Alyn Smith Urges UK to Scrap NI Protocol Bill to Unlock Academic Collaboration
The SNP have reiterated the importance that international students make to their communities, with Alyn Smith MP stating that they are very much “welcome here”.
The MP for Stirling, which includes the University of Stirling and Forth Valley College in his constituency, raised the issue in a parliamentary debate where he also warned about the UK’s hostile immigration rhetoric.
Smith spoke on his own experiences studying abroad and noted how the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is undermining the EU’s trust in the UK. He added that this lack of trust is preventing mutual collaboration in a variety of areas such as Horizon, Erasmus, Euratom amongst others.
Scotland leads the way in attracting international students amongst the UK nations, with 24.1% of Scottish university enrolments in 2020-21 coming from outwith the UK. In Stirling alone, international students made a net contribution of £66.4 million to the local economy. For the UK at large, they make a net contribution of £25.9 billion per year to the economy and are the source of almost 70% of the UK’s education export earnings.
Brexit though has had a devastating impact on EU-UK collaboration. Since 2019, data from UCAS has seen a decrease of 73% in the number of EU students choosing to come and study in Scotland alone. Earlier this year, the EU announced it was scrapping 115 grants for UK scientists and academics amid the row over the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, whilst 18 of the 150 academics who have taken up EU grants have since moved to an EU institution to receive funds.
Opening the debate on Wednesday afternoon, Smith said:
“The fact that we have so many of the world’s best and brightest willing to come to our countries and live here, work here, work with us and work towards the light of science is to my mind an important fact that we must not lose sight of.
“…Meantime, it’s important for me to say to colleagues I don’t wish Global Britain harm. And if I was trying to undermine Global Britain, what I would do would be to cut the international aid budget, defund the BBC World Service, shut down British Council organisations worldwide, and jeopardise our contacts with the European Union. All of these things are happening under this government right now.
“The contribution that international students make to Scotland in the UK is significant but it’s a success story that cannot be taken for granted… We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of the world’s best and brightest who have paid us the supreme complement of coming to our home to work with us. And I’d say to them tonight, because I’m conscious a number of them are watching, you’re welcome in our society. You enrich our society. You enrich the institutions that you’re committed to. You are working with us towards a global science.”
He added:
“Universities are seats of learning. They’re seats of exchange, they’re seats of research. They’re a globally interconnected network of exchange of people and ideas and others. There’s only two things that drive human progress and that’s science and art. Universities have a crucial role to play in that.
“I fear the Government’s rhetoric on this really does risk undermining this [progress] by accident. The comments by the Home Secretary and various other members of the government on limiting international students are to my mind wrong on politics, it’s wrong societally, it’s wrong economically… Limiting international students would be a hammer blow to the UK economy.”
The MP for Stirling concluded:
“Scotland and the UK are research intensive places and Scottish and UK involvement in the EU frameworks for this stuff are a win—win-win for everybody. I regret deeply that the UK has left the European Union but there are ways of interacting with what’s going in the EU that stops short of EU membership.
“The single biggest thing that is blocking progress on all these fronts and is holding back our universities and academics is the lack of trust that exists between the UK Government and the EU. That lack of trust is crystallised around the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill… So let’s scrap it – let’s get rid of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill because it would unlock progress on all of these real-world things that would really advantage our university sector and our students.”