Students and immigration: where is Britain going wrong?

I strongly agree with David Cameron’s view that immigrants that wish to live in the UK should at least be able to speak English.  I feel that unless a person speaks the language of the adopted country, his prospects of making economic contribution are very limited.  What I also find annoying is that while there is hue and cry over net immigration (which I think is a legitimate concern,), why doesn't Britain tap the best talents from its large pool of international graduates to fill the high skilled jobs?

 

I came to the UK to do my post graduate studies in Scotland. I am now working as a reputation executive in a public relations agency.  Throughout my stay in the UK, immigration has been a heated political topic. When I was in the university, I was often asked by many outside the university if I ever wanted to go back to my country. I was disappointed and felt I wasn’t welcome here. I had come to the UK in the pursuit of a successful global career. I was paying an astronomical fee for my university degree. I also had to meet number of educational and financial criteria to be able to qualify for my chosen programme and to get a student visa. 

Most people in the UK are not aware that the British universities themselves abuse the admission process.  They aggressively market themselves  hand in glove with greedy overseas agents and admit students to some courses on their ability to pay the tuition fees. In my university, majority of the foreign students were Chinese, and their standard of English was exceptionally low. It amused me to see that they still managed to pass the exams. I quickly realised that British universities had two groups of foreign students: one, who are really serious about their career and second, wealthy students who made it to the university because they were paying a lot of money, and in some instances, couldn’t make it to a good university in their own country.

When I got into the job market in the UK, I not only had to compete with the best students but had to demonstrate strong skills and knowledge across a wide range of areas. Obviously my past experiences and the UK degree allowed me to have a strong understanding of the British culture and the media environment. The point that I want to make is that international graduates who manage to get good jobs in the UK are already integrated with the mainstream society. The competitive job market naturally puts in place a system that only allows the best candidates to get through. Most of them have a cosmopolitan outlook and look for a career in major global cities because they want to plug into the global network in whatever profession they are in. International students are an asset to Britain, and are least of concerns on the issues raised by David Cameron in his first major speech on immigration last week.

If there is an abuse of students’ visas, it is the universities, overseas visa offices and the lack of laws to monitor the system that are to be blamed. Britain should allow foreign students in the country not on their ability to pay fees alone, but it should put in place a mechanism that allows genuine and serious students to get in. For this to happen, the universities have to tighten the admission process and the government needs to give bright graduates a scope to grow and work by putting in a place  a rational income and other eligibility criteria.