UK universities are staging a last-ditch battle to resist further changes in the rules governing international students, and stave off more financial damage to the sector, ahead of the release of a keenly anticipated report into the graduate visa route.

With the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) set to conclude its investigation into “abuses” in post-study rights of overseas students by May 14, critics have been pushing the government to take ever more drastic measures to bring down the number of international students, arguing for an overall cap, and for some institutions to be prevented from sponsoring visas at all.

The sector has been warned to “brace for the worst” as a fraught political climate on immigration — exacerbated by poor local election results for the Conservative Party — has put pressure on Downing Street to take further action on the two-year graduate route, after removing the right for Masters students to bring dependants, which was blamed for a 44 percent drop in January enrolments.

Options understood to be on the table include scrapping the visa entirely, reducing its duration to six months or a year, or placing extra conditions on its use, such as a salary threshold. In an 11th-hour attempt to protect the visa, sector leaders have attempted to highlight the potential economic damage cuts would do to the whole economy, not just universities.

Michael Spence, the president of UCL, says the government’s own analysis has shown the visa is “set to bring in £12.9 billion of additional tax revenue compared to £6.8 billion of extra fiscal costs between 2021-22 and 2030-31”.

“If we want to grow the economy and encourage global leadership and innovation, we need to continue to attract the brightest and best,” Dr. Spence told Times Higher Education, adding that it would be an “act of extraordinary national self-harm to curb the graduate route”.

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