Agents push master’s by research as way round UK’s dependants ban

UK universities have been warned to keep an eye on how their courses are being marketed after a spike in adverts for research degrees that emphasise they are exempt from the government’s dependants visa ban.

Dozens of master’s by research programmes are being advertised to prospective international students online, stressing that applicants would be still eligible to bring family members with them, with little mention of any academic benefits, Times Higher Education has found.

One webpage hosted by the study-abroad consultancy firm Student Connect advertised an MSc in international business by research at the University of Gloucestershire that said it was “eligible for dependents [sic] visa” and there was “no research proposal required”.

“This unique 2 years program is designed for aspiring students, wishes [sic] to study Research based course requiring no research proposal and can bring your dependents along!”, it said.

THE flagged the advert to Gloucestershire and references to the university have since been removed. In a statement the university said the course was “a rigorous academic programme” and the marketing materials had been created by third-party agents.

But it is far from the only example of courses being marketed this way across websites and social media platforms, especially TikTok and Instagram. 

Examples of marketing highlighting exemptions to UK visa rules regarding dependants

Last year the then Conservative government moved to prevent students on taught postgraduate degrees from bringing their dependants with them, resulting in a steep drop in applications. 

Those on research degrees – classified by the Home Office as a programme where the research component is larger than taught elements – are exempt because of being seen as more highly skilled. While this policy is likely aimed at doctoral degrees, students on master’s by research degrees are still eligible to bring dependants with them.

Concerns around the student visa system being used as a backdoor to immigration fuelled much of the prior criticism of the dependants visa and the sense that MRes degrees may be being pushed as a “loophole” has reignited such fears. 

“We should be selling British higher education on its own merits rather than a route into the country with dependants,” said Neil O’Brien, the shadow skills minister.

“The rules here need to be looked at very carefully to see that they are not being abused.

“The last government was right to clamp down on the abuses we saw where people’s main motivation was to get round immigration rules rather than study. Any hint that is creeping back in would be a major concern.”

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) is known to have raised the adverts with universities and the Home Office is monitoring visa application numbers for any changes in patterns of recruitment. Brian Bell, the chair of the government’s Migration Advisory Committee, has previously warned that politicians would come down on universities “like a tonne of bricks” if they were seen to be playing around with the system to get around restrictions.

Publicly released data does not break down visas issued by course type but there has been some anecdotal evidence that the advertising is leading to a rise in applications for research degrees, albeit at still low levels.

Universities have, however, sought to distance themselves from the marketing, stressing that it is carried out by third parties with whom they have no formal relationship and any applications generated have tended to be of low quality and are rejected.

The Gloucestershire spokesperson said that the “ability for families to accompany students is of great interest and importance to many people looking to study in the UK from abroad, especially given ongoing changes in government policy related to this”, which they said explained why agents working with universities across the sector were “placing more focus on this”.

But the institution “employs a robust approach to working with international agents”, they stressed, and has “well-developed internal processes in place to manage these relationships effectively”.

Research master’s have suffered in recent years amid a boom in taught courses and Simon Marginson, professor of higher education at the University of Oxford, said many would like to see them “resurrected” as a way of preparing students for a doctorate, but this was “not the way to rebuild it”.

“Marketing the research master’s as the way round the cruel ban on bringing dependants for postgraduate taught study will not contribute much to academic research or future doctoral training, and it is an entirely vulnerable strategy – with a few strokes of a keyboard the government could extend the prohibition to MRes degrees,” Marginson said.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com