 that it will <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/russia-bars-academics-international-conferences">bar its researchers from participating</a> in international conferences.</p>
<h2>Are Russian academics free to condemn the invasion?</h2>
<p>A climate of fear reigns over people in Russia who oppose the war. A new law punishes the spread of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-introduce-jail-terms-spreading-fake-information-about-army-2022-03-04/">intentionally “fake” information</a> about the military with up to 15 years in prison. In his televised speech on March 16, Putin vowed to cleanse Russia of pro-Western “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/world/europe/putin-russia-ukraine-protests.html">scum and traitors</a>,” setting the stage for a severe domestic crackdown.</p>
<p>Russian scholars are unable to criticize the invasion without risking employment terminations, fines and jail sentences. Saint Petersburg State University has <a href="https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/09/russias-oldest-university-to-expel-students-detained-at-anti-war-protests-kommersant-a76838">expelled 13 students</a> who were detained at anti-war protests. While <a href="https://www.rsr-online.ru/news/2022-god/obrashchenie-rossiyskogo-soyuza-rektorov1/">more than 700 government-appointed Russian university presidents</a> issued a statement of support for the “special military operation” in Ukraine, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/12/science/physics-cern-russia.html">almost 8,000 Russian scholars</a> voiced their opposition to the war in an open letter condemning the hostilities.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60697763">Hundreds of thousands of members</a> of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/17/opinion/russian-migrants-putin-war-ukraine.html">Russia’s liberal intelligentsia and political opposition</a> fled the country in the wake of the war. They are afraid of political persecution and conscription. As <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/no-future-us-left-russia-say-fleeing-academics">room for free speech rapidly closes</a>, some universities abroad have opened temporary teaching and research positions for <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/western-nations-cut-ties-russian-science-even-some-projects-try-remain-neutral">Russian scholars in search of refuge</a>.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arik Burakovsky works for The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He receives funding from Carnegie Corporation of New York.</span></em></p>Decades of collaboration between Western and Russian universities have come to a halt because of the war in Ukraine. An expert on U.S.-Russia relations explains what’s at stake.Arik Burakovsky, Assistant Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1781182022-03-11T20:24:39Z2022-03-11T20:24:39ZUkraine: How citizenship and race play out in refugees’ movements in Europe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451616/original/file-20220311-17-bgapfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7722%2C5144&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">African residents in Ukraine wait at the platform inside Lviv railway station on Feb. 27, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As millions of refugees flee Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion, one question that has been raised is: Why have Ukrainians been welcomed into eastern Europe, unlike Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and Eritreans? Is it because they are white?</p>
<p>Criticisms imply that the European Union treats refugees from the Global South differently, and that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/europe-racism-ukraine-refugees-1.6367932">such treatment is based on race</a>. Critics also highlight that Romania and Poland’s hospitality to Ukrainians stands in <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/europe-welcomes-ukrainian-refugees-83153021">stark contrast to their past reluctance to accommodate refugees from Africa and the Middle East</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ODMOzwI__zs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Al Jazeera looks at the treatment of Black and Indian refugees at the Polish border.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet hasty interpretations that single out race as the primary force in refugee favouritism simplify geopolitical realities. They also ignore the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/migration-and-asylum/common-european-asylum-system_en">EU legislative framework that produces categories of refugees based on nationality and citizenship</a>.</p>
<p>Europe rests on a <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/what-does-a-multi-speed-eu-mean-for-central-and-eastern-europe/a-38016484">hierarchy of nations</a>, with older EU members at the top of the pile followed by new members, and then countries being considered for membership in the EU. At the bottom of the pile is everyone else.</p>
<h2>Geopolitics play a role</h2>
<p>Commitments to welcoming <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/war-ukraine-russia-send-one-million-refugees-fleeing-poland/">one million Ukrainians to Poland</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/romania-could-take-500000-ukrainian-refugees-if-needed-defence-minister-2022-02-22/">500,000 to Romania</a> are linked to these countries’ geographical proximity to the Ukrainian border.</p>
<p>Refugees usually head to the closest safe place. Think of the Syrian war: neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan resettled the largest number of Syrians. <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/turkey/registered-syrian-refugees-host-countriesnovember-2021-egypt-iraq-jordan-lebanon-and">Turkey hosts close to four million, Lebanon over 800,000 and Jordan close to 700,000</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, more than half of Eritrean refugees are in <a href="https://eritreanrefugees.org/refugee-stats/">neighbouring Ethiopia and Sudan</a>. Bangladesh also hosts the majority of <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/news/rohingya-refugee-crisis-explained">Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar</a>.</p>
<p>Ethnic composition and regional labour market flows also play a role. Poland is the <a href="https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/iom-poland-is-main-destination-for-migration-of-ukrainians.html">primary EU destination country for Ukrainian migrants</a>. By the end of 2020, a record number of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10290-021-00437-y">a million and a half Ukrainians</a> had migrated to Poland for work. </p>
<p>In Ukraine, <a href="https://ukrainian-studies.ca/2021/02/26/hungarian-and-romanian-minorities-in-ukraine-conditions-and-status/">close to 160,000 people are ethnic Hungarians, and over 150,000 are of the Romanian minority</a>. The <a href="https://uur.ro/alegeri-parlamentare-2020/">Union of the Ukrainians in Romania</a> is an ethnically based political party with a seat in the national parliament.</p>
<p>Ukrainians regularly cross regional borders for personal reasons, such as accessing <a href="https://www.libertatea.ro/stiri/marturia-unei-mame-din-ucraina-care-vine-de-trei-ori-pe-saptamana-in-romania-pentru-dializa-la-vama-pe-partea-noastra-oamenii-platesc-spaga-ca-sa-treaca-4002985">medical care</a> or visiting family.</p>
<h2>Pre-existing affinities</h2>
<p>Eastern Europe shares a common <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/165603/carlson-russia-ukraine-imperialism-nato">Soviet history</a> and after the end of the Cold War in 1989, an <a href="https://www.veridica.ro/en/analyses/is-romania-still-an-anti-russia-stronghold-in-the-region">anti-Russian sentiment</a>. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, most eastern European states <a href="https://libcom.org/library/back-banality-gm-tam%C3%A1s">rejected communist ideas as being Russian-centric</a>. Integration into the West and the adoption of liberal ideas of freedom, free market and democracy, have become synonymous with opposing Russian neo-imperialism.</p>
<p>Solidarity based on a <a href="https://lefteast.org/revisiting-ambiguous-revolutions-1989/">similar history of oppression</a> is common across <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26925341">the former Eastern Bloc countries (the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Hungary)</a>. A shared memory of Russian aggression makes the pain of Ukrainians more intelligible <a href="https://www.focaalblog.com/2022/02/28/derek-hall-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-a-response-to-david-harvey/#more-3696">to other eastern Europeans</a>.</p>
<p>Linguistic similarities between Ukrainian and Polish make Poland more accessible to Ukrainian migrants. Both languages are Slavic and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036749">have long influenced each other</a>. The Polish and Ukrainians <a href="https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=911908">close to the border</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/UM0Qd5-8oo0">largely understand what each other is saying</a>.</p>
<p>Most countries <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351018944">from the former Eastern Bloc are Christian Orthodox</a>. Not only is Christian Orthodoxy intertwined with <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/">national identity</a> but Orthodoxy has also <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/feature/are-soviet-member-countries-more-religious-today.html">flourished</a> since the fall of Communism. In Ukraine, <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/feature/are-soviet-member-countries-more-religious-today.html">about 39 per cent of the population self-identified as Orthodox in 1991 — by 2015, the number had doubled</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451621/original/file-20220311-27-32lk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a soldier stands in rubble and takes a photograph of a damaged church" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451621/original/file-20220311-27-32lk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451621/original/file-20220311-27-32lk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451621/original/file-20220311-27-32lk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451621/original/file-20220311-27-32lk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451621/original/file-20220311-27-32lk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451621/original/file-20220311-27-32lk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451621/original/file-20220311-27-32lk6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Ukrainian serviceman takes a photograph of a damaged church after shelling in a residential district in Mariupol, Ukraine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Ukraine’s position</h2>
<p>Ukraine is not a member of the EU, but it is a signatory to the <a href="https://eeas.europa.eu/diplomatic-network/european-neighbourhood-policy-enp_en">European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP)</a> and the <a href="http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2016/november/tradoc_155103.pdf">2014 EU-Ukraine Association Agreement</a>.</p>
<p>The 2014 Association Agreement was key in defining Ukraine as a European country with shared common history and values. It also paved the way for <a href="https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/schengen-visa-countries-list/">granting Ukrainians visa-free access to the Schengen Area</a>, which comprises all the EU members except Ireland, as well as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein, for up to 90 days.</p>
<p>Both agreements outline the foreign policy expectations of countries on the path to EU integration. These agreements legally produce different categories of migrants. Ukrainians are on the path to integration into the European labour market, unlike <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/pages/glossary/third-country-national_en">third-country nationals</a>, defined as non-citizens without the right to free movement in the EU.</p>
<p>Through a budget of <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/what/glossary/e/european-neighbourhood-investment">15.4 billion euros</a>, the ENP supports economic and social reforms for neighbouring countries of the EU including Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine. </p>
<p>Since 2014, the ENP has funnelled more than <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/european-neighbourhood-policy/countries-region/ukraine_en">200 million euros</a> to help Ukraine’s path to EU integration. Ukraine has received <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/STATEMENT_22_545">over 17 billion euros in grants and loans</a>, inclusive of financial supports for the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<h2>Fortress Europe</h2>
<p>With central and eastern European member states <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/factsheets/en/sheet/167/the-enlargement-of-the-union">joining the EU in 2004, 2007 and 2013</a>, eastern Europe has became the bordering outskirts of the EU. And so recent refugee flows have to be managed in the peripheral east, now tasked with <a href="https://www.tni.org/es/node/23373">militarizing their borders</a> and keeping refugees out.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-eu-is-the-real-villain-in-the-poland-belarus-migrant-crisis-172132">The EU is the real villain in the Poland-Belarus migrant crisis</a>
