Council Statement on Immigration Policy

Through a series of consultations and correspondence with the Government and the Opposition, both in its own name and in concert with the Russell Group and Universities UK, the University has expressed its concerns about the impact of recent government policy on immigration. The University seeks to maintain the highest international reputation for its teaching and research. It needs to recruit both students and staff from overseas in order to sustain and enhance that reputation.

The flow of international students through the University also provides a key element of its funding. More important, however, is the flow of ideas, the creation of networks and the spread of academic influence, which have had an incalculable value to Cambridge and to the United Kingdom.

The rules surrounding UK border controls keep changing and lack flexibility. The UK is seen by our prospective students abroad as unwelcoming; recruitment to academic posts in a highly competitive market could also be damaged by a similar perception; the best will simply go elsewhere. A xenophobic reputation once gained is difficult to dispel.