ANALYSIS AND NEWS


– but we must also ensure brain drain does not occur only in one direction, she said. Weir explained how CaSE is eager to work with the government to make sure the UK remains a global science hub: ‘We need to promote the UK as a place to “earn and learn”. Immigration is essential to the continued strength of the UK science and engineering base and this government has the opportunity to leave a positive legacy through its immigration policies.’ Weir added that our economic and cultural future depends on us getting off this slippery slope of negative policies. The positive steps that the report has outlined will help send a message that this is the goal of this government. Weir concluded: ‘We hope our report will prove useful to those in government, and outside it, tasked with achieving this.’


The final panel member to take the stage was Alan Manning from the Migration Advisory Committee, who is also Emeritus Professor at the London School of Economics. Manning opened with the following statement: ‘When I look out of the window, I see everything is related to STEM.’


Manning continued onto the changes proposed by the latest MAC report, a review of Tier 2: balancing migrant selectivity, investment


in skills and impacts on UK productivity and competitiveness, which was published on 19 January. He acknowledged that there are some recommendations in this report people would not be so enthusiastic about. Currently, to apply for a Tier 2 (general) visa, you must be a skilled worker from outside the European Economic Area and have a certificate of sponsorship from a UK employer who holds


‘The Tier 2 cap is sending out a terrible message to the world’


a valid Tier 2 sponsorship licence. There is an annual cap on the number of Tier 2 visas that can be granted, which stands at 20,700. Those with yearly earnings over £150,000 are excluded from the cap.


The recommendation made by CaSE is that


the Tier 2 cap is sending out a terrible message to the world that the UK is not welcoming valuable workers and believes that it should be abolished or the government should seek to mitigate its impact. The MAC report, however, recommends a Government proposal to introduce an immigration skills charge. Manning explained that universities should


be asked to pay an immigration charge of £1,000 a year for each skilled migrant worker they hire. This means the immigration service charge for a three-year visa would cost £3,000 and a five-year visa £5,000. The MAC report calculates that presently this would raise omore than £200 million a year and the revenue should be used to support firms that boost the human capital of UK residents. He explained that their report’s recommendations are not unreasonable and offer balance, with the aim of the charge being to incentivise employers to reduce their dependence on migrant staff.


Once the panel discussions came to an end, Lord Crisp opened the floor to a healthy debate that concluded with some final sentiments from Digital Science’s chief scientist Jonathan Adams. Back in 2013 Adams analysed papers from the past three decades and found that the best science comes from international collaboration.


Adams concluded: ‘The UK has an excellent collaborative network which must be maintained for the benefit of research quality. Collaboration is a British strength; it offers a competitive advantage for the UK.’


Laura Wheeler is community manager at Digital Science


MathSciNet via EBSCOhost® The Most Complete Mathematics Database


This electronic publication of the American Mathematical Society (AMS) offers access to a carefully maintained and easily searchable database of reviews, abstracts and bibliographic information for mathematical sciences literature.


Now Available via EBSCOhost®


FEATURING:


w Expert-written reviews of mathematical literature w More than 3.2 million items w More than 2 million direct links to original articles from over 1,800 journals w More than 100,000 new items are added each year


Learn more at: www.ebscohost.com/academic/mathscinet


®


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40