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<p>In contrast to the warm welcome granted to Ukrainian refugees, Poland has recently let <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/09/poland-belarus-border-crisis-migrants-eu-explainer">Iraqi and Afghani refugees freeze to death</a> at its eastern border. It was the EU that tripled the border management funds to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland to <a href="https://euromedrights.org/publication/new-commission-proposal-on-migrants-at-eu-belarus-border-sets-dangerous-precedent/">reduce access to asylum</a>, and increase border push-backs and detentions. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1496812180070707206"}"></div></p>
<h2>Citizenship or race?</h2>
<p>The mistreatment of foreign nationals fleeing Ukraine <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/europe-racism-ukraine-refugees-1.6367932">has been attributed to race</a>.</p>
<p>“Black people” and “African students” are terms interchangeably <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/african-students-ukrainians-first-policy-preventing-them-leaving-war-zone-2022-2">used to describe</a> those being held back at borders or being prevented from boarding evacuation buses. </p>
<p>Ukraine has continued the former Soviet tradition of regularly recruiting Global South students within the medical field. India, Morocco, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, China, Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Uzbekistan are the top <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/world/explained-why-medical-universities-in-ukraine-attract-indian-students-in-big-numbers-10408361.html">10 countries of origin for international students in Ukraine</a>. </p>
<p>Much of eastern Europe is made out of racially homogeneous countries, where non-citizens are often visibly non-white. Using a racial lens to understand how borders respond to the attempts of international students to cross them diverts attention from citizenship regimes in allocating rights. </p>
<p>It also minimizes the larger problem at hand — the precarious status of temporary residents, including international students, who inhabit a marginal position by bureaucratic design.</p>
<p>Citizenship becomes the primary basis of exclusion. It is a related phenomenon that citizenship gets descriptively associated with race.</p>
<p>We do not intend to legitimize the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/02/civilised-european-look-like-us-racist-coverage-ukraine">racist and discriminatory coverage</a> that has surfaced in relation to the Ukrainian refugee crisis.</p>
<p>Race does matter in refugee favouritism. But the opening of refugee corridors to Ukraine’s neighbours has little to do with race and more to do with geopolitical and citizenship regimes that determine freedom of movement within Europe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178118/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raluca Bejan receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada for the "Refugee Integration in South East Europe (RISEE)" project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rene Bogovic receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada for the "Refugee Integration in South East Europe (RISEE)" project.</span></em></p>Ukraine’s history with the former Soviet Union and its current relationship with the European Union inform how refugees move across borders. While race plays a role, citizenship is also an important factor.Raluca Bejan, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Dalhousie UniversityRene Bogovic, PhD Candidate, Sociology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676512021-12-08T13:37:40Z2021-12-08T13:37:40Z4 Ph.D. neuroscience students from other countries share the challenges of studying in the US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436178/original/file-20211207-140267-123m52j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C0%2C2098%2C1409&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">International students in the U.S. often face restrictions that make it hard to advance their research careers at the graduate level and beyond.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/people-walking-in-line-across-world-map-painted-on-royalty-free-image/912015114?adppopup=true">Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>International students make important contributions to the U.S. They can <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05326-3">enrich scientific research</a> through diversity of thought. They <a href="https://theconversation.com/drop-in-students-who-come-to-the-us-to-study-could-affect-higher-education-and-jobs-172286">pay taxes, support businesses and jobs, and can help offset the cost of tuition</a> for American students. Despite the many ways that international students benefit the U.S., a <a href="https://doi.org/10.38126/JSPG180304">number of barriers</a> make it difficult for them to advance their research careers.</em></p>
<p><em>Below, four international neuroscience doctoral students
– from South Korea, China, Turkey and Brazil – share personal stories about the challenges they face in an education system that greatly <a href="https://doi.org/10.38126/JSPG180304">restricts their ability</a> to compete for federal as well as private grant money, travel to research conferences or continue to work in the U.S. after graduation.</em></p>
<h2>Nuri Jeong, Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience, Emory University, originally from South Korea</h2>
<p>Out of 500 applicants to the Young Investigator Training program for aspiring neuroscientists in 2019, only 60 were selected. So you can imagine the excitement I felt when I found out that not only had I been chosen, but so had my Emory Neuroscience Graduate Program colleague from Iran. But that excitement was short-lived when I found out that only one of us could attend the <a href="https://ibro.org/world-congress/">International Brain Research Organization’s World Congress of Neuroscience</a> conference in Daegu, South Korea, that year.</p>
<p>The reason my friend could not go on this all-expense paid trip is that – even though she earned her spot in one of the most competitive neuroscience Ph.D. programs in the country – she had entered the U.S. on a <a href="https://ir.usembassy.gov/visas/faqs/">single-entry visa</a>, whereas I didn’t have any such restrictions on my visa.</p>
<p>My friend from Iran had only two options. One was to leave the United States to reapply for a 24-month multiple–entry visa and return after the conference. But this was a tricky choice because in case of a rejection, it could delay her education despite her good standing in the program. Even if successfully renewed, her F-class visa would have <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Reciprocity-and-Civil-Documents-by-Country/IranIslamicRepublicof.html">been valid for only two years</a> for a program that takes <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK82472/">more than five years</a>.</p>
<p>The other option was to change her student status to something different, such as a worker, which required additional documentation and employer sponsorship to prove her renewed status. And even then, there is no guarantee of approval. Both of these options would risk disrupting her educational plans.</p>
<p>International students are typically advised not to leave the country without a reentry visa unless it’s for a family emergency or personal reasons for which you have to go home. Many international students have this lurking sense of the potential risk of not being readmitted at the border even with valid reentry visas. So you can see how nerve-wracking it must be for someone who only has a single-entry visa to leave at all.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423175/original/file-20210924-41321-o6atw2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423175/original/file-20210924-41321-o6atw2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423175/original/file-20210924-41321-o6atw2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423175/original/file-20210924-41321-o6atw2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423175/original/file-20210924-41321-o6atw2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423175/original/file-20210924-41321-o6atw2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423175/original/file-20210924-41321-o6atw2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nuri Jeong, in the center, holding a photo of her Iranian friend.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The conference that year meant a lot to me personally because I had not seen my family back home in Korea for two years. I could not imagine not seeing them for more than five years while in the program, as was the case for my friend. Feeling frustrated and helpless, the least I could do for her was to display her scientific research poster on Parkinson’s disease at the conference. In addition, I wanted her to be recognized for her award and raise awareness of situations like this that are all too common to international students. So at the conference, I held a photo of my friend when we took a group photo with fellow awardees.</p>
<h2>Esra Sefik, Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience, Emory University, originally from Turkey, and a dual citizen of Turkey and Bulgaria</h2>
<p>When I began my doctoral training in neuroscience in 2017, I used to think that government-funded grants and fellowships were within reach of any competitive applicant. Since then, I have come to see that this is not the case. And the reason is because of a question that appears in some form or another on most government-funded grant applications. And that is: Where are you from?</p>
<p>The applications may not ask that question verbatim, but they might as well because they typically have a <a href="https://researchtraining.nih.gov/career/graduate">requirement for citizenship or permanent residency in the U.S.</a></p>
<p>My beloved mother says I am “a citizen of the world” because I am a scientist. My hope is to one day help discover more effective therapeutics for currently incurable and severe neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, which transcend geographic borders. Unfortunately, when it comes to securing government grants to further this goal, my lack of citizenship gets in the way.</p>
<p>Consequently, in more recent years, whenever my mentors tell me about a grant or fellowship opportunity in my area of expertise, my first order of business is to scroll down to the eligibility requirements and search for the words “must be a U.S. citizen.” I often see those words, spoiling my chances entirely. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423173/original/file-20210924-21-93lb7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423173/original/file-20210924-21-93lb7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=231&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423173/original/file-20210924-21-93lb7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=231&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423173/original/file-20210924-21-93lb7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=231&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423173/original/file-20210924-21-93lb7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423173/original/file-20210924-21-93lb7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423173/original/file-20210924-21-93lb7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screenshots of two awards restricted to U.S. Citizens.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I am getting ready to begin a new chapter as a postdoctoral scholar. As a postdoc, funding becomes essential for continued academic development. One might think that citizenship status should no longer be a limiting factor for qualifying for a postdoctoral fellowship. Yet, a quick search of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website for <a href="https://www.va.gov/OAA/Advanced_Fellowships/Explore_our_Fellowships.asp">advanced fellowships</a> or visiting the National Institutes of Health website on the <a href="https://researchtraining.nih.gov/programs/fellowships/f32">F32 fellowship</a> – a highly prestigious NIH-funded fellowship that provides up to three years of support to enhance the research training of promising postdoctoral researchers – shows this is not the case. In my view, it is time for the nation to move away from worrying about which country a person is from and realize that scientific progress requires drawing on talent from around the world.</p>
<h2>Thomas Shiu, Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience, Emory University, originally from Hong Kong</h2>
<p>Whenever I generate experimental data or help write proposals that have secured research grants from both private institutions, such as the <a href="https://www.michaeljfox.org/">Michael J. Fox Foundation</a> and the <a href="https://www.aesnet.org/">American Epilepsy Society</a>, or governmental bodies such as the <a href="https://www.grants.gov/learn-grants/grant-making-agencies/department-of-defense.html">Department of Defense</a>, no one questions whether I am a U.S. citizen. But when it comes to applying for federal graduate student fellowships for myself, most, if not all, are off-limits. The reason is because they require U.S. citizenship or permanent residency. </p>
