SPECIAL migratory status for students after Brexit has been called for by the chancellor of the University of Reading.

Addressing the university's Council and Senate for the first time since he took over in December, Lord Waldegrave of North Hill argued students should not be included in calculations of migrant numbers entering the UK.

The former Bristol West Conservative MP said: “There was once a problem of bogus language schools, significant numbers of whose non-students disappeared into the undergrowth. All the evidence is that the problem has been dealt with. 

“The Home Office should declare victory and remove students from the figures of migration.

"They are a huge and beneficial resource not only for the universities themselves, but for the country, not a problem about whom the electorate or anyone else is fretting."

Lord Waldegrave added that he would seek 'crystal clear reassurance’ about the position of European staff and students at the University of Reading, as well as UK university access to European research and student exchange networks, as early as possible in the negotiations.