London universities have launched a campaign to restore confidence in the capital as a safe and welcoming place for international students.
The Study London campaign aims to highlight the diversity and inclusivity of the capital and the unrivalled career prospects that studying in London brings. It comes after fears that further restrictions on international students could put off applicants and leave universities with less funding.
Dr Diana Beech, chief executive of London Higher, which represents 50 universities and higher education institutions in the capital and is running the campaign, said trust in Britain as a place to study and carry out research has been “significantly dented” by recent changes to immigration rules which include the scrapping of dependents’ visas.
A further “crackdown” on student visas was announced last month by the Government.Stories of London students will be published on a dedicated website to give prospective students a taste of life in the city. Dr Beech said the campaign aims to keep the world focused on the benefits of studying at any of London’s universities, adding: “When London’s universities succeed, the whole nation succeeds.”
She added that the campaign “aims to restore confidence in London as a safe and welcoming city and show the true cultural diversity and inclusivity of the capital, and by extension the wider UK… if you study in London, you can belong in London. And our country will be all the richer from your insights, energy and ideas.”
She said London’s world-leading universities are the best tool the UK has for boosting its international competitiveness. It comes after Imperial College London made waves by moving above Oxford and Cambridge for the first time in a world league table of universities. Imperial is now second only to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the global QS world university rankings.
Four other London universities also made it into the global top 20: University College London, King’s College London, the London School of Economics and Queen Mary University of London.
Dr Beech added: “London’s strength as a global higher education hot spot stands firm, and the success of London’s universities provides a strong bedrock from which we can attract the world’s best thinkers, innovators and entrepreneurs to go on to power growth across the city and nation.
“London’s universities matter to the capital and to the country. They educate well over half a million students each year and they incentivise many more to look at options elsewhere in the UK, yet still be close to the capital, luring them away from our main competitor economies of Australia, Canada or the United States.”
