A new survey reveals that a Brexit vote at June’s referendum would make the UK a less attractive option for overseas students.
The survey, carried out by student recruitment and retention solutions company Hobsons, found that of 1,763 responses, 47 per cent said that they would find the UK less attractive if it were to leave the EU. Nearly a fifth of respondents (17 per cent) thought it would make the UK more attractive, while 13 per cent did not know.
Respondents from EU member countries were particularly likely to be turned off studying in the UK should it leave the Union. More than 80 per cent of EU international students said they would find the UK less attractive, although only 35 per cent of non-EU students agreed.
A conservative estimate of the cost of lost fee income from the 35 per cent of non-EU international students would exceed £690 million a year, while the wider economic impact would be far higher, the report warns.
These results were gathered as part of Hobsons annual International Student Survey, which gathered a total of more than 43,000 responses from students worldwide. Of the overall respondents, about 47 per cent planned to stay in the country in which they studied for a period after completing studies. Fifteen per cent said they wanted to migrate permanently, while 32 per cent said they planned to stay temporarily in their destination country on a post-study work visa.
Article by David Fuller