<p>This puts international students like me at a disadvantage, even though – from my experience – we work as hard as domestic students to contribute to the research and technology enterprise in the U.S. Many of us also do community outreach. For instance, I have given neuroscience lectures in middle and high schools around Atlanta and volunteered at the <a href="https://atlantasciencefestival.org/">Atlanta Science Festival</a> and <a href="http://sites.gsu.edu/brain-bee/competition/">Atlanta Regional Brain Bee</a>. Beyond our graduate studies, we have to pay taxes just like everyone else.</p>
<p>For those reasons and more, I believe that international graduate students deserve the chance to compete for federal training grants, such as an <a href="https://researchtraining.nih.gov/programs/fellowships/f31">F31</a> pre-doctoral training fellowship from the National Institutes of Health or a <a href="https://www.nsfgrfp.org/applicants/applicant-eligibility/">Graduate Research Fellowship</a> from the National Science Foundation.</p>
<h2>Thiago Arzua, Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience, Medical College of Wisconsin, originally from Brazil</h2>
<p>As I reach the end of my Ph.D., nostalgia made me search my school inbox from the very start. It begins with emails going back and forth with my <a href="https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/schools/get-started/designated-school-official">Designated School Official</a> – a person who serves as a point of contact for international students – telling them I have no idea if they will approve my visa or if I will make it to the U.S. from Brazil before the semester starts. I did make it to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a day before orientation. I arrived with no apartment lease, no friends or an American bank account. For my first few weeks, I stayed in a rental and failed at juggling school assignments, research and a new life as an international graduate student. Later that semester, I would be diagnosed with <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/adjustment-disorders/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355230">adjustment disorder with anxiety</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423174/original/file-20210924-23-1qtid85.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423174/original/file-20210924-23-1qtid85.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423174/original/file-20210924-23-1qtid85.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423174/original/file-20210924-23-1qtid85.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423174/original/file-20210924-23-1qtid85.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423174/original/file-20210924-23-1qtid85.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423174/original/file-20210924-23-1qtid85.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chain of emails from 2016 showing a range of subjects from housing, old exams, emergency loans and banks.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s hardly a secret that graduate school is difficult. Lesser known are the uncertainties associated with being in the U.S. on a student visa. With me, most of the stress that came from my search for housing and figuring out my finances could have been better handled with a simpler and more transparent process of getting a visa approved.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>The key argument a student visa application needs to make is that the applicant has no plans to stay in the U.S. after graduating. In some cases, like mine, that is a hard argument to make. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida in 2016 and now have a total of nine years of studies in the U.S. As a result, I have almost no significant ties to Brazil. In fact, the best document I could think of for my interview was my mom’s mortgage on our house back in Curitiba, Brazil. Simply put, I believe students who want to move to the U.S. and stay afterward should be able to do so. That is called a <a href="https://citizenpath.com/dual-intent-visas/">dual-intent</a> visa, and it is not new. Several employment visas already allow for it. Student visas do not.</p>
<p>Opening up this new avenue for students, <a href="https://thepienews.com/news/us-new-immigration-bill-will-allow-dual-intent-for-intl-students/">as some drafts of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 do</a>, could streamline and ease the life of <a href="https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf21318#data-tables">hundreds of thousands</a> of international students who either anxiously wait for their visas or get them denied every year simply because they want to move to the U.S. after they finish school.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167651/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Foreign graduate students in the US face a slew of obstacles when it comes to advancing their research careers. Four international Ph.D. students in neuroscience offer some suggestions.Thiago Arzua, Ph.D. Candidate in Neuroscience, Medical College of WisconsinEsra Sefik, PhD candidate, Emory UniversityFu Hung Shiu, Graduate Student, Emory UniversityNuri Jeong, Ph.D. Candidate in Neuroscience, Emory UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1536882021-01-26T19:43:31Z2021-01-26T19:43:31ZIntense scrutiny of Chinese-born researchers in the US threatens innovation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380696/original/file-20210126-23-1v5umah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=139%2C0%2C3893%2C2824&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Who should be allowed into U.S. labs and who should be kept out?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-chemist-in-the-laboratory-royalty-free-image/506999858">7postman/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/mit-professor-arrested-and-charged-grant-fraud">arrest of MIT engineering professor Gang Chen</a> on Jan. 14 has drawn attention to the role of China in U.S. science and technology system. It’s not the first time suspicions have fallen on a Chinese-born scientist – Chen is a naturalized U.S. citizen – for work they conduct openly in the United States.</p>
<p>The charges against Gang Chen – wire fraud, failing to report a foreign bank account and a false statement on a tax return – stem from failing to disclose Chinese funding for his research. MIT called the allegations “<a href="https://news.mit.edu/2021/professor-gang-chen-fraud-0114">distressing</a>,” and the <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/23/metro/mit-president-faculty-members-defend-professor-arrested-china-ties/">school’s president and 100 faculty members</a> are defending a Chinese university’s investment in MIT research. No evidence of spying has been made public, but a Department of Justice criminal complaint expressed suspicions that Chen’s loyalty may not be aligned with American interests.</p>
<p>These <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02515-x">kinds of investigations</a> risk damaging one of the U.S.’s most important assets: open inquiry.</p>
<p>The U.S. government’s scrutiny of Chinese Americans and Chinese scholars runs up against the value of open scientific exchange. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OBu0OHEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">My research on international collaboration in science</a> has shown that <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/open-countries-have-strong-science-1.22754">open nations have strong science</a>. Nations that accept visitors and send researchers abroad, those that engage richly in cross-border collaborations and fund international projects produce better science and excel in innovation. <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/jasonsecurity/JSR-19-2IFundamentalResearchSecurity_12062019FINAL.pdf">Closing doors inhibits the very trait</a> that makes the U.S. innovation system the envy of the world. </p>
<p>For six decades, the United States has been the mecca for smart people interested in conducting research. But this changed under the Trump administration: Government agencies looked with extra scrutiny at scholars from China for fear they planned to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/14/world/asia/china-academics-fbi-visa-bans.html">steal intellectual property</a>. In a speech to U.S. academics, an <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/the-importance-of-partnerships-in-responding-to-the-chinese-economic-espionage-threat-to-academia">FBI official has stated</a>, “…the greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information and ideas and to our economic vitality and leadership is the threat from the Chinese government.” </p>
<p>Scrutinizing Chinese researchers as if their actions automatically deserve suspicion threatens to poison the relationship between the U.S. and China, the rising world power in science and technology. I contend that cutting off this relationship makes the American innovation system more vulnerable, not safer. U.S. strength is in rapid innovation in an open environment; <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA208-1.html">China’s choice for a more closed society</a> may work against their innovation goals, but we should not turn it against our own. </p>
<h2>Different countries, different treatment</h2>
<p>The tales of two rocket scientists reflect what I consider the danger inherent in fears of Chinese influence. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380547/original/file-20210125-17-9fg2n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Qian Xuesen writes on chalkboard" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380547/original/file-20210125-17-9fg2n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380547/original/file-20210125-17-9fg2n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380547/original/file-20210125-17-9fg2n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380547/original/file-20210125-17-9fg2n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380547/original/file-20210125-17-9fg2n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=652&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380547/original/file-20210125-17-9fg2n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=652&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380547/original/file-20210125-17-9fg2n5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=652&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Undated photo of Qian Xuesen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tsien_Hsue-shen.jpg">Shizhao/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-54695598">Qian Xuesen</a>, a Chinese-born scientist educated at MIT, helped the United States win World War II with contributions to jet propulsion research. After the war, Qian worked at Caltech publishing brilliant science.</p>
<p>Sadly for him, the early days of American rocket science coincided with growing suspicions about foreign influence in the United States, similar to concerns seen now. Qian’s coworkers began to worry whether he was American enough in his allegiances.</p>
<p>At the same time that suspicions gathered around Qian and others, the American government’s secret <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip">Operation Paperclip</a> brought Wernher von Braun and other Nazi military rocket scientists to the United States. Von Braun and others spent a decade under military custody, <a href="https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/annie-jacobsen/operation-paperclip/9780316221054/">accelerating the American rocket program</a>.</p>
<p>Both Qian and von Braun spent the early 1950s under house arrest, but for different reasons and with different ends. Although no evidence was ever presented, in 1955, Qian was deemed a spy and deported. China welcomed him back, building him a laboratory; he is called “the <a href="https://nextshark.com/qian-xuesen-china-launch-into-space/">father of Chinese space technology</a>.” Encouraging Qian to remain in the U.S. likely would have delayed Chinese advances in missile technology.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380527/original/file-20210125-13-xy5lk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Model rocket with von Braun and JFK" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380527/original/file-20210125-13-xy5lk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380527/original/file-20210125-13-xy5lk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380527/original/file-20210125-13-xy5lk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380527/original/file-20210125-13-xy5lk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380527/original/file-20210125-13-xy5lk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380527/original/file-20210125-13-xy5lk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380527/original/file-20210125-13-xy5lk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wernher von Braun (center) explained the Saturn Launch System to President John F. Kennedy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/explorer/von-braun.html">NASA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contrast, von Braun led U.S. rocket science to success in the Cold War’s space race. He went on to great acclaim in the United States and became an American citizen, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/vonbraun/bio.html">working for NASA</a> for the rest of his life.</p>
