Just how damaging would the proposed three-year EU visa plan be to academia?
As the clock counts down to March 29th, the risk of the UK crashing out of the EU is rising, even if it happens by accident rather than design. In the words of the EU’s deputy chief negotiator, “The crash-out is the only scenario that does not require anyone to take any action or take any decisions.” Bearing in mind Theresa May’s aversion to taking and sticking to firm decisions, the consequences of a no-deal Brexit demand urgent scrutiny.
One no-deal policy universities have disparaged as “bizarre” is the plan for non-extendable three-year visas for EU nationals. Officially called the European Temporary Leave to Remain (ETLR) scheme, it would clearly be unappealing for students wanting to stay in the UK after their degree for recreation or job hunting. More pressingly though, the ETLR scheme would be incompatible with Scottish universities’ four-year-long undergraduate courses, or the degrees nationwide that last longer than three years (such as medicine and engineering). If universities are unsuccessful in lobbying to have the scheme scrapped, just how damaging would it be to higher education?
What is the ETLR scheme?
If the UK leaves the EU without a Brexit deal, EU citizens will be able to enter the UK as they can at present, at least for an interim period. However, once freedom of movement rules end and prior to the enforcement of the UK’s new skills-based immigration system in 2021, a stopgap process will be in place. Visitors from the EU wanting to stay for longer than three months will need to apply for temporary leave to remain under the ETLR scheme. A successful application would lead to the right to stay in the UK for 36 months from the date it was granted.
The government has made clear that ETLR would be a “temporary, non-extendable immigration status”, not conferring any form of indefinite leave to remain. For applicants wanting to stay for longer than 36 months, they would need to apply for the appropriate immigration status under the new system coming into effect from 2021. Those who do not qualify would need to leave the UK as soon as their ETLR expires, which is precisely where academia’s concerns come in.
Why has the Russell Group disparaged this policy as “bizarre”?
While many degrees conclude within three years, medicine, engineering, and standard undergraduate courses in Scotland are a few well-known examples of degrees that last longer than 36 months. Of the EU students who came to study in the UK in 2017–18, 15,000 (or one in four) were starting a course expected to last more than three years. This mismatch between ETLR’s three-year limit and the demand from EU students for courses of a longer duration is a major headache for academia. Even for EU students taking three-year degrees, ETLR could discourage applications from those hoping to stay on for a one-year masters or wanting extra time in which to secure a job in the UK.
The Russell Group has called the policy “a kick in the teeth” to Scottish universities as well as medicine and engineering departments across the UK. It also claimed that ETLR “backtracks” on earlier government commitments that EU citizens arriving prior to 2021 would be able to apply for settled status. Having “repeatedly made our concerns clear to the Home Office”, the Russell Group said it had still received no reassurances.
Politicians outside of the government are aware of and drawing attention to the problem. Scotland’s Higher Education Minister called for ETLR to be “dropped immediately” as a clear threat to Scottish universities’ ability to recruit EU students, who currently make up 9% of university students north of the border. The Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader is similarly unimpressed, commenting that “the Home Secretary is asking students who want to study in Scotland to commit to a four-year course with only a guarantee of a non-extendable three-year visa […] four into three just doesn’t work.”
In theory, students on courses lasting over three years would be able to apply for a study visa to complete any years falling outside of ETLR. However, that process would come with administrative and financial costs for students. Nor has the Home Office made clear that students in such a situation would automatically qualify for a study visa, barring any disqualifying behaviour while in the UK. Universities are naturally concerned that the extra costs and uncertainty could discourage prospective EU students from applying to British universities.
When academia is already fighting an uphill battle to present the UK as a welcoming destination for overseas students despite Brexit, the ETLR scheme certainly isn’t helpful. The scheme’s failure to take into consideration medical, engineering and Scottish degrees is such a glaring error that hopefully the Home Office is already preparing an amendment, if only out of embarrassment at ETLR’s obvious incompatibility with important sections of academia. The government actively markets the UK’s higher education sector to students around the world, but as it stands, ETLR may prove an effective advertisement of why international students may wish to choose a university elsewhere.
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