Source: Eva Rinaldi

The business leader and inventor said Ms May¡¯s plans were ¡°short sighted¡±and maintained that the UK needed to ¡°remain open to the world¡¯s best¡±.

Writing in a comment piece in The Guardian on 5 January, Mr Dyson labelled the proposals a ¡°short-term vote winner that leads to long-term economic decline¡±.

¡°Bright sparks are drawn to the UK for good reason ¨C our universities are among the best in the world. Particularly for science and engineering. Yet the ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Office wants to say cheerio to these sharp minds as soon as their mortarboards land on college lawns,¡± he said.

Under the proposals, which it was reported Ms May was pushing to be included in the Tory general election manifesto, graduates on a student visa would be required to leave the UK before applying for another visa of any kind.

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However, Mr Dyson argued the UK was already ¡°painfully¡± short of postgraduate students, and as such the country should not give them reason to take their ideas abroad and ¡°create competition overseas¡±.

He is the latest prominent figure to attack May¡¯s plans, with several others having criticised them, including her Conservative colleage David Willets, the former universities and science minister, who called them ¡°mean-spirited¡±.

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Universities UK also described Ms May¡¯s proposals as ¡°damaging¡± ¨C with chief executive, Nicola Dandridge, saying they would harm the UK¡¯s ability to stay competitive.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper today expressed her support for Mr Dyson¡¯s article. She said Ms May¡¯s plans would be ¡°bad for the British economy¡±, and that they ¡°show the Tories are completely muddled about immigration¡±.

¡°Telling all foreign postgraduates they have to leave the country immediately even if their top international talent is badly needed by postgraduate scientific research centres, the NHS or our world-class businesses is counterproductive and will hurt our economy and public services,¡± she said.