<p>American suspicions about China have a long history, fed by xenophobia and anti-Communist views. Even now, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_exclusion_policy_of_NASA">U.S. law prohibits NASA</a> from cooperating with China. As China has grown to be the world’s <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-most-high-tech-exports.html">largest high-tech exporter</a>, fears and anger grow that <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-china-trade-pact-president-trump-just-signed-fails-to-resolve-3-fundamental-issues-130017">China is stealing U.S. know-how</a>. China’s case is complicated by its sheer size as well as internal links between <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200603185019349">science and military technology</a>.</p>
<h2>Chinese scholars in the US</h2>
<p>Even in the face of political tensions and visa challenges, the number of international Chinese students and scholars moving to the U.S. for higher education and to participate in research and development grew spectacularly in the decade leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380535/original/file-20210125-13-qt2j9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two women with U.S. and China flags, one wearing a graduation gown" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380535/original/file-20210125-13-qt2j9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380535/original/file-20210125-13-qt2j9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380535/original/file-20210125-13-qt2j9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380535/original/file-20210125-13-qt2j9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380535/original/file-20210125-13-qt2j9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380535/original/file-20210125-13-qt2j9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380535/original/file-20210125-13-qt2j9n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two students from China celebrate their 2019 graduation from Columbia University in New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ColumbiaCommencement/bdc54a099af94cda930b826dcd156ae1/photo?Query=Chinese%20AND%20science&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=617&currentItemNo=12">AP Photo/Mark Lennihan</a></span>
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<p>Chinese students <a href="https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20201/u-s-s-e-workforce#foreign-born-scientists-and-engineers">studying in the United States</a> in 2017 numbered about 141,000 undergraduates and 125,000 graduate students. An estimated 4,400 Chinese scholars (which can include students) came to the U.S. in 2017 to work in American labs, joining <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scz056">more than 9,000 already in the U.S</a>. Chinese <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/nsb/sei/one-pagers/Foreign-Born.pdf">doctorate earners graduating from American</a> universities in 2018 with plans to remain in the U.S. numbered more than 4,000 – similar to the preceding five years. </p>
<h2>What happens when scientists migrate</h2>
<p>The “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_theory_(investments)">mosaic theory</a>” has been borrowed from finance to apply to Chinese students, visitors and emigres in the United States. U.S. government officials fear that each visitor could each be contributing a single “tile” of knowledge that, once recombined in China, construct complicated mosaic patterns of deep scientific and technological insights and capacities.</p>
<p>This idea assumes that China possesses a great deal of core knowledge needed to reassemble the information. It would also rely on a herculean feat of organization. </p>
<p>Moreover, the mosaic theory misunderstands science and technology, which is quite unlike finance where a dollar can be in only one place at a time. Scientific research is shared and multiplied through open exchange, communication and mobility. Knowledge held in secret gets old and stale very quickly. Researchers <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2004/05/seven-laws-networking-those-who-give-get">who do not share are shunned</a>: It is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.01.019">exchange and recombination</a> that creates the value.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380594/original/file-20210126-21-173qmfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Columned building at MIT" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380594/original/file-20210126-21-173qmfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380594/original/file-20210126-21-173qmfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380594/original/file-20210126-21-173qmfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380594/original/file-20210126-21-173qmfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380594/original/file-20210126-21-173qmfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380594/original/file-20210126-21-173qmfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380594/original/file-20210126-21-173qmfv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">MIT is just one illustrious U.S. university that is an adopted home for scholars from around the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/view-of-the-campus-of-massachusetts-institute-of-technology-news-photo/1255079686">Maddie Meyer/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The United States has benefited mightily from the openness of its system to welcome smart people from anywhere in the world to <a href="https://cen.acs.org/careers/diversity/Science-US-built-immigrants-keep/97/i9">help build a knowledge base</a>. One-third of <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/">Nobel Prizes</a> awarded to U.S.-based scientists have gone to immigrants. People who spend time in the U.S. and later return home often continue to link to their American counterparts, creating a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0131816">global network of connections</a> with broad global (and national) benefits.</p>
<p>COVID-19 research and development experiences highlight the benefits of openness. In the earliest days of the pandemic, Chinese researchers galvanized world research by <a href="https://www.gisaid.org/">publishing the genome sequence</a> of the novel coronavirus. International coronavirus researchers who had formed connections over the decade prior to COVID-19’s emergence were energized into action. Rapidly, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236307">Chinese and U.S. scientists increased their cooperation</a> on virology, immunology and epidemiology to lay the groundwork for rapid testing, treatment and vaccines. Regrettably, political actions on both sides cooled the early actions and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3729672">reduced the linkages</a>, but vaccines were on the way.</p>
<p>The United States can continue to discourage Chinese researchers from participating in its research, stuck in binary mode of viewing relations as so-called “great power competition.” China is not an ally, so it does make sense to me to restrict cooperation on military technologies.</p>
<p>But suspicions about Chinese researchers – ones echoing a Red Scare and fears of spying – will send home the next Qian Xuesen to build China’s capabilities. I suggest the U.S. would benefit from recognizing the critical role of open research, the enriched scientific capacities of many countries and the benefits the United States receives thanks to knowledge created or reintegrated here by immigrants and visitors.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/153688/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Wagner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The recent arrest of a Chinese-born scientist at MIT raises questions about the value of international science collaboration and its impact on the American innovation system.Caroline Wagner, Milton & Roslyn Wolf Chair in International Affairs, The Ohio State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1220522019-08-20T20:04:43Z2019-08-20T20:04:43ZAustralian universities can’t rely on India if funds from Chinese students start to fall<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288647/original/file-20190820-123699-owarop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=917%2C1532%2C3905%2C2259&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new report says Australia's universities are too reliant on income from Chinese students.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Nils Versemann</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s leading universities are now looking to India in search of new sources of international students. This comes amid worries they may have reached a “China max” – no more room for growth in Chinese students and numbers at risk of falling.</p>
<p>The question of whether India is a potential solution is something I looked at for my latest <a href="https://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2019/08/ap5.pdf" title="The China Student Boom and the Risks It Poses to Australian Universities">report published today</a> for the Centre for Independent Studies.</p>
<p>My research found Chinese students currently make up about one in ten students at Australian universities. They’re about 40% of the total international student intake. But that’s after a rapid period of growth that slowed dramatically in 2018 and has now come to <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/end-of-china-boom-roils-universities/news-story/938e53cf1ba3c511a82963102036fedb">a virtual standstill</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="glT12" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/glT12/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>From a business perspective, investing so much in one portfolio is risky, and universities need to diversify where they’re getting their income to ensure a stable economic future. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-we-know-about-why-chinese-students-come-to-australia-to-study-97257">What we know about why Chinese students come to Australia to study</a>
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<h2>Eyes on Indian students</h2>
<p>UNSW last year opened a <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/general/new-india-centre-signals-stronger-ties-unsw">new centre in Delhi</a> as part of its India Ten Year Growth Strategy. The University of Sydney’s <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/content/dam/corporate/documents/about-us/values-and-visions/University%20of%20Sydney%202018%20Annual%20Report.pdf">2018 annual report</a> talked of this year appointing an “in-country team” in India to “recruit high-calibre students”. The ANU’s <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/about/strategic-planning/annual-report-2017">2017 annual report</a> talked of “scoping” an India office.</p>
<p>The University of Queensland has an India-focused approach to increasing international student revenue. That comes as no surprise as last year, UQ Chancellor Peter Varghese delivered an <a href="https://dfat.gov.au/geo/india/ies/index.html">India Economic Strategy report</a> to the Australian government.</p>
<p>In one of his recommendations (<a href="https://dfat.gov.au/geo/india/ies/chapter-3.html">6.1.1</a>) he says Australia should:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Make India a priority market as part of the global refresh of Australia’s education brand.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The latest annual reports of these four universities (<a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/about/annual-reports">UQ</a>, <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/about-us/the-university/annual-reports">UNSW</a>, <a href="https://www.anu.edu.au/about/strategic-planning/annual-report-2017">ANU</a> and <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/about-us/vision-and-values/annual-report.html">Sydney</a>)
show they draw more than 30% of their student bodies from overseas. </p>
<p>With international students paying several times the tuition of domestic ones and the China market now appearing to be tapped out, India is widely seen as the next major source of “cash cows”, as ABC put it in a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/cash-cows/11084858">recent Four Corners investigation</a> on universities and the billions of dollars they make from foreign students.</p>
<h2>More Indian students heading overseas</h2>
<p>India is in fact the world’s <a href="https://wenr.wes.org/2018/09/education-in-india">second-largest source country</a> for international students, and although it trails China by a wide margin, the country is growing fast. </p>
<p>Australia’s universities seem to believe they can replicate their wildly profitable China expansion in India. But they’re wrong. </p>
<p>My research shows India is still far too poor to become the next “cash cow” for Australian universities.</p>
<p>There are around 24 million adults in China with incomes over A$50,000 a year, according to calculations based on data from the <a href="https://wid.world/">World Inequality Database</a>. That compares to just three million for India.</p>
<p>That makes the potential Indian market for Australian degrees roughly one-eighth the size of the Chinese market.</p>
