English
中文
The number of foreign students coming in to the UK to study in colleges and language schools have dropped to just 54% from the previous year’s count. The decline is a legitimate source of alarm says Study Group UK which owns a large portion of the foreign student agency market. It may imply a corresponding decrease for the number of university applicants in the following years because a good fraction of these entrants to the country proceed to university study in later years.
For Study Group UK managing director for higher education James Pitman, prospective and actual applicants for the student visa is being slowly strangled and the situation will soon damage UK higher education. He says FE and independent pathway routes contribute at least 40% of the population of international students in universities.
The decline was observed after the UK government took measures to tighten rules on student visa. English language skills requirement are higher now than before and potential students and colleges are being required to have face-to-face interviews. However, the government says that many language students are coming in using visitor visas. These language students are not counted in as part of the latest migration data and the 11-month visitor visa saw an increase of 6%, this the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills says. They also added that the number of non-EU students applying to university this year is 5.5% more than last year.
Still, overall net migration to the country has dipped to not more than 66% of the previous year’s number according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. The data is based on September 2012 being the end of the present year being studied in which 153,000 migrants entered the UK from the previous year’s 242,000.
According to Mr Pitman, abuse of the student visa system should be addressed; nevertheless, the government appears to have used too much force as it solves the problem without proper migration exit data which is necessary in handling the matter instead of initialising reforms which are carefully deliberated.
The government through the BIS department says that there will not be a domino effect to be caused by the tightening of rules on student visa on universities and higher education. A department spokesperson says that their strategy is eliminating abuse and focusing on high quality and high value sectors.
The increase in university sponsored visas can create the misconception that there is nothing to worry about, Mr Pitman asserts. In his opinion, the rise is very small and they account for returning non-EU students who are taking GCSEs and A-levels to prepare for studies in higher education. Study Group ties up with around 20 universities in the UK in facilitating foreign students to complete pathway courses wherein English language and foundation year courses are being followed. The education is alongside or ahead of their degree courses which is done with the purpose of getting the students used to with studying in the country.
The BIS department points out that they are successful at their strategy with sponsored applications decreasing by 54% for tertiary education, 54% for further education and 93% for other colleges for the whole further education sector, English language schools and independent schools. The government says that the system has been abused as student visa service providers are no longer focusing on facilitating education but rather on selling immigration.
Institute for Public Policy Research associate director Sara Mulley says that the decrease in non-EