Plans by Conservative Party ministers to limit international students’ use of the National Health Service (NHS) could further deter overseas applicants. The move coincides with an analysis published in early March, which concludes that overseas students are less of a drain on health and other public resources than the average citizen.

Following the Conservative party’s third-place finish behind the UK Independence Party in the Eastleigh by-election on February 28, The Sunday Times reported that immigrants may have to be resident in the UK for over a year before they are able to access hospital care, excluding emergency and ante-natal services. In a House of Commons debate on February 26, Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, told Parliament that “we have to ask whether it is appropriate for us to be giving free healthcare to short-term visitors, to students, to people on temporary visas”.

Dominic Scott, chief executive of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, believes that if access is limited, it would be “yet one more sign that the UK is less welcoming” to international students after the visa system was toughened up and the automatic right to work in the country for two years postgraduation was ended. Some overseas students do have private health cover as part of wider insurance policies, but they were “possibly the minority”, he adds.

Paul White, pro vice chancellor for learning and teaching at the University of Sheffield, says that charging international students for health services would be complex to administer and unlikely to be cost-effective. “The message the introduction of such charging would convey would be very negative,” he adds.

The number of student visas issued in the year to the end of December 2012 fell by a fifth compared with the previous year, the Office for National Statistics revealed on February 28. However, the number of visa applications to universities was up 3 percent.
The Economic Costs and Benefits of International Students, a study by global forecaster Oxford Economics for the University of Sheffield, calculates that overseas students generated a net economic benefit to the city of £120.3 million (Rs.974 crore), or around £218 (Rs.17,655) per resident, in 2012-13.

They consume £6,905 (Rs.5.59 lakh) of public services a year (a figure the study says is likely to be overestimated) compared with £8,388 (Rs.6.79 lakh) for an average citizen in the area, says the report, released on March 4. International students are less of a burden on services because they are young and therefore use the NHS far less than older people, thus costing less than two-thirds the amount of the average user, the analysis states.

(Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education)