<p>In fact, every province of China is richer than every state or territory of India with the exception of the tiny tourist enclave of Goa (population 1.5 million), according to data from each country’s statistical service.</p>
<h2>The lure to Australia</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.insearch.edu.au/how-to-apply/scholarships/aspire-advantage-scholarship">Recent</a> <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2019/02/06/scholarships-for-india-s-next-visionary-leaders.html">scholarships</a>, <a href="https://www.international.unsw.edu.au/futureofchange">targeted</a> at Indian students might be attempts by Australian universities to diversify their international student profiles away from a total reliance on China.</p>
<p>But while subsidising Indian students may reduce the concentration of Chinese students in their courses, it will do nothing to reduce their financial dependence on China. In fact, it will increase the proportion of their net income derived from China. Which brings us back to the problem of “China max”.</p>
<p>Some Australian universities I looked at draw between 13% and 23% of their revenues from Chinese student enrolments.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-too-few-home-grown-experts-on-the-chinese-communist-party-thats-a-problem-121174">Australia has too few home-grown experts on the Chinese Communist Party. That's a problem</a>
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<p>I’ve identified a number of risk factors that could adversely affect the number of Chinese students in Australia. By far the most serious are the macroeconomic factors – such as any <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/chinas-economy-not-so-big-after-all-46887">slowing of China’s economy</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-25/australian-dollar-fall-is-good-news-for-international-students/6723438">fluctuations in the value</a> of the Australian dollar – that could lead to a sudden and severe fall in Chinese enrolments at Australian universities.</p>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2018/06/17/stocks-401-k-retirement-savings/694863002/">investors</a> will tell you that to reduce risk, you should seek to limit your exposure to any one investment (in this case, one source country of foreign students) to no more than <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/five-percent-rule.asp">5%</a> of your portfolio. Something akin to the phrase “don’t put all your eggs in one basket”.</p>
<p>Australian universities need to take steps to reduce their over-reliance on international students for sources of funding, and within that revenue stream, to reduce the reliance on one or two source countries.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Salvatore Babones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australian universities need to reduce their reliance on revenue from students from countries such as China or India.Salvatore Babones, Associate Professor, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/962302018-05-09T23:00:53Z2018-05-09T23:00:53ZThe importance of international students to Atlantic Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217943/original/file-20180507-46328-lufmp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">International students and immigrants learn about the Canadian workplace at the BEST conference at Dalhousie University in Halifax in March.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kelly Toughill)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anita faced a tough choice when she discovered she was unexpectedly pregnant. </p>
<p>If she took a term off school to care for her newborn, her family would lose its dream of settling in Canada. So, eight weeks after the summer birth, with her diplomat husband away on a long-term work assignment in the Caribbean and two more children at home, the international student from Cameroon returned to class full-time.</p>
<p>“I couldn’t understand why they would say no,” Anita said of Ottawa’s refusal to extend her student status to cover her maternity leave. “I wasn’t taking any money from government. It wouldn’t cost them anything. Why? Why would they say no?</p>
<p>"I cried every day. It was so hard. I cried and cried and cried. But I had to go back.”</p>
<p>Federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2017/09/speaking_notes_forahmedhussenministerofimmigrationrefugeesandcit.html">has repeatedly urged international students to stay in Canada,</a> and the governments of all four provinces in Atlantic Canada have created special pathways to help international students transition to permanent resident status.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/newcomers-find-jobs-prosperity-in-atlantic-canada-if-they-stay-95509">Newcomers find jobs, prosperity in Atlantic Canada -- if they stay</a>
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<p>But only 11 per cent of the students who graduate from Atlantic Canada universities and colleges are still in the province of their study one year after they become permanent residents, according to research, as yet unpublished, by Prof. Michael Haan of the University of Western Ontario. </p>
<h2>Students fear breaking the law</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.i-graduate.org/services/international-student-barometer/">A new survey</a> shows that a fear of running afoul of Canada’s complex immigration laws is one factor driving students to leave the country after graduation.</p>
<p>The International Student Barometer is the largest survey of students in the world. More than 2,000 international students in Atlantic Canada were included in the latest survey, released March 1, 2018.</p>
<p>It is Nannette Ripmeester’s job to explain the results of the survey to governments, associations and institutions around the world. The biggest problems in Atlantic Canada, she says, are unrealistic expectations and false perceptions.</p>
<p>For example, four in 10 international students say they might leave Atlantic Canada after graduation because there is no suitable job in their career. However, research shows that immigrants to Atlantic Canada <a href="http://perceptionsofchange.ca/atlanticcanadianimmigrationtrends.html">actually fare better than immigrants to other regions.</a></p>
<p>A particularly troubling insight from the survey, said Ripmeester, was that one in four international students in Atlantic Canada said they might leave the region after graduation because of work permit or visa restrictions.</p>
<p>“Students come here because they want a job and they leave because they think there are no jobs available and there is difficulty with visas,” said Ripmeester. “But that is all not true.”</p>
<p>The stakes could not be higher.</p>
<h2>Universities rely on international students</h2>
<p>More than 25,000 students currently hold permits to study in Atlantic Canada. They are keeping universities afloat as domestic enrolment plummets; they are a major part of the regional economy and they are a prime source of the immigration needed to counter the region’s rapidly aging population.</p>
<p>Atlantic universities have become deeply dependent on international students. Enrolment from Canadian students <a href="http://www.atlanticuniversities.ca/statistics/aau-survey-preliminary-enrolments">dropped 10 per cent in the last 10 years</a>, and the proportion of university spaces taken by international students has doubled. Some universities, like Saint Mary’s and Cape Breton University, now draw almost a third of their students from outside Canada.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218334/original/file-20180509-34021-18d7e6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, flanked by Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball, left, and Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O'Regan, talks about a program to help international students in Moncton, N.B. in February 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to research released this winter, international students contribute $795 million a year to the economy of Atlantic Canada. <a href="https://www.camet-camef.ca/images/2018-02-20_EconomicImpactofInternationalStudents-WEB.PDF">The study</a>, conducted for the Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training, found that international students are responsible for 6,731 jobs in the region and contribute $22 million annually in taxes. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.atlanticuniversities.ca/sites/default/files/documents/CONSUPReports/University%20Export%20Value%20NS%202017.pdf">2017 report commissioned by the Council of Nova Scotia University Presidents</a> estimates that in-province spending by international students is Nova Scotia’s fourth-largest export: Smaller than the seafood industry, but larger than forestry.</p>
<p>Canada has one of the easiest immigration paths for students in the world, yet the survey found that international students in Atlantic Canada have the same level of anxiety around work permits and visas as international students in Europe and the United States, where it is almost impossible to stay after graduation.</p>
<p>Anita asked that her real name not be published because she’s currently applying for permanent resident status. She fears that publicly discussing her story might affect her file.</p>
<p>She was caught by a rule that says students must be engaged in continuous full-time study to be eligible for a post-graduation work permit. </p>
<p>It would have been very difficult for her to understand the immigration consequences of pregnancy in advance. Until last year, campus immigration advisers routinely advised students that they could take a term off for illness, pregnancy or family emergencies as long as their school reported them to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) as on “authorized leave.” That was wrong.</p>
<h2>Eligibility lost</h2>
<p>In fact, students lose their eligibility for a work permit after graduation even if they leave school for cancer treatment, to care for a dying relative — or to give birth to a baby.</p>
<p>When Canada introduced the <a href="https://visaguide.world/canada-visa/permanent/express-entry/">Express Entry</a> system three years ago, many students who had been planning their immigration for years <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/international-students-in-limbo-under-immigration-system-changes/article23588415/">suddenly lost their path</a>. The program used most often by students was shut down, and most students didn’t have enough points to be chosen out of the Express Entry pool of candidates.</p>
<p>Ottawa <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/news/news-article/express-entry-reforms/">revised the point system</a> in November 2016 to make it easier for students to become permanent residents through Express Entry, but students must be very knowledgeable and very careful to make sure they will qualify.</p>
<p>For example, hundreds of international students were caught by a rule change that decreed graduates of private colleges are not eligible for the crucial post-graduation work permit. That change was not clear on IRCC’s website and even immigration lawyers and consultants sometimes missed it when advising clients.</p>
<p>Then there are students who take a job hoping to accumulate the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/works.html">one year of Canadian employment experience needed for Express Entry</a> only to discover too late that working as a bank teller, a food server or a receptionist won’t qualify them for the fast-track immigration program. An applicant, in fact, needs experience as a manager, a professional or in a job that the government considers skilled.</p>
<p>They are small stories that represent big problems for students, their institutions and the local economy.</p>
<p>IRCC has recognized the confusion. Last year it set up a system to improve service and communication. And in early 2018, the government revamped its website so that students can clearly see whether attending a specific school in Canada will qualify them for a post-graduation work permit.</p>
<p>Haan, of the University of Western Ontario, found that international students were less likely to settle in Atlantic Canada than other regions, but he also found that retention varies widely by citizenship. </p>
<p>Chinese students are the least likely to stay, which is bad news for Atlantic Canada since Chinese students make up more than a third of the international students in this region.</p>
<p>Anita’s not leaving Charlottetown. She says life would be easier for her in Montreal, where most people speak her mother tongue, but her children are happy in Prince Edwards Island and all her neighbours look out for each other. She won’t give that up.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article derives from The People Imperative. Kelly Toughill researched and wrote the report for the Public Policy Forum, which is conducting a three-year project on Atlantic immigration and revitalization.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96230/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly Toughill heads Polestar Immigration Research, a small media company that produces original journalism and research reports about Canadian immigration. The company's clients include many media outlets and non-profit groups, some of which are partially funded by the government of Canada. Professor Toughill maintains accreditation with the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council as part of her ongoing commitment to in-depth immigration research.
