Lord Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra Beer and former chancellor of the University of West London, said that the new immigration cap was a ¡°crude¡± implement that had already led to a fall in applications to UK universities from Indian students.

In an after-dinner-speech to the Association of MBAs, he said: ¡°We fought so hard to allow foreign graduates to work [in the UK] for two years after graduating, so they could pay for their education.

¡°Then you bring in a crude immigration cap¡­what sort of nonsense is this?¡±

He added: ¡°I know Cranfield [which bestowed an honorary degree on Lord Bilimoria] and I know Cambridge, and the number of applicants from India has really plummeted.¡±

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Born in India, Lord Bilimoria trained as an accountant at what is now London Metropolitan University and then completed a law degree at the University of Cambridge.

He was chancellor of the University of West London, formerly Thames Valley University, from 2005 until earlier this year.

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During his speech on 19 October, he also attacked the coalition for using the Browne Review to justify cuts to the higher education budget.

¡°They [the government] used it to cut higher education funding by 80 per cent which forced the universities to increase their fees to up to ?9,000,¡± he said.

¡°Here¡¯s something that gives us a competitive edge in the rest of the world and we try and cut it ¨C because we are all in this together. Absolute nonsense. I think it¡¯s wrong.¡±

Cobra Beer went into administration in May 2009, reportedly leaving ?70 million in unpaid debts to creditors, but has since been resurrected.

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david.matthews@tsleducation.com