The Officer Trustees of Imperial College Union fundamentally oppose Home Secretary Theresa May’s proposals to restrict the ability of International Students studying in the UK to work both during and after study. These proposals are the latest in a line of changes that are - in effect - marginalising international students studying in Further Education, with the potential of further affecting Higher Education in the future.

The community at Imperial College London is one that thrives in Science, Engineering, Medicine and Business due to the combination of both the intellectual and cultural diversity that exists. The College recruits the best and brightest from all over the world, and it is because of this that the community here produces world-leading and high-impact breakthroughs that are helping move humankind forward.

We know that without this international community, the Science, Engineering and Medicine breakthroughs that are born and developed at Imperial would be severely hindered, yet our current Government seems to disagree with us, as the changes in the last 12 months have seemingly done everything possible to deter international students from coming to the UK Higher Education Sector. These changes include: scrapping the post-study work visa; charging for the NHS; introduction of biometric identity cards; landlord checks; and now, scrapping the right to work while studying for those at Further Education institutions. It is difficult to view these changes as anything but a systematic way to remove international students’ rights to accessing healthcare, employment and housing for international students by first cutting back at the rights of international students at FE institutions, and then doing the same with HE institutions.

Finally, announcements that "established presence" would be removed from the Tier 4 Visa rules adds to our extreme concerns, as this would affect: international medicine students; international students continuing to postgraduate study; as well as international students resitting exams/terms/years, to name just a few groups.

Imperial College Union represents over 5,000 international students studying at Imperial, and we will not let these injustices damage their future. We are calling on all 19,000 of our members, whether they are from the UK, the EU or from further afield to contact their MP, telling them that enough is enough.

We believe that a blanket policy such as this doesn't deal with the few rogue institutions for whom this is a problem; instead it punishes the thousands of international students who chose to come to the UK to study and create a life for themselves after studying and we therefore will be strongly opposing these changes.

 Mark Field MP, the MP for Westminster (the constituency that the Imperial South Kensington Campus is based) said: "It won’t surprise you to learn that I have had a number of students get in touch with me about potential visa changes and as you might imagine given my ‘managed migration’ campaign in the last parliament, I sympathise with a number of their concerns. I have already made representations to the Home Office ministerial team, emphasizing that we should not seek to be hampering our world-beating higher education industry and pointing out that many post-graduate courses simply would not run were it not for international students."

Take Action - Write to your MP

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Dear MP, 

I am currently studying at Imperial College London, and I am one of your constituents. Our community at Imperial consists of 19,000 students - of which over 5,000 are non-EU - and it is this community that produces world-leading, high-impact breakthroughs that are helping move humankind forward. I have seen first-hand how much of a positive impact this internationally diverse community has on society, academia as well as on the economy.

I believe that international students in this community are threatened by recent changes in legislation, including: scrapping the post-study work visa; charging for the NHS; the introduction of biometric identity cards; landlord checks; and now, scrapping the right to work while studying in Further Education Institutions. Whether or not these changes are affecting students at Imperial right here, right now is irrelevant, because they pose a serious threat to the very fabric of education in the UK.

As my MP I insist that you fight to stop the Home Office from scrapping students’ right to work while studying, and to voice my concerns that the combination of all of these changes will irreparably damage the UK’s standing in the International Higher Education Sector.

Yours sincerely,