Can’t stop the small boats? Then stop the students

The President and Vice Chancellor of Richmond American University London, Professor Phil Deans, has had a blog published by The Chiswick Calendar, a community interest company which celebrates life in Chiswick, home to the University’s new campus.

Entitled ‘Can’t stop the small boats?  Then stop the students’, the blog outlines how the recently released figures on UK immigration by the Office for National Statistics caused some in government to call for increased control of international student numbers.

Professor Deans states, “This attack on international students and the university sector is perverse and damaging. Our universities are a jewel in the crown of the UK economy and British society.”

He goes on to say that international students, “Enrich the classroom experience of everyone, bring diverse perspectives to every topic from medicine to politics, and create friendships and connections that will stay with them, and us, for life.  A recent HEPI report indicates that over one-quarter of countries in the world have a monarch, president or prime minister who was educated in the UK tertiary sector.”