BNO (British National Overseas citizenship) holders and UK higher education

14th June 2022 : 14:00 - 15:00

Category: Webinar

Speaker: Michael Natzler, Former HEPI Policy Officer and Consultant at Nous Group; Ka Ho Mok, Lingnan University; Tommy Chan, Hongkongers in Britain; Corinne Squire, University of Bristol; Sunder Katwala, British Future

Location: Zoom webinar, registration required

Audience: Public

In January 2020, the UK opened up an immigration pathway to several million Hong Kong residents which would allow them to come to the UK to work and study. The crucial criteria was that they had British National Overseas citizenship which residents were eligible to apply for before the handover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. There were 100,000 applications in the first 12 months of the programme which is in line with the Government’s estimate of between 250,000 and 350,000 BNO holder arrivals in by 2026.

Although BNO holders have a specific immigration route, there has been little to no discussion of how they will fit into UK higher education, nor estimates of how higher education institutions might adapt. This webinar will aim to unpack some of the impacts and questions the arrivals of BNO holders will have for UK higher education, drawing on the wider context of an increase in displaced people, pressure on undergraduate places and the role of China in UK higher education.

This webinar is part of the free public seminar programme hosted by the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE).