Nigel Farage said he believes UK universities have become “drunk” on foreign money and said it was “absolutely batty” to allow foreign students to bring dependents with them when they come to the UK to study.
Farage also questioned why so many foreign students had been granted indefinite leave to remain, describing the numbers as "really annoying".
Speaking to GB News Nigel Farage said:
“In 2023 there were 460,000 sponsored study visas. 460,000 students came to us in that year.
“What is even more staggering is that we allowed 144,000 dependents to come with dependents. Yes, I know it seems absolutely batty, but that's what we allowed to do
“They argue that is a good thing. They argue that it's good for the economy.
“But here's the bit that really, really is annoying, I think.
“The proportion of students granted leave to remain, which means they can then stay for the rest of their lives if they want to, tripled between 2019 and 2023 from 18% to 56%.
“You begin to understand why with this and other areas, forget the boats for a minute, legal net migration in this country has simply exploded.
“Now, they have changed the rules. They have said that for this year no foreign students are allowed to bring dependents with them. And they think because of that, we will get a much, much smaller net migration figure.
“But even if we do, why the hell were they allowing this in the first place? It seems to me that many of our universities - not all but many - have become absolutely drunk on foreign money, be it grants from China or foreign students.
“And I wonder whether this is all to the benefit of British students going on to further education.
“So I think we should slash the numbers. Also, we should be careful about who we allow in and just coming as a student should not give you automatic leave to remain.”
