Financing the Future: The Contribution of Scholarship and Self-Funded International Students to Short- and Long-Term Migration to the UK

Abstract

Most immigrants have entered the UK as students in the last decades—and student mobility is on the rise worldwide. Is student mobility inherently distinct and different from other sources of migration? Currently, the literature on student mobility remains largely disconnected from core migration studies. To inform both scholarly and policy debates, this paper examines the respective contributions of scholarship and self-funded students to overall migration to the UK, both in the short and long term. Utilising comprehensive administrative data, including an exclusive panel dataset obtained from UK authorities, the author shows that (1) self-funded students have become a significant source of immigration into the UK; (2) the majority of international students leave within 6 years, but a fifth stay in the UK for more than 10 years; (3) stay rates vary by country of origin and source of funding, with a higher proportion of self-funded students from poorer countries staying in the UK for 10 years or more, as compared to scholarship students or students from richer countries who are more likely to leave. In other words, while student migration has outnumbered other work or family migration in the last decade, it remains mostly temporary. Only 2% of former international students transition to citizenship within 10 years. Most students leave the UK, potentially contributing to the circulation of knowledge and knowhow across borders, as well as fostering valuable transnational ties.