Universities UK, which represents more than 100 higher education institutions, has warned curbing the number of non-EU skilled workers allowed to be employed in the UK would disproportionately harm the university sector, hampering institutions’ abilities to compete  internationally for top talent. (Right) Uncapping academics.

UK’s Scottish arm, Universities Scotland, says nearly 2500 staff in Scotland’s universities – about one in 10 of all academic staff in Scotland’s universities – are from outside the EU.



The cap would “turn off the tap” of talent from the United States, China, India and Australia that has bolstered research and teaching at Scottish universities in areas such as life sciences in Dundee and Edinburgh and engineering at Heriot-Watt.

Nicola Dandridge, (left) CEO of Universities UK, said: “The proposed cap will be difficult for universities as a significant proportion of the academic workforce is, and always has been, international. In the UK, over 10% of all our academic staff are non-EU nationals and many are working in key subject areas such as science, technology and engineering.

“We need talented people with highly specified skills to work in the sector and we’re competing for them with the US, Australia, Canada, and the rest of the EU. Without those highly skilled staff, it will damage the sector’s ability to research and teach in some key areas.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “A cap on numbers is too blunt an instrument to address the complex needs of an economy growing its way out of a recession.

“In Scotland we are working hard to attract the brightest and best migrant workers to fill skills gaps and support sustainable economic growth. An arbitrary cap on numbers makes no sense and could have a negative impact on Scotland as an attractive destination for international students and staff.”

Last Monday, Home Secretary Theresa May unveiled a consultation paper on how the new annual limit on skilled migrants – due to come into force next April – might work. The cap it is expected to apply to migrants coming through tier one (investors, entrepreneurs, the most highly skilled) and tier two (skilled migrants taking a job that cannot be filled by a British worker) of the points-based immigration system.

These tiers are already used by international academic staff joining the higher education workforce in the UK.