- Conference
- 2026 National Higher Education Conference
- Date
- 6 October 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Conference believes
It is unacceptable that international students are once again made to pay the price for the government’s pandering to right-wing scapegoating of migrants. This is not only unjust—it is a direct attack on higher education at a time of national crisis in the sector.
The government’s immigration white paper proposes cutting graduate visas by six months, feeding false claims that international students are a burden after study while ignoring their enormous contribution. It also threatens sponsors with requirements that, if applied in 2023–24, would have forced 22 institutions to fail.
The proposal that sponsors “consider local impacts” of international recruitment is dangerously vague and risks legitimising xenophobic narratives. Even more alarming is the presumption that today’s students might abuse the system tomorrow by claiming asylum—a divisive and racially charged framing that we reject outright. Students who seek asylum are not “gaming the system.”
This white paper is not about fairness or sustainability. It is simply about cutting international student numbers.
UNISON is developing it’s organising within Student’s Unions, who are also employers of international students as well as their representatives in their academic context.
Conference calls on the HE SGE to
1. Reach out to international student representatives including the NUS to explore jointly campaigning against the proposed attacks on the international student status.
2. Work with Labour Link to get UNISON’s message across to Labour MP’s and the government.
3. Reach out to the Migrant Workers Network and SU Network to connect with international students working in SU’s and their institutions, and to explore how to recruit and support those members.
4. Work with our local government colleagues to engage with FE in the campaign.