</span></em></p>Ottawa and the governments of all four Maritime provinces have created pathways to help international students transition to permanent resident status. But fear causes too many to return home.Kelly Toughill, Associate Professor, University of King's CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/599502016-06-02T13:25:23Z2016-06-02T13:25:23ZEU students do very well out of studying in the UK – Brexit might scupper that<p>What Brexit would mean for EU students and the graduate labour force is a complicated question. The process of negotiating a British exit from the EU would create a period of significant uncertainty and could well make the UK <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-36286057">a less desirable place</a> to study during the period of transition. </p>
<p>And a vote to leave the EU could also have an impact on the level of skilled labour in the UK work force. </p>
<p>Around 23% of university graduates living in the UK in 2014 were born abroad and a third of these were born in the European Union, <a href="https://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/?sn=7664&type=Data%20catalogue">according to our estimates</a> using the 2014 Labour Force Survey. Many of these graduates will have come to the UK after finishing their degrees. But a sizeable proportion are likely to have arrived as students: 16% of the working age immigrant population in the UK originally arrived for study, and more than half of these have at <a href="http://repec.ioe.ac.uk/REPEc/pdf/qsswp1414.pdf">least one UK degree</a>.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk//files/news/2016/brexit/brightest-best-graduates-eu.pdf">new research</a> analysed what 2m graduates did six months after leaving university by looking at responses to the Higher Education Statistics Authority’s <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/stats-dlhe">Destination of Leavers from Higher Education</a> survey between 2003-4 and 2011-12. We found that EU-domiciled students (whose home country is in an EU-member state) comprise 8% of the students in postgraduate taught programs, 13% in postgraduate research, and 5% of all undergraduates.</p>
<p>Among those pursuing postgraduate research degrees (mostly PhDs), two thirds of EU students were concentrated in highly desired science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) fields. In 2011-12 alone, 5,446 EU undergraduates and 6,941 EU postgraduates in the UK graduated with a STEM degree.</p>
<h2>EU graduates in the workforce</h2>
<p>Besides constituting a sizeable proportion of graduates, EU domiciled students go on to contribute to the UK economy: more than half remain in the country six months after graduation. </p>
<p>And those who stay perform very well, particularly at the undergraduate level. We found that EU domiciled undergraduates who remain in the UK <a href="https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk//files/news/2016/brexit/brightest-best-graduates-eu.pdf">are six percentage points</a> more likely to have a first class degree than British students within STEM fields, and nine percentage points more likely to have a first within non-STEM fields.</p>
<p>Comparing EU and UK graduates within the same institutions, with the same subject of study and at the same level of performance, we found that EU-domiciled undergraduates are between 26 and 30 percentage points more likely to continue to study and are less likely to be unemployed. Those who stay in the UK are also more likely to be in a job that matches their training.</p>
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<p>EU-domiciled postgraduates also perform well, with success in the job market similar to or better than British postgraduates, even after adjusting for university characteristics and subject of study.</p>
<p>EU-domiciled postgraduates are more likely than British postgraduates to continue in full-time education. Postgraduates in research programs who remain in the UK are also between nine and 12 percentage points more likely to be in jobs where their training is required or is expected for their job, than to be in a job where their training is not required – something that is often taken as a marker of over-qualification.</p>
<p>EU students at UK universities are clearly the best and brightest in their class. On the whole, their achievements outstrip their British classmates and they represent a significantly well-qualified group of graduate workers entering the UK workforce. These highly skilled, top-class graduates are likely to have a very positive impact on UK industry.</p>
<p>Should UK voters decide to leave the EU, the uncertainty of the situation – particularly in any short-term transition period – could discourage EU students from coming to the UK for study, from staying on to pursue further degrees or to work in the country following their graduation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59950/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Renee Luthra receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. She is associated with the University and College Union. The views in this article do not reflect those of the research councils. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greta Morando receives funding from Economic and Social Research Council. The views in this article do not reflect those of the research councils. </span></em></p>The British labour force has a lot to lose if EU students are turned off coming to the UK.Renee Luthra, Research Fellow, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of EssexGreta Morando, PhD candidate, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/530142016-01-15T10:52:09Z2016-01-15T10:52:09ZWhy we need to stop talking about ‘foreign’ students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108048/original/image-20160113-10409-nhxwho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Students via Vitchanan Photography/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>British universities <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-be-a-world-leader-when-you-grow-up-pick-the-right-country-to-study-in-32055">attract</a> some of the best and brightest students from across the globe. Almost half a million students from outside the UK are enrolled in UK higher education <a href="http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/Info-for-universities-colleges--schools/Policy-research--statistics/Research--statistics/International-students-in-UK-HE/">institutions</a>. Newly published figures show the number of new students from outside the EU coming to the UK to study <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/sfr224">increased 1%</a> in the last academic year, representing 14% of all new entrants. </p>
<p>Officially, these are “international” or “overseas” students. But academics and the wider world too often refer to them as “foreign” students. This suggests they are outsiders, rather than an integral part of our strong academic traditions. </p>
<p>The days are long gone when UK universities provided education for the national population, with a handful of additional students from elsewhere. Without fee-paying students from outside the UK, courses in some subject areas would not run and academics would not be as able to engage in research-led teaching. This is particularly the case in subjects with a <a href="http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/Info-for-universities-colleges--schools/Policy-research--statistics/Research--statistics/International-students-in-UK-HE/">high percentage of international students</a>, including business, engineering and law.</p>
<p>British higher education is part of an increasingly competitive global market and has become a national industry, with students from outside the UK <a href="http://londonfirst.co.uk/international-students-a-2-3-billion-british-success-story/">estimated to contribute £2.4 billion</a> to the London economy alone. It is not only London that benefits: a study in Sheffield showed that students paying international fees at the two universities there make <a href="https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.259052!/file/sheffield-international-students-report.pdf">a net contribution of £136.8m per year to the regional economy</a>.</p>
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<p>Seeing students primarily in terms of where they come from reinforces notions that our teaching and learning are primarily aimed at UK students. Perceiving students as “foreign” also plays into stereotypes that such students bring down standards. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/article4654719.ece">A recent frontpage headline in The Times</a>, for example, claimed that universities are facing a plagiarism crisis, “disproportionately fuelled” by “foreign” students.
As a chair of my university discipline committee, I have expelled students (both UK and non-UK) for cheating and there is never an excuse that plagiarism is an acceptable practice in other countries or cultures. Since suspicions may arise when a student whose English is known to be less than fluent submits a perfectly worded essay, it is little surprise that “foreign” students are more likely to be caught. </p>
<p>Despite having the required academic and English-language qualifications for entry, some students have found the ways they are expected to work extremely difficult to adapt to. Non-UK students often have added pressures including living a long way from home, adapting to a different country and climate, and expectations from sponsors or family who are funding their studies. In extreme cases, this has led a minority of students to decide to cheat.</p>
<h2>Culture shift needed</h2>
<p>Too often we assume that students arrive in the UK with the same set of skills, such as essay writing, that are common in the UK, or with general knowledge that only students who have grown up in the UK will have. This also plays into a stereotype that “foreign” students are academically less able.</p>
<p>We cannot assume, for example, that the popular social science question “critically discuss …” will be obvious to students who have never heard it before. This is not a call for dumbing down, but the reverse: by reflecting on what students with different backgrounds are asked to do, we increase the opportunities all students have to achieve higher marks.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.338591!/file/Law_Project_report_Cardwell.pdf">In a project I recently ran</a> at Sheffield on experiences of UK and non-UK students in university assessments, a student from South-East Asia reported that non-UK students often perceive they are at a disadvantage when questions assume some “general” knowledge. In this student’s case, it was that a question in a law exam assumed that students knew that whisky was a traditional Scottish product. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108051/original/image-20160113-10402-o1ipvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108051/original/image-20160113-10402-o1ipvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108051/original/image-20160113-10402-o1ipvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108051/original/image-20160113-10402-o1ipvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108051/original/image-20160113-10402-o1ipvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108051/original/image-20160113-10402-o1ipvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108051/original/image-20160113-10402-o1ipvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1127&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not what everyone is used to.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Junial Enterprises</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Asking staff with international backgrounds to scrutinise exam questions is one practical way of ensuring that non-UK students are not at a disadvantage.</p>
<p>Treating a significant section of our student body as “foreign” also does a disservice to UK students within the learning environment. All students can learn from each other – not just within the classroom but outside it. </p>
<p>Many students, even in large, international departments, leave university having <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2013/apr/11/why-arent-brits-making-friends-with-overseas-students">had limited interactions with international counterparts</a>. Getting students to mix is never easy, but promoting small group work – and allocating students to those groups rather than self-selection – can be an excellent way to facilitate this. In my project, both UK and non-UK students felt that this would help form better working relationships and social interaction outside the classroom.</p>
<h2>Not just cash cows</h2>
<p>Breaking down the distinction between “foreign” and UK students does not mean that universities become globally-focused at the expense of being less-British – but rather the opposite. Students from overseas should be seen as contributing to raising standards, not the other way around. All university students <a href="http://www.weareinternational.org.uk/#">should be international</a>, not just those from overseas.</p>
<p>Students and applicants from overseas are being <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9141dcf0-690f-11e5-a57f-21b88f7d973f.html#axzz3x7rx3SeF">put off by rhetoric on migration</a>, coupled with checks and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/foreign-students-will-be-banned-from-working-in-the-uk-and-forced-to-leave-as-soon-as-they-finish-10385232.html">increased restrictions</a> on what they can do while in the UK. </p>
<p>Despite the desire of the chancellor George Osborne <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015-documents/spending-review-and-autumn-statement-2015">to increase</a> the income generated by these students, the current danger is that UK universities could lose their allure. The right response is to embrace higher education as global and not regard a significant proportion of students as being “foreign”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53014/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul James Cardwell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>All students should be treated as global citizens, not just those who come from overseas.Paul James Cardwell, Reader in EU External Relations Law, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/484192015-10-13T05:21:10Z2015-10-13T05:21:10ZTen sure ways countries can turn away international students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/97933/original/image-20151009-9150-35o0er.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How not to make them feel welcome. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">International students via Lucky Business/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The Conversation’s international teams are collaborating on a series of articles about the Globalisation of Higher Education, examining how universities are changing in an increasingly globalised world. This is the second article in the series. Read more <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/globalisation-of-higher-education">here</a>.</em></p>
<p>The pursuit of global mobility in a world divided up into nations invokes a fundamental dilemma. Free passage without harassment is a right we routinely expect to exercise whenever we travel abroad. Yet the right of people within a country to determine who enters their nation is enshrined in law. This unresolvable tension between sovereignty and mobility catches international students in its grip. </p>
