Reform UK pledges undergraduate restrictions and visa changes

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party would restrict undergraduate numbers “well below current levels” and change the country’s visa rules so that only international students “with essential skills” could stay beyond their graduation.

Outlining a list of pledges it calls its “contract” with voters, the right-wing party, which has been enjoying increased popularity in the polls, took aim at the “woke ideology” it said was spreading through schools and universities.

A central promise was to bring down immigration by introducing new visa rules for international students and their dependants, if the party were to win the next election.

This would involve a new rule dictating that only “international students with essential skills can remain in the UK when their study ends”.

Currently all students from overseas can apply for a post-study work visa when their course finishes that allows them to work in the UK for two or three years with no restrictions.

Reform also said it would “close down fake courses and abusive immigration schemes”, echoing criticisms of the visa that allege it is used as a backdoor to immigration rather than for study.

Among other higher education pledges, Reform said in its first 100 days in office it would scrap interest on student loans and restrict undergraduate numbers “well below current levels” as “too many courses are simply not good enough and students are being ripped off”. They would also introduce minimum entry standards for courses.

In the longer term, the party said it would cut funding to universities that undermine free speech, branding the government’s Free Speech Act passed last year “toothless”, adding that it feels “allowing political bias or cancel culture must face heavy financial penalties”.

The legislation has introduced new rules that allow people to complain to the Office for Students if they feel their free speech rights have been impinged by an institution. From August, the regulator will already have the power to fine institutions where breaches are identified.

Reform UK said that if in power they would also force universities to offer two-year “graduate courses” to “reduce student debt and allow earlier entry into employment to help pay it off”.

The total cost of the education pledges was put at £5 billion but the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the spending increases outlined by Reform in its “contract” were “problematic”.

“Spending reductions would save less than stated, and the tax cuts would cost more than stated, by a margin of tens of billions of pounds per year,” said Carl Emmerson, the IFS’ deputy director.

“Meanwhile the spending increases would cost more than stated if they are to achieve their objectives.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com