The UK doesn't want its foreign students – Germany does. So why do they keep coming here?
Country A offers foreign students completely free tuition, makes it easy for them to find work during their degrees and gives them 18 months to find work after they finish. Country B routinely charges foreign students £15,000 a year in tuition fees while subjecting them to interviews to check whether or not they're "bogus", and imposes restrictions on their ability to find work in the country afterwards.
So where do foreign students keep going? Country B, obviously. Germany may be putting out the red carpet to foreign students, but they still find the UK much more attractive. The most recent statistics show 252,000 foreign students in Germany in 2010/11, compared with 435,000 in Britain in 2011/12. The number of foreign students in Britain increased by 110,000 over five years, and only by 6,000 in Germany. We may not want them – but foreign students just don't care.
Germany certainly wants foreign students. In 14 of its 16 states, foreign students pay nothing at all. The total number of university courses taught in English is already over 1,100; and last year "blue cards" were introduced in Germany, increasing the amount of paid work foreign students can do while studying in Germany. A government official says “We welcome foreign students not only as contributors to our society and economy but also as potential future decision makers and valuable partners between Germany and their respective home countries.”
Based on the obstacles foreign students face, we can only assume Britain's government no longer feels the same way. So why do they keep on coming?
Universities are the only thing that Britain can still justifiably claim to do better than anyone else. The allure of Oxbridge resonates throughout the world. Fees for foreign students remain comparatively affordable: typically one-third of those charged by American universities. And for parents who want their children to become fluent English speakers, there is no substitute for actually living here.
So, despite the Government's posturing, the only effects so far have been to slow the rate of foreign students increasing, which fell to 1.5 per cent between 2010/11 and 2011/12. Worrying signs do exist – a 25 per cent drop in the number of Indian students – which shows that the UK will have to relax its attitude if it wants foreign students to keep on coming. Given that they contribute an estimated £8 billion a year to the UK economy, as well as wider benefits in the "global race", the Government would be wise to do so.
The continued allure of our universities is a welcome antidote to the gloom surrounding Britain today. And, as Boris Johnson emphasised on his recent trip to India, we should be encouraging even more foreigners to study here.
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