Bis research paper number 128 The wider benefits of international higher education in the uk

4.2.5 Benefit type A5: Skilled migration 
Some international graduates who came to the UK to participate in higher education were 
still in the UK when interviewed. This offered an opportunity to consider the extent to which 
the UK benefits from their presence as migrants. 
4.2.5.1 Research 
evidence 
When the proposed interview sample was designed, the aim was for around 10% of 
interviews to be with alumni who now lived in the UK (as distinct from 80% who had 
returned to their original home country and 10% living somewhere else). When the 
interviews were conducted, more graduates turned out to be currently resident in the UK, 
which had not been evident from earlier information. As a result 17 interviews were with 
current UK residents, close to the 15% of international students that are understood on 
average to stay in the UK long term. Broadly these alumni were in three sub-categories. 
The majority of the 17 had gained employment in the UK immediately after their degree, 
aiming to make the most of opportunities in the UK prior to intended return to their home 
country at some stage. For most, the interview was around 5 years after graduation, but 
for some it was as short as 3 years. Many of these alumni were working in technical roles 
for UK engineering, telecommunications or IT companies, and earning salaries that in 
some cases encouraged them to stay somewhat longer than they had originally intended. 
In several instances their companies had put them into international teams or projects, 
sometimes working on projects involving their home country. These would very clearly fall 
into the category of skilled migrants of high value in the UK labour market: 
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Nigerian alumnus I53 studied engineering management at Wolverhampton and took 
every opportunity to work throughout his stay in the UK: 
“The work experience here 
was paramount because you have to have money to leave there and come and study 
here. My motivation was if I come here and get international work experience, when I 
go back, I will be much more valuable … because I have seen how it had been outside 
in a developed world”.
He now worked for Alstom in the UK but some of his projects 
were in Nigeria, to which he wanted to return and improve energy technology there: 
“in 
another three to five years from now, I should be a lot more involved in the 
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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK 
development of my country. I work in the energy sector which is a big issue in my case 
and I am going there because of that. That is my dream.” 

I86 studied mechanical engineering at Sunderland and was currently undertaking a