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Immigration policy shift under fire


Catherine D’Souza, News Editor


A NUMBER of leading academics and researchers have spoken out against a radical policy shift in immigration laws, which will prevent a significant number of economic migrants settling in the UK for more than five years. The Home Office is in the final stages


of implementing the change, which aims to reduce the number of non-European Union immigrants permanently staying in the UK. However, several professors of Russell Group universities and directors of research centres have warned of the detrimental impact the policy will have on the wider economy. An article recently featured in The


Financial Times voicing the opinion of 14 researchers or academics from the London School of Economics, the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the London Business School. Amongst them was Professor Morten Ravn, Head of Economics at UCL.


Professor Ravn explained the


potential effects to Pi in greater detail, as talented individuals will be deterred from choosing at job in the UK when facing the prospect of leaving again within five years.


He said: “Human capital is a scarce


good and a key determinant of national prosperity. The market for highly educated individuals – and academics in particular - is becoming increasingly global. “In such an environment, reducing


the ability of non-European economic migrants’ ability to remain in the UK would reduce not only the inflow of highly talented foreign nationals to the UK, but also worsen the future outlook for the UK economy (as if the outlook isn’t bleak enough already). Why would highly talented individuals choose a job in the UK rather than a job elsewhere if the prospect is that they need to leave within the next 5 years?” Prof Ravn added: “The impact


on universities and therefore on the level of education that can be offered to UK student is likely to be especially bad given the dependence on foreign nationals in this sector of the economy. Many academics start on low salaries and “work their way up”. “Identifying future academic leaders


upon graduation is hard, if not impossible, and the problem is even worse as far as entrepreneurs are concerned. UCL and other leading UK universities already are faced with complicated immigration rules and the current proposal would make hiring on future stars impossible. The policy is likely not only to reduce inflows of talented non-Europeans to the UK but also imply a loss of local talent.”


December 2011 | Pi Newspaper news@pimedia.org.uk


Students and staff join public sector strikes Tristan Grove


UCL STUDENTS and staff joined a nationwide strike of public sector workers last week in response to the coalition Government’s plans for pension reform. It was the largest strike action for more than three decades. Throughout the morning of Nov


30, various UCL staff and students manned picket lines around all the university’s entrances, urging those who approached to join the general strike and not enter. Sean Rillo Raczka, vice-president of the University of London Union, was among those picketing the main entrance to UCL. By midday, many of UCL’s


strikers had left the picket lines to join the student demonstration gathering outside ULU. The student demonstration was meant as a ‘feeder’ march for the main public services demonstration. As police were stretched across London for the vast demonstration, only a small contingent of officers appeared at ULU to contain and guide the protesters. Soon after midday, largely led by


Mr Rillo Raczka and his megaphone, University of London students joined the main demonstration. Several


opening marches amalgamated, with police in front of and beside the march setting the pace. After being repeatedly halted, apparently at the discretion of the police sergeant at the front of the march, the student demonstrators joined the back of the National Union of Teachers protest at Southampton Way. The general protest amassed at


Lincolns Inn Fields and filled all the adjoining roads. Stands, free food and music served to divert the densely packed protesters until the main march began at 1pm. Huge speakers blasted Bobs Marley’s ‘Get Up Stand Up’ and Dylan’s ‘The Times they are a Changin’’ over protesters as they passed. Receiving loud support from picket lines dotted along the route, the public services demonstration moved towards Strand and a final rally at Victoria Embankment. Without police lines restraining


the front, the march moved freely towards its destination, and with no violence. Proposed pension reforms were clearly one of the main issues in the minds of demonstrators, many of whom chanted: “Two, four, six, eight, we won’t work to sixty- eight!” When the final rally began at


approximately 3pm, Martin Gould, introducing the rally’s speakers,


Strike organisers claimed two million took part across the country.


claimed at least 20,000 people had participated in the London demonstration alone. With police boats poised below on the Thames, speakers from a wide variety of unions claimed that the Tory reforms were “Attempts to scapegoat British families” and that “We will fight and fight until we win!” Gould at one point broke in


between speakers and said of Mr Cameron, to a deafening chorus of cheers: “His own staff in Downing


Street have come out and joined the strike!” Protesters briefly clashed with


police after the official demonstration had ended, when activists attempted to occupy the headquarters of Xstrata in Strand. It was recently announced that the mining company’s CEO had one of the highest paycheques in the country. Strike organisers claimed approximately two million workers participated in the strike nationwide.


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