International students who have shown entrepreneurial flair while on courses at UK universities will be allowed to stay on in the country to develop their ideas, Damian Green, the immigration minister, has announced.

In a speech yesterday, Mr Green signalled that the Home Office was addressing criticisms of its decision to close the post-study work route, which allowed graduates to stay in the UK for two years after the end of their course to find a job. It is introducing a 12-month visa to allow exceptional students to remain once their studies have ended.

The new route, open to non-European Union students who have developed a business idea under supervision at university, will be available from next April, Mr Green told an audience at the Policy Exchange think-tank. “Now that we have moved away from the old model of mass, unselective immigration, we can develop the system to encourage the brightest and best to come here,” he said.