Foreign students who study at UK universities earn up to 50 per cent more than their British classmates

Foreign students who study at university in the UK go on to earn up to 50 per cent more than their British classmates, a report has found.

Maths graduates from the UK earn an average of £33,100 five years after they complete their degree, while their peers from outside of Europe earn £48,600.

Meanwhile, Economics graduates earn an average of £37,900 after five years if they are from Britain compared to £45,700 if they are from overseas.

In both subjects, students from other European Union (EU) countries earn more than their British classmates but less than those from outside the EU.

The report, published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), analysed data on the median earnings of UK and foreign graduates five years after they completed their undergraduate degree. Out of 21 subject categories, foreign students earned more than their British counterparts in all but six.

Nick Hillman, director of Hepi, said that students who come from overseas to study in the UK tend to be aspirational, hard-working  and ambitious.

“You have to be a pretty extraordinary person to travel half way round the world to get a degree,” he said.

“We are talking about people who often have a lot of social capital, they are often applying to selective institutions and choosing to study in a language which is often not their first language.”

The report's authors said that foreign graduates who get jobs in the UK typically do so in sectors that suffer from acute skills shortages.

“International graduates are supporting the UK economy by plugging skills shortages – and job vacancies – that would otherwise exist,” the report said.

Last week, ministers launched their post-Brexit international education strategy with an attempt to woo overseas students by extended the length of post-study work visas.

A Home Office white paper proposed to increase the post-study work visa for international students from four to six months for undergraduates and post graduates.

But Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said that more should be done to “send a welcoming message” to international students, adding that the Government should extend the post-study work visa for graduates to two years.

“The UK’s immigration system should reflect the extent to which we value international students’ contribution,” he said.

The two year visa was scrapped in 2012 as part of a wider crack down on immigration. The move came amid concerns that foreign graduates were abusing the system and staying on to do unskilled work.

Migration Watch UK argue against the two year post-study visa on the basis that foreign graduates should not be allowed to “stay on to stack supermarket shelves”.

They point out that there is currently no cap on the number of foreign graduates who can stay on in the UK provided that they obtain a skilled job with a salary of at least £20,800 per year.

The Government aims to boost income generated by international education by 75 per cent to £35 billion per year by 2030.

Under EU laws, universities must charge European students the same level of fees as their British peers, but non-EU students can be charged at a higher rate.