CaSE call for evidence on immigration

CaSE calls for evidence on impact of immigration on UK science and engineering

Today we’re launching a survey asking for evidence of the the impact of immigration on UK science and engineering, and the effect current Government policy has had on the UK’s ability to attract the best scientists and engineers from around the world. We need your views and experiences to inform our research and recommendations for the Government, which we will be publishing in a full report by the end of the year.

Science and engineering are international endeavours – in academia alone 26% of the workforce in UK universities are non-UK nationals, with 11% from outside the EU. STEM skills are in demand here and around the world and as a result the science and engineering workforce is a very internationally-mobile one.

But immigration is an important public concern and is currently high on the political agenda. The Migration Advisory Committee, which advises the Home Secretary, has been asked to conduct a detailed review of the Tier 2 visa system for skilled workers and, for the first time, highly-skilled non-EU workers are being turned away from the UK because of cap on visa numbers.

Against this backdrop we have decided to look specifically at how immigration affects UK science and engineering – does it benefit or harm our science and engineering sectors and research ecosystem, what impact does this have on wider society and the UK economy, and what in the Government’s immigration policy and the visa system could be improved?

Today we have launched a short survey to gather views and experiences on the above issues. We are inviting anyone with an interest to submit evidence, either as an individual or on behalf of an organisation that they work for. We would also welcome any reports and policy positions you have already developed on immigration, even if not directly to science and engineering. Please send these direct to martin@sciencecampaign.org.uk.

The survey only has four questions (you can view the questions before you start the survey) and you can answer in as many (or few) words as you wish. But the more detailed your answers are the more you will be contributing to our report. The deadline for responses is Friday 14th August.

Later in the year we will also be holding some evidence-gathering forums where the results of the survey and our research will be discussed. We’ll be publishing an interim report to feed into the Migration Advisory Committee’s Tier 2 review and then publishing a final report by the end of the year.