The Home Office recently commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to conduct a review of the Graduate visa. The MAC review endorsed retaining the Graduate visa in its current form, emphasising its effectiveness. The government have accepted this recommendation in the MAC report and have confirmed they will not be making any changes to the Graduate visa. As such, the the Graduate visa will remain in its current format.

We are delighted that the Graduate visa has been retained for our international student community who will continue to benefit from work experience here in the UK after they graduate. Employability is central to the University of Bath mission and our industrial links, business partnerships and placement opportunities make our graduates highly valued and sought after by leading employers.

Alongside the positive response to the Graduate visa, the MAC review also made several other recommendations with regards to the use of agents when recruiting international students. In response to the MAC review, the government released a news item outlining several proposed changes to the Student visa route including the following:

• regulating the use of agents when recruiting international students to ensure adherence to a robust framework
• raising the financial maintenance requirements for international students applying for a Student visa
• reviewing English language assessments with the aim of standardising independent assessments

Further details are expected, and you can read the full statement from the UK government on the gov.uk web pages.