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The UK has been urged to increase the duration of its post-study work visa from two years to three as part of a new ¡°third way¡± approach to international students.

Currently graduates from overseas, most of whom only qualify for a two year visa, have to change their visa status or leave the country ¡°at the very moment when they are likely to become really productive members of the UK labour market¡±, claims Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, in a new essay.

UK universities are on the defensive over the graduate visa, amid swirling speculation that a coming government White Paper, which the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Office has , will propose restrictions such as a need to obtain a graduate-level job to qualify.

One change that has already been confirmed will see the threshold for qualifying for a skilled worker visa raised so that applicants are required to have a degree except in industries where the country is experiencing ¡°critical¡± skills shortages.?

Hillman writes that when it comes to international students, institutions ¡°sometimes behave with the instincts of a young Donald Trump¡± despite the left-of-centre culture that dominates higher education.

¡°When they can get away with it, they will happily charge a foreigner five or six times as much as a local for the same course.¡±

Debate in this area often focuses on efforts to restrict recruitment, he adds, and concerns about the impact on the countries that the students leave behind.

Hillman says that despite this there is a general consensus among the major political parties that having a high number of international students benefits the UK and that at least some of them should stay post-study to help address skills shortages or because they are the ¡°brightest and best¡± people to be found anywhere in the world.

The former government adviser on universities and science uses his contribution to a collection of essays to argue for a new approach, one that he calls a ¡°third way¡±, which needs to do three things simultaneously.

These are: providing a better experience for those coming to the UK; increasing transnational education opportunities so students can study UK degrees without leaving home; and creating far more opportunities for UK students to study abroad themselves.

Improving the post-graduation work offer is one way of improving the experience, Hillman says, alongside better efforts to integrate those that come with their fellow learners.

Universities could also divert some of the high fees international students pay into improved career support, he adds.

To improve transnational education, he echoes calls for more oversight, supporting a proposal?that would see a version of the Teaching Excellence Framework introduced for this type of provision.

A ¡°new era of educational exchange¡± could be fostered by reviving language learning and the new youth mobility scheme with the European Union that ministers have recently confirmed is in the pipeline.

Such changes would ¡°not only improve the UK¡¯s attractiveness to the world¡¯s ¡®brightest and best¡¯ but also build the personal connections and outlook necessary to maintain our role as a leading global hub¡±, argues Hillman.?

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com