University of Wolverhampton backs foreign students' family visas

Dr Rachel Morgan-Guthrie supported the right of foreign students to bring dependants with them

A university has said it is "incredibly important" foreign students are allowed to bring dependants with them.

Foreign postgraduate students on non-research courses will no longer be able to bring family members to the UK, under new immigration curbs.

PM Rishi Sunak said the move would help bring migration down.

But Dr Rachel Morgan-Guthrie, from the University of Wolverhampton, said students who came with a support network were "more likely to succeed".

The associate dean for students and education added: "I do feel it's incredibly important that we offer those people opportunities as well.

"When students are studying, they need their dependants near them."

Rotimi Lawal, a Nigerian student who is paying £15,000 for a masters engineering course at the university's Telford campus, said: "Studying provides an opportunity to probably also work in the UK.

"It's a lot easier, make a better life probably."

Rotimi Lawal is a Nigerian student at the University of Wolverhampton's Telford campus

Last year, 135,788 visas were granted to dependants of foreign students, nearly nine times the 2019 figure.

At the same time, 680,000 foreign students studied in the UK, and 315,000 of them did a masters degree.

Under the new government restrictions, they would be banned from bringing their dependants.

The prime minister told the cabinet the change, to begin in January 2024, would make a "significant difference to the numbers", according to No 10.

However, the impact it will have on official migration levels is unclear, since students and family members who come to the UK for less than a year are not counted.