London, Sept. 6: Under compulsion to deliver on his election promise to cut immigration, Britain’s immigration minister has again rejected a recommendation by a key parliamentary panel to exclude Indian and other non-EU students from overall migration statistics.
The demand to exclude non-EU students from im-migration figures has been made by several stake-hol-ders, including trade and industry organisations, since most of them return home after completing studies. The latest demand had been made by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee of Parliament on Thursday.
It has often been pointed out that countries like US do not include overseas students in overall immigration figures. Rejecting the demand, the newly-appointed immigration minister Mark Harper reiterated Home Office’s stand that overseas students should remain part of net migration figures and that the UN definition of a migrant included overseas students. “We want the brightest and the best to come to the UK and there’s no limit on number of overseas students who can study at our institutions,” he said.