Dyson takes on the Home Office...again
James Dyson has lambasted the Home Secretary over plans to clamp down on overseas graduates staying in the UK after they have finished their studies.
The inventor and founder of Dyson, James Dyson, has hit out at the Home Office and Theresa May over a planned crackdown on foreign students staying in the UK after they have finished their studies. James Dyson has accused the Home Secretary, May, of 'fuelling competition' and 'exporting' great ideas across the world.
In an article that James Dyson wrote for the Guardian, the inventor was dismayed that the Home Secretary was prepared to force the well-educated graduates to return to their home countries and believed that this move would only make the shortages currently being experienced by the Science and Engineering sectors much worse.
In the article, James Dyson wrote that forcing graduates to return to their home nations would be a terrible for the Science and Engineering fields. Dyson wrote 'Our borders must remain open to the world's best. Give them our knowledge, allow them to develop their own, and permit them to apply it here on our shores. Their ideas and inventiveness will create technology to export around the world.'
Dyson continued 'May's immigration plans simply force the nimble minds we nurture to return home and fuel competition from overseas. Why would they return? Often they hail from emerging economies and nations that respect science and engineering.'
Also, including in the piece, Dyson highlighted that the UK's loss will be competitor nation's gains. Dyson wrote 'Yes, these students net Britain nearly £7bn each year [in fees]. But sending them home with new technology developed here presents very good value to our competitor nations. Instead our education system should be a tool to import the world's greatest minds. And, most importantly, to keep them here, so that it is our economy – and our culture – that benefits.'
The inventor has had previous run-ins with the Home Office and Theresa May over the issue. Last year James Dyson, when discussing the same issue a year ago, told Recruiter Magazine, 'The government should be going out of its way to attract these highly skilled engineers to stay, even incentivising them, so that they can use their skills to develop technology here – for the benefit of our economy. We should be proud that these students choose the UK as their destination of choice.'
by James Howell
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