E-Paper
As UK plans to limit admissions to top varsities, Indian group has this request
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly planning to bring down immigration numbers by limiting admissions to top universities as well as restricting visas for students' dependants.
An Indian diaspora-led students’ organisation on Friday urged the British government to rethink its plan to crackdown on foreigners granted study visas. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly planning to bring down immigration numbers by limiting admissions to top universities as well as restricting visas for students' dependants after the country's net migration figures hit record levels.
The National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK said any move to arbitrarily rank universities would prove counterproductive in the long run.
“Students who are in the UK temporarily, should not be counted as migrants,” said NISAU UK Chair Sanam Arora.
“International students, of which Indians are the biggest cohort, bring a net revenue of GBP 30 billion into the British economy and go back as friends of the UK, furthering ties of trade, culture, and diplomacy. The UK’s higher education sector is one of our largest exports to the world, and we are hopeful that the government will ensure that there is no arbitrary definition of what counts as a ‘top’ university,” she said.
University bodies also sounded a note of caution over any move to limit international students as a damage to economy and Britain's reputation.
“Cutting international student numbers would run directly counter to the UK government’s strategy to welcome more students from around the world,” said UUKi Chief Executive Vivienne Stern.
“International students make an enormous cultural and financial contribution to the UK. They help make our campuses and cities the vibrant, thought-provoking places they are known for being. They sustain jobs in towns and cities up and down the country,” she said.
"Beyond this, the financial contribution they make has been very significant for UK universities. Limiting international students would be an act of self-harm that would damage many parts of the UK," she added.
The concerns arise in the wake of the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures revealing net migration to the UK rose from 173,000 in the year to June 2021, to 504,000 in the year to June 2022 – an increase of 331,000 post-Brexit. International students were a large contributory factor to this spike, with Indians overtaking Chinese students as the largest cohort of student visas for the first time.
(With PTI inputs)