<p>More than <a href="http://www.oecd.org/edu/Education-at-a-Glance-2014.pdf">4.5m students cross borders</a> every year for educational purposes, mostly entering English-speaking countries, Western Europe, China, Japan and Russia. The great majority of these students return home when their education ends, though <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-how-many-foreign-students-stay-in-the-uk-45506">some become skilled migrants</a> to the country of education, or other countries. Nations compete for international students – every country wants high-quality research students and some make a profit from international undergraduate and masters-level students. In the UK, for example, <a href="http://blog.universitiesuk.ac.uk/2014/04/04/study-highlights-value-of-international-students-to-the-uk/">Universities UK reported</a> that international students spent £4.4 billion on fees and accommodation in 2011-12. </p>
<p>However, education policy is all too often in tension with migration policy. The United States (after September 11, 2001), Australia (in 2010-2011) and the United Kingdom (now) have all slowed down their student intake because of security concerns, or local opposition to migration. In each case numbers fell sharply and stayed down. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98060/original/image-20151012-17809-1r58gmo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98060/original/image-20151012-17809-1r58gmo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98060/original/image-20151012-17809-1r58gmo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98060/original/image-20151012-17809-1r58gmo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98060/original/image-20151012-17809-1r58gmo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98060/original/image-20151012-17809-1r58gmo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98060/original/image-20151012-17809-1r58gmo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98060/original/image-20151012-17809-1r58gmo.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Change in number of foreign students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.appgmigration.org.uk/sites/default/files/APPG_PSW_Inquiry_Report-FINAL.pdf">UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What not to do</h2>
<p>The past two decades of experience in international student policy suggests a checklist of ten things that a nation can do to ensure that it becomes as uncompetitive as possible in international education, and drives down foreign student numbers:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Make your visas more expensive than the competition. Currently, <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Documents/2014/InternationalStudentsInHigherEducation.pdf">UK visas</a> are at the top end of costs among the principal education exporting countries. It <a href="https://www.gov.uk/tier-4-general-visa">costs £322</a> to apply for a Tier 4 (General) student visa from outside the UK. </p></li>
<li><p>Slow down the time for visa processing, so education agents push families to choose competitor countries. This happened in Australia in 2011 in relation to Chinese students – families went to the US. The visa rules were relaxed and <a href="http://monitor.icef.com/2014/03/australia-reverses-three-year-enrolment-decline-commencements-up-sharply-in-2013/">the numbers picked up</a> again. </p></li>
<li><p>Ensure that universities and colleges not only charge high tuition fees, but require families to bank a full year of living cost support for several months before enrolment begins, as the UK does at present.</p></li>
<li><p>Use a discriminatory policy against students from major countries such as India or China, or better still, whole regions such as the Middle East. Subject those students, and not others, to extra checks at entry and extra reporting requirements. Ask their universities to spy on them and regularly report to immigration authorities – as <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/student-privacy-and-patriot-act/">with the Patriot Act</a> under George W Bush in the US, and as the UK does in relation to <a href="https://theconversation.com/university-lecturers-must-remain-educators-not-border-guards-23948">non-EU students at present</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Allow the local media to mount sustained attacks on international students as a group for destroying the national way of life, or triggering an urban crime wave, or consuming fast foods with strange smells in city precincts, or being dangerous drivers. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0511741197">This happened in New Zealand</a> 12 years ago and the Chinese government advised families not to send their student children to New Zealand. Numbers dropped like a stone.</p></li>
<li><p>Restrict work rights during study and, better still, impose a blanket ban on international students working during vacations, so students cannot earn the money they need to cover their fees and living costs. Both the UK and Australia limit working time. The UK is <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/foreign-students-will-be-banned-from-working-in-the-uk-and-forced-to-leave-as-soon-as-they-finish-10385232.html">planning to introduce this</a> for international students from outside the EU. </p></li>
<li><p>Send lightning raids into workplaces in case international students are working more than their maximum weekly hours – and deport them on the spot if they do. Australia <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0511741197">used to do</a> this. </p></li>
<li><p>Make it <a href="http://www.barclays.co.uk/Helpsupport/Identificationforstudentbankaccounts/P1242557966021">hard</a> for international students to open a bank account without a place of residence and impossible to rent an apartment without a bank account – which happens in the UK. Do the same with mobile phone contracts. </p></li>
<li><p>Make it expensive to be covered by medical insurance (as <a href="http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/healthinsurance/overseas/oshc.htm">it is in Australia</a>), visit a doctor or access hospitals and other emergency services. </p></li>
<li><p>Restrict the rights of students to stay and work once they have graduated. This is crucial, as students who want to migrate need work rights to build the bridge to migration, and others need work to pay back their loans. The UK used to encourage students to work for two years after graduation, but in 2012 the policy changed so that a graduate had just four months to get a job worth £24,000 or more a year in their field of training. The number of visas given to former students in the <a href="http://www.appgmigration.org.uk/sites/default/files/APPG_PSW_Inquiry_Report-FINAL.pdf">UK declined</a> from a peak of 43,319 in 2011, to 557 in 2013. </p></li>
</ol>
<h2>The worst possible timing</h2>
<p>The UK is now planning to force graduates to leave the UK before applying for graduate jobs, which <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/foreign-students-will-be-banned-from-working-in-the-uk-and-forced-to-leave-as-soon-as-they-finish-10385232.html">will make it even harder</a> for them to stay. Highly skilled graduates will go elsewhere.</p>
<p>International students are the collateral damage of migration politics. Cutting temporary migration by students is the easiest way to reduce the number of people coming in to a country, even though most students never become permanent migrants. </p>
<p>In the UK it will probably get worse before it gets better. The home secretary, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/06/theresa-may-speech-new-low-politics-migration">Theresa May, says that high migration</a> is a threat to national cohesion and higher education institutions must be prepared for a drop in international student numbers. But if the UK government follows May down the migration-bashing route and bears down harder on international student entry and graduate work rights, that is not a recipe for a wobble in the market, but the ongoing loss of a chunk of market share. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0511741197">Evidence</a> from the US in the wake of the 2001 Patriot Act, and Australia after its slowing of visas and noncompetitive work rights in 2010-2011 suggest that when student numbers fall, the downturn lasts for years, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-attracts-chinese-students-to-aussie-universities-46748">lingers even</a> after policies reverse again. </p>
<p>But the major problem for the UK is the timing. Different countries have to face popular resistance to migration, but those moments do not always coincide. While the UK government is talking about massive cuts to migration, it so happens that the US, Canada, Australia, China, Japan and Germany are stepping up efforts to attract international students. Growth is surging in the US and Australia. Both countries have learned from past mistakes and are being careful to avoid the ten “dont’s” on this list.</p>
<p><em>UPDATE: Point seven in this article incorrectly said students were raided for working more than their minimum working hours. It was updated to read their maximum working hours.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48419/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Marginson receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council to support the ESRC/HEFCE Centre for Global Higher Education.</span></em></p>A checklist of how countries can be as uncompetitive as possible in attracting overseas students.Simon Marginson, Professor of International Higher Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/455062015-08-11T15:59:10Z2015-08-11T15:59:10ZHard Evidence: how many foreign students stay in the UK?<p>The UK government has placed <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tier-4-visas-immigration-rules-changes">extra restrictions</a> on non-EU students staying in the UK after finishing their studies and there are reports that the home secretary, Theresa May, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33561040">plans to restrict student migration</a> even further. The restrictions have been adopted as part of the UK government’s attempt to reduce annual net migration – the difference between the number of people coming into and leaving the UK – to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/politics-blog/11602078/Immigration-how-will-the-Conservatives-tackle-it.html">fewer than 100,000</a>. </p>
<p>Students who arrive or leave the UK for more than 12 months are counted as migrants in official net migration statistics in the same way as those who come and go for other reasons. Unsurprisingly, there has been significant opposition to students being included in the migration target from universities, further education institutions and <a href="https://theconversation.com/drop-students-from-migration-stats-to-save-historic-ties-and-uks-international-reputation-35703">public figures</a>. </p>
<p>In light of potential new restrictions on student migration, with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33561040">leaked proposals</a> suggesting students may need to show more evidence of financial savings when they arrive, it’s worth evaluating the recent trends in student migration to the UK. </p>
<p>There are two key questions: is there evidence of a recent downward trend in international student numbers, particularly non-EU students? And are non-EU students “temporary” migrants or do they tend to stay in the UK and add to the overall population?</p>
<h2>How many students come and go</h2>
<p>There are two key sources of student migration data to the UK: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2015/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2015">administrative visa data from the Home Office</a> and <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/migration1/migration-statistics-quarterly-report/may-2015/rft-provisional-estimates-of-ltim-year-ending-dec-2014.xls">International Passenger Survey</a> (IPS) data from the Office for National Statistics. </p>
<p>The sources diverge as to the actual number of students arriving, but are consistent in two findings: student migration comprises a significant share of international migration to the UK, and it has declined since 2009. </p>
<p>In 2014, there were 200,000 study-related visas granted to main applicants, according to the Home Office. This is a slight increase (+0.4%) compared to 2013, but lower than the peak of 273,000 in 2009. The IPS data suggests a similar trend, as the graph below shows. </p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/tyoHB/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>There is also substantial annual variation across student groups, including type of course, which correlate well with <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/foreign-student-visas-home-secretarys-statement">restrictions</a> and clampdowns on “bogus colleges” imposed by the government during the previous parliament. These have been particularly restrictive on non-university students, such as those going to further education colleges. </p>
<p>In 2014, the number of university-sponsored study visa applications was 169,000, a slight increase from 2013. This was higher than the 2010 total of 143,000. But the biggest drop was in the further education sector – any education after secondary school that isn’t university. There was a 10% decrease in the number of study visa applications in the further education sector in 2014, which dropped to 19,000 from 65,000 in 2010.</p>
<p>It’s important to place all these numbers into the context of the government’s push to reduce net migration. If 100% of students left the country within a few years, then over the long run they would not contribute to net migration, even under the current statistical measures. This is because students would add to immigration numbers when they arrived and add to emigration numbers when they left, with a net impact of zero over time.</p>
<h2>Switching visas</h2>
<p>Student visas expire shortly after the course ends. However, student visa holders may be able to stay legally in the UK if they switch to another category, such as work or family.</p>
<p>Switching from study to work has become harder in the past few years because of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/261421/tier1poststudyworkguidance1.pdf">elimination of the post-study work programme</a> in 2012. Some policies that facilitate students’ transition into the labour market after graduation using what are <a href="https://www.gov.uk/tier-2-general/switch-to-this-visa">called Tier 2 visas</a> do still remain in place. </p>
<p>People switching from study to work are currently not subject to the cap on the number of Tier 2 sponsorships, which is set at 20,700 a year, divided monthly. This means they currently do not have to meet newly increased salary requirements that kick in if this monthly cap is met. </p>
<p>In June 2015, the first time the monthly cap was met, and people earning less than £46,000 per year <a href="http://www.ukvisas.com/news/tier-2-skilled-worker-cap-reached-for-first-time/">were refused visas</a>. Employers who take on a student who has switched to a work visa are also exempt from the requirement to show they have looked for UK or EEA candidates. </p>
<p>But the UK government has recently <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tier-4-visas-immigration-rules-changes">announced</a> further restrictions on the rights of students to stay in the UK after finishing their studies.</p>
<p>The number of people switching from study into other categories fell substantially between <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2015">2011-12 and 2013-14</a>, as the graph below shows. In 2014, fewer than 12,000 people extended their stay in the UK by switching from study to another category. The majority (59%) switched into work, while 33% switched into the family category.</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9MuDt/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The annual number of students granted entry visas to the UK (as main applicants) <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2015/immigration-statistics-january-to-march-2015">has fluctuated</a> around 200,000 over the past few years. In other words, the vast majority of people who enter on student visas are not switching into other categories.</p>
