Under the plan announced on Monday, graduates with a bachelor’s or master’s degree from the top 50 universities abroad can apply for a two-year work visa and be allowed to bring relatives. Those receiving a doctorate can apply for a three-year visa.
Successful applicants will then be able to switch to long-term work visas, the government said.
Eligible universities must appear in the top 50 rankings of at least two of the following: the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the Academic Ranking of World Universities, and the Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings. These rankings must be for the applicant’s graduation year, which must be within the last five years.
The most recent list of eligible universities in 2021, published online by the UK government, includes more than two dozen US universities, as well as institutions in Canada, Japan, Germany, China, Singapore, France and Sweden. There are no African universities on the latest list of eligible candidates, nor on the lists of previous years.
The decision to exclude graduates from African universities has been criticized.
“Excluding an entire continent full of the enormous creative and intellectual energies of its youth on the basis of its absence of arbitrary, culturally biased and abusive university rankings is short-sighted … Several unclassified African universities have produced and continue to produce, some of the brightest minds in the world. ” said Professor Farooq Kperogi of Kennesaw State University, Georgia.
“University rankings are a Euro-American obsession. They are just perceptions of institutional prestige and name recognition … that do not necessarily reflect quality,” Kperogi added.
“It is unfortunate that African graduates are being excluded,” said Dr Owoyemi Elegbeleye of Lagos University in Nigeria. “The UK government should consider extending this policy so that Africans can benefit. They can extend the eligibility list to the top 300,” he told CNN.
Irina Filatova, a professor emeritus at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, noted that the classification system was “skewed in favor of English-language technology and technology universities”.
“It’s okay for universities to compete, but the problem is that the ranking system is skewed in favor of English-language and technology universities. If we look at the best universities, they’re the best in technology,” Filatova said.
CNN has contacted the UK Home Office for comment.
Top rated universities in Africa
Cape Town University and Stellenbosch University, both in South Africa, are the highest rated institutions in Africa, according to Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
However, none of them are in the top 50 or 100 rankings of the world’s top rating agencies.
Cape Town ranks 183rd in the Times Higher Education World Ranking of Universities for 2022, followed by Stellenbosch, which ranks between 251 and 300. According to the latest published figures from the World Ranking of University Universities, of Cape Town ranked among the 210-300 best universities in the world with Stellenbosch among 401-500. The universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch ranked 226th and 482nd, respectively, in the world ranking of Quacquarelli Symonds universities for 2022. Since leaving the European Union, Britain has finished with priority. EU citizens and introduced a point-based immigration system that classifies applicants into everything from their language skills and competencies to the type of work offered to them.
But the country has been facing a tight labor market for several years, aggravated by Brexit and Covid-19, and companies in the manufacturing, logistics and food sectors have urged the government to loosen the rules for beginner level jobs.
Rishi Sunak, the British finance minister, said the plan would allow the UK to grow as an international hub for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.
“We want the companies of tomorrow to be built here today, so I urge students to take this incredible opportunity to forge their careers here,” Sunak said.
The government said candidates must pass a security and crime check and be able to speak, read, listen and write English at an intermediate level.