Thread by @Prolapsarian

THREAD: What is happening in UK universities is astonishing. Right now about quarter of universities are laying off staff. Almost all universities expect to make a loss this year. And the entire thing is happening in an effort to deceive the population about migration statistics.

It's true that migration to the UK is high right now. We have a government with a headline policy of reducing immigration. But the only way they have found to do it is to try to discourage international students from taking up places in UK universities. Why this makes no sense:

Foreign students are a straightforward benefit to the UK economy. Each international student brings in tens of thousands of pounds. Broadly, these people are consumers not just of education, but also of all sorts of other goods and services. More specifically, you can imagine

education as an export. We have a good education system with great infrastructure. People from around the world pay us more for education than it costs us to provide. It is something we are good at, and which people from other countries want to buy. We have a superb higher

ducation workforce. In fact we have a whole lot more people wanting to work in the sector than can get jobs. It is a sector of the economy that could easily be expanded, and such expansion would be economically beneficial to the UK. You would think that this is precisely the sort

of thing a rational government might invest in. Instead, we are seeing huge cuts that will lose lots of the best, most talented, most committed, and most experienced faculty. Those who can will likely take jobs abroad. Others will just leave the sector. Even within the sector,

international students subsidise both the education of domestic students and research undertaken by academics. Basically everyone agrees that international students are an economic benefit. However, we go back to the immigration statistics. Since the government can't control

immigration in any other way, they have the idea that it can be reduced by putting in international student numbers year on year.

Last year, they announced that international students can't get visas for dependents. Let's imagine a scenario this applies to. A 30 year old

professional with a great first degree wants to get a masters degree from UCL in London. They offer her a place but she has a five year old child. She can't take up the offer because the child will not be able to get a visa. Does this sound sensible? Who gains from this? The

easy answer is: the UK's competitors in the global higher education market. But then, it looks good on the government immigration stats. So it will be this way.

The current statistics suggest international enrolments have dropped by 44% this year. This is why there are lay offs

everywhere. The government will say it makes economic sense. But really it is just a stupid, damaging game aimed to lie to the population. Yes, it will look like immigration has gone down. But then there will be economic damage not only to the higher education sector but also

to all the local economies near universities that benefit hugely from international student spending. There will be damage to domestic student education as staffing is reduced. And there will be the loss of a highly experienced workforce.