Vince Cable: efforts to cut student immigration 'damaging' to UK science The new restrictions on students are helping to cut immigration numbers and stop the thousands of illegal immigrants entering the UK by falsely claiming to be students. Downing Street has been considering whether to exempt students entirely from the Government's targets on cutting immigration. Removing students from the rules would help the Government hit its target of reducing immigration to the tens of thousands. However, the idea of excluding students has previously been rejected by Damian Green, the immigration minister, amid concerns that he would be seen as "fiddling" the figures. In a speech last night, Dr Cable indicated any limits on legitimate foreign students coming to the UK is a threat to scientific excellence. "This country's ongoing scientific prowess depends to an ever greater extent on openness: our ability to attract creative minds to these shores, the exchange of students," Dr Cable said. This might seem obvious but there is always a powerful constituency arguing for closed minds and closed borders. Dr Cable said pioneering scientific experiments, such as the Large Hadron Collider, depend on collaboration between academics across borders. He said Britain must encourage "brain circulation" between borders in contrast to the "brain drain" of the 1960s.