<h2>Adding to the net migration target</h2>
<p>The IPS asks respondents why they are coming to the UK, allowing us to identify students on their way in. Since 2012, respondents who are surveyed on the way out of the UK are also asked why they originally came. This allows an estimate of the number of people who come as students and – eventually – the number of them that leave.</p>
<p>The IPS suggests that 135,000 non-EU students entered the UK for study in 2014. The number of people who had previously arrived as students and who are estimated to have emigrated from the UK in 2014 was 44,000. </p>
<p>Taken together, this suggests that in 2014, net migration of students according to the IPS was 91,000 – that is, 91,000 more new students arrived than former students left. This snapshot must be interpreted carefully, because the people arriving and leaving are part of different cohorts. We do not yet know how many of the 2014 student cohort will leave, as many are not expected to do so for a few years. </p>
<p>Also, survey respondents must recall their initial reason for coming to the country a few years earlier. Since mixed motivations for migration are common, it is possible that respondents may have been systematically less likely to say they arrived as a student when leaving – especially if they also worked for a couple of years after graduation.</p>
<p>However, if the current number of student inflows and outflows remained stable at these levels for several years, it would suggest that a majority of students were not going home. For the past three years the estimated inflows of students has been significantly higher than the number of self-reported former students estimated to be leaving, as the third graph below shows in the balance column. </p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/KWFK2/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="406"></iframe>
<p>Those fighting the restrictions on student migration often argue that students <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Documents/2013/Backbench%20Debate%20Student%20Visas%206-6-13.pdf%23page=6">bring economic benefits</a>, are not <a href="http://www.britishfuture.org/articles/public-baffled-students-included-governments-migration-targets/">seen as migrants by the public</a> and only stay in the UK temporarily. There seems to be substantial evidence in favour of the first two points. However, data sources on the extent to which students remain in the UK after their studies point in different directions and students could be adding to the UK population. The next few years should provide more insights on this possibility.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45506/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carlos Vargas-Silva has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council, John Fell Fund and the Department for International Development in the past.</span></em></p>As the government looks to further tighten visa rules for non-EU students, how many are choosing to remain after their courses finish?Carlos Vargas-Silva, Associate Professor and Senior Researcher, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/452522015-07-29T05:20:53Z2015-07-29T05:20:53ZHard Evidence: are universities strapped for cash?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89929/original/image-20150728-7650-1m0yvcb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are universities counting their pennies?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Education fund via Lucian Milasan/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>English universities have known since June that there would be cuts to higher education funding. Now the amount and detail of the savings have been disseminated to universities: the sector must make a <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2015/CL,192015/">total saving of £150m</a>. Some have argued this is evidence that the sector is in “<a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/blog/perpetual-financial-crisis-uk-higher-education">perpetual financial crisis</a>”. So what are the likely impacts of the latest round of cuts on universities and how will they manage their finances? </p>
<p>At first sight, the English higher education sector seems to have had reasonably steady income over the last few years. As the first graph below shows, in the period after the financial crisis, universities’ real income initially rose. Despite a dip between 2009-10 and 2011-12, it has been slowly rising since but has yet to recover to pre-2010 levels. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89937/original/image-20150728-7662-1vx2lwj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89937/original/image-20150728-7662-1vx2lwj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89937/original/image-20150728-7662-1vx2lwj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89937/original/image-20150728-7662-1vx2lwj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89937/original/image-20150728-7662-1vx2lwj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89937/original/image-20150728-7662-1vx2lwj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89937/original/image-20150728-7662-1vx2lwj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89937/original/image-20150728-7662-1vx2lwj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Income of English universities, £ billions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_pubs&task=show_pub_detail&pubid=1719&Itemid=286">HESA, Finances of Higher Education Providers</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Prepare for volatility</h2>
<p>It is important to look at the detail of where the £150m of cuts will now fall. The savings are to be made in the 2015-16 financial year (April to March), which overlaps two academic years 2014-15 and 2015-16. This means that universities are suddenly having to deal with a loss of income which they had expected to receive for both for the current academic year and the next. Government funding, which has historically provided universities with financial certainty and stability, is no longer a reliable source. </p>
<p>All cuts will come from the recurrent teaching grant, while universities’ grant for research will remain ring-fenced. Let’s take a step back and see how the importance of the recurrent teaching grant has changed in the composition of universities’ income over the past few years. From the second graph below we can see that in 2008-9, grants from funding bodies, which for English universities comes largely from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), were 33% of the sector’s total income. By 2013-14, following the introduction of undergraduate tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year in 2012-13, this percentage had dropped to only 18%. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89945/original/image-20150728-7668-1y9wppi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89945/original/image-20150728-7668-1y9wppi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89945/original/image-20150728-7668-1y9wppi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89945/original/image-20150728-7668-1y9wppi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89945/original/image-20150728-7668-1y9wppi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89945/original/image-20150728-7668-1y9wppi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89945/original/image-20150728-7668-1y9wppi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89945/original/image-20150728-7668-1y9wppi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HESA, Finances of Higher Education Providers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, the money set aside for teaching within grants from the funding body has fallen from 65% of the total in 2008-9, to 51% in 2013-14, as the third graph below shows. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89946/original/image-20150728-13261-1xk4f64.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89946/original/image-20150728-13261-1xk4f64.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89946/original/image-20150728-13261-1xk4f64.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89946/original/image-20150728-13261-1xk4f64.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89946/original/image-20150728-13261-1xk4f64.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89946/original/image-20150728-13261-1xk4f64.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89946/original/image-20150728-13261-1xk4f64.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89946/original/image-20150728-13261-1xk4f64.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HESA, Finances of Higher Education Providers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Gauging student demand</h2>
<p>The flip-side of this is that tuition fees have become more important – rising from 32% of English universities’ income in 2008-9 to 47% in 2013-14. This move means universities are ever more open to the vagaries of market demand. Tuition fees come from undergraduate and postgraduate courses, both from home and EU students and those from overseas. </p>
<p>These overseas students have been a particularly lucrative source of income for universities as there is no cap on their numbers or the fees that they can be charged. But the overseas market is becoming increasingly competitive (for example, there was a <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2014/201426/">2% drop in international students</a> in the UK between 2011-12 and 2012-13) and this source of funding is becoming less predictable. </p>
<p>Because of this, the domestic student market is becoming more and more important to universities. But population changes in the UK mean that there will be fewer 18-20 years olds to take up places at university – <a href="http://www.policyconnect.org.uk/hec/sites/site_hec/files/report/391/fieldreportdownload/hecommissionreport-toogoodtofail.pdf">a fall of more than 12%</a> in 18-24 year olds is forecast between 2012 and 2021. So the tuition fee income on which universities have become much more reliant is, like government funding, likely to be volatile.</p>
<p>The chancellor <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/undergraduate-numbers-cap-to-be-abolished-osborne/2009667.article">George Osborne’s decision</a> to lift the cap on the number of students each university can admit, which comes into effect from September, could offer a glimmer of hope for universities. Universities can now recruit as many extra students as they want with the appropriate qualifications. When the plans were announced, it was originally intended that any extra student recruited would mean that the university would receive both the tuition fee and the usual associated HEFCE funding allocated to each student. </p>
<p>However, if we look at the detail of the £150m cuts, as set out in the table below, we can see that the money set aside by HEFCE for the increase in student numbers has been cut to achieve the overall saving.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89951/original/image-20150728-7671-w7dmvm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89951/original/image-20150728-7671-w7dmvm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89951/original/image-20150728-7671-w7dmvm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89951/original/image-20150728-7671-w7dmvm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89951/original/image-20150728-7671-w7dmvm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89951/original/image-20150728-7671-w7dmvm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89951/original/image-20150728-7671-w7dmvm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89951/original/image-20150728-7671-w7dmvm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sources of HEFCE’s savings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2015/CL,192015/">HEFCE</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So universities can indeed increase the numbers of students they enrol (for example, through the clearing process after A-Level results are announced in mid August) – but institutions will only receive the tuition fee for these extra students, rather than any government funding. In the short term, at least, the temptation for universities will be to recruit extra students only from low-cost subjects, such as the humanities, to cross-subsidise students in the high-cost subjects, such as science.</p>
<h2>Test of resilience</h2>
<p>The higher education sector is in a potentially precarious situation with possibly large fluctuations in demand (and hence funding) from one year to the next. Are universities resilient enough to withstand these fluctuations? HEFCE’s own forecasts of the financial health of the sector between 2013-14 and 2016-17 <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2014/201426/">emphasises</a> the need for strong liquidity – the number of days for which a university’s cash reserves would cover their expenditure. As a sector, liquidity has strengthened over the recent years of uncertainty, as the graph below shows, but the forecast is for this to fall and for borrowing to increase. As HEFCE points out, this is “an unsustainable trajectory”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89947/original/image-20150728-13261-v0xcuu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89947/original/image-20150728-13261-v0xcuu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89947/original/image-20150728-13261-v0xcuu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89947/original/image-20150728-13261-v0xcuu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89947/original/image-20150728-13261-v0xcuu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89947/original/image-20150728-13261-v0xcuu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89947/original/image-20150728-13261-v0xcuu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89947/original/image-20150728-13261-v0xcuu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Net liquidity and cash flow 2006-7 to 2016-17.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2014/201426/">HEFCE’s Financial Health of the Higher Education Sector: 2013-14 to 2016-17 Forecasts</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps more worrying, is that the picture for the overall sector conceals vastly different effects for different universities when it comes to student demand. Although the average increase for the sector in both domestic and EU students between 2012-13 and 2016-17 <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2014/201426/">is predicted</a> to be 5.5%, some universities could see numbers decline by more than 20%, while at others they could increase by more than 40%. </p>
<p>The irony of these cuts, however, is that they fly in the face of the laudable proposals made in June by the universities minister, Jo Johnson, for universities to be ranked and rewarded for their teaching excellence. Paradoxically entitled: “<a href="Teaching%20at%20the%20heart%20of%20the%20system">Teaching at the heart of the system</a>”, Johnson’s speech announced the development of a new Teaching Excellence Framework to shore up the quality of university teaching. </p>
<p>Yet teaching quality will be the first casualty of the changing funding regime as the lack of certainly in long-term planning will lead universities, in pursuit of flexibility, to employ more staff on short-term contracts. Some may even consider closing departments which experience dips in student demand and cannot be sustained.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill Johnes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As universities swallow a £150m cut to their teaching budgets, are they in a stable financial position?Jill Johnes, Professor of Production Economics - Strategy, Marketing and Economics, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.