Edinburgh University library. Local students not welcome. Photo kaysgeog / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
On 22 January, Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, gave a speech in Glasgow at the Scottish headquarters of multinational financial services firm JP Morgan Chase – a revealing choice of venue and audience.
Despite having no power to alter British immigration policy, Swinney called for a Student Graduate Work Visa Scheme for Scotland, to enable foreign students, after they graduate from a Scottish college or university, to stay on and look for work in Scotland.
Foreign students are big business for colleges. As the Scottish Daily Express reported on 20 January, “There is no limit to what universities can charge students from overseas, with some courses costing in excess of £20,000 a year. Fees for those from the rest of the UK are capped at £9,250.”
Over the past eight years, student numbers from the rest of the world increased by 65 per cent, from the rest of the Britain by 24 per cent, and from Scotland by just 19 per cent.
By 2021/22, Scotland’s student roll had grown to 301,230: 61 per cent were Scottish residents, 28 per cent from the rest of the world and 11 per cent from the rest of Britain.
• A longer version of this article is on the web at www.cpbml.org.uk