Higher education institutions must never seek to ¡°circumvent¡± policies imposed by the UK government to control immigration, the president of Universities UK has warned.

Delivering his inaugural address at the grouping¡¯s annual conference, Malcolm Press said that universities had to recognise that controlling migration was a priority for ministers and had to be ¡°serious¡± about complying with the rules.

He did not specify which regulations universities might be perceived to evade, but the comments come amid concern about some institutions¡¯ pivot to delivering one-year master¡¯s by research (MRes) degrees following the government¡¯s ban on taught master¡¯s students bringing family members with them to the UK.

¡°We must recognise that measures to control net migration are a major priority for the government,¡± said Press, the vice-chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University.

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¡°If we want a durable settlement for international students, we have to be serious about compliance and our behaviour.

¡°We should never seek to circumvent policies or the spirit of those policies that are imposed in order to control immigration.¡±

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Earlier this year Times Higher Education revealed that dozens of master¡¯s by research programmes were being advertised to prospective international students, stressing that applicants would still be eligible to bring family members with them, with little mention of any academic benefits.

Adam Tickell, vice-chancellor of the University of Birmingham, later warned that there was ¡°no way that is anything other than an intent to grow a market within the intent of the law¡± and that the sector risked getting a ¡°red card¡±.

Steve Smith, the UK government¡¯s international education champion, agreed, warning that, ¡°If the sector doesn¡¯t work with government¡­something will be done to the sector.¡±

In his UUK conference speech, Press said that the behaviour of recruitment agents, students¡¯ English language competency and cases of international students claiming asylum were also ¡°really important issues that we all must take seriously¡±.

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These are focuses of the government¡¯s recent immigration White Paper. Asylum claims from students are a particularly hot topic, with about 15,000 people who originally entered the UK on a student visa subsequently claiming asylum in the year to June 2025. This represents roughly one in three asylum claims from UK visa holders.

The White Paper noted that the majority of the students claiming asylum do so as they approach their visa expiry date, which the government said indicates that ¡°some people might therefore be using the student route to make claims for humanitarian protection when circumstances in their country have not changed¡±.

Former Labour home secretary?Jack Straw has described asylum claims from students as a ¡°racket¡±.

Press said universities would be better placed to ensure immigration compliance if they were provided with real-time data from UK Visas and Immigration.

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¡°This is something that UUK [is] pushing for hard and we believe could be transformational in our ability to mitigate risks and reduce abuse,¡± he said.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com