The UK Government has offered a new visa scheme to lure graduates from top universities to work in Britain. This programme intends to attract international talents into a post-Brexit Britain. However, its restrictions on university rankings will narrow recruitments to only a few countries.
Britain to Grab Top University Graduates
Students from the world’s top 50 universities can apply for a new short-term visa in the UK. The UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has launched a high-potential individual route to attract graduates from top universities. The government will give a two-year work visa to the applicants with a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree. The applicants with a PhD can receive a three-year visa to work in the UK. The applicants must be graduates of the top 50 universities mentioned in one of the following lists. The first list is the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings. The other list is The Academic Ranking of World Universities which includes mostly American universities. Candidates of those universities can apply regardless of their birthplace and they do not require a job offer.
Visa Scheme Relies on University Rankings
The UK Government hopes that the new scheme will attract the best international employees into the country. Britain will offer a switch to a long-term visa if the candidates meet the eligibility requirements. Candidates should have received their degrees less than five years before the date of application. They need to know intermediate-level English in speaking, reading, listening, and writing. Priti Patel has said the scheme will put talent and ability first, not where someone comes from. However, the list of the top 50 universities does not include talented students from everywhere. The scheme narrows down the candidates to those from a few developed countries. Based on the university rankings, the top universities are from the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, France, Sweden, and Switzerland. So, the Home Office does not offer a visa to graduates from universities in Africa, Latin America, or Asia.
Britain Does Not Welcome Talent from Around the World
This scheme is a form of points-based system which welcomes engineering, science, and medical research graduates into the UK. According to this system, anyone coming to the UK for work must score points with a detailed set of requirements. The government has emphasised that students from prestigious universities will receive visa offers. Westminster aims to make the country the best place in the world for innovative and talented people. The UK Government has said bright and skilled people will live, work and be successful in the UK. The British Government has argued that this is going to be an unprecedented new era of global collaboration. However, the government’s new scheme does not welcome global graduates from various regions. Although the UK is home to world-leading tech companies, its scheme does not accept talent from around the world.
Post-Brexit Immigration Plan is Unfair
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has claimed the visa offer will attract the brightest talents from all around the globe. Rishi Sunak hopes the route will help the UK grow as a leading international hub for innovation and creativity. However, the scheme does not accept talented people from everywhere. Some academics have said they were disappointed. This attractive visa offer means to encourage top international graduates to start their careers in the UK. It is a measure by the UK Government designed to show the benefits of Brexit. However, this post-Brexit immigration plan is not compatible with Global Britain’s ambitions. Unfortunately, the lists of top universities do not include all qualified international universities. Thus, this is a discriminatory approach and does not recognise skills and knowledge in all parts of the world.
HPI Visa May Discourage International Students
The government’s new visa scheme restricts the offer to research institutes rather than universities with effective teaching records. This “high potential individual” plan is biased against emerging economies that have qualifying universities. Before Brexit, Britain prioritised recruiting EU students and graduates into the country. After Brexit, it is attempting to make the country friendlier for global talents. But, the new offer will limit eligibility to a narrow group and does not attract people from across the globe. This system may harm the UK’s international student recruitment and reduce the number of international candidates from diverse backgrounds. That will have an impact on the revenue sources of the British universities. More than one in five students in the UK’s higher education are international students. The new scheme could encourage international students and push them to other destinations such as Canada and Australia.
The UK Needs a Talented Foreign Workforce
The High Potential Individual visa scheme is not in line with the UK government’s Global Britain agenda. Global Britain is the government’s programme for its post-Brexit foreign policy to attain a global position outside Europe. The past two years have been tough for the UK as many employers lost their employees. Throughout the pandemic and post-Brexit period, the UK suffered a shortage of workforce. There are now more job vacancies available as the EU workers have left Britain after Brexit, so the county needs more international workers. A key part of the UK’s economic success was its ability to attract foreign workers. Based on an overview by Oxford University, 18% of the UK workforce are foreign-born workers. Britain is dependent on foreign experts and should recruit talented people from all countries, regardless of the university rankings lists.
Conclusion
The UK government is implementing a discriminatory immigration policy by recruiting graduates from a few countries. According to the new visa scheme, graduates from the top 50 universities can apply for a visa to go and work in the UK. Half of the top universities on this scheme’s list are American and the rest are from developed countries. The university rankings do not provide a representative sample of universities from across the globe. It is not a fair and comprehensive measure to recruit the most talented people to work in Britain. After Brexit, the UK has suffered a shortage of workforce and the country needs to employ more educated international employees. The government would do better to avoid using university rankings as the basis for employing talent in the UK. The Home Office’s High Potential Individual visa scheme is unjust and it ought to expand the list of universities.
