The UK’s National Audit Office is investigating the government’s sanctions against tens of thousands of foreign students it accused of cheating to pass English language tests, even though many of them were fluent English speakers.
Some MPs have claimed the English-testing affair could be even “bigger than Windrush”, a scandal the NAO reported on last year. The affair, named after the Empire Windrush, the ship that brought immigrants from the Caribbean to England in 1948, saw officials detaining or deporting longstanding Caribbean immigrants who had every right to live in the UK.
The government is also discussing raising the fees that EU students pay to attend British universities. While there is an argument that, after Brexit, EU students should not be treated more favourably than those from India, China or anywhere else, this proposal has revived criticism from universities that the government does not understand the value of foreign students to the UK economy or the eagerness of competing countries such as Australia, Canada or the Netherlands to win that business for themselves.