Part of 3. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 2:35 pm on 31 January 2023.
We haven't been notified directly by the UK Government that they will proceed with what's been briefed about the potential to relax the rules for foreign students to work more hours. However, I'd say that the starting point is that we really do value international students who come to Wales—they enrich campuses, classrooms and the communities that they live in, both economically and culturally. One of the things that I most enjoyed about going to university was actually meeting people from different parts of the world—it was part of the broader enrichment. But whilst some of those people will work in hospitality, actually, their economic value is much, much more than that. We're very fortunate that we manage to not just attract students to come here to study, but a number of them stay, they have job opportunities, and they certainly enrich a whole range of our economic sectors as well. I'm very pleased that this Government continues to support the international mobility of students, in particular through our Taith programme, but also projects like Global Wales. Myself and the Minister for Social Justice continue to maintain dialogue with our immigration advisers, and I continue to make the case for a more sensible approach to immigration more generally, because of the economic benefits it provides. I hope it'll provide an attack of common sense when it comes to international students, as opposed to some of the alternative briefing you might hear from the current occupant of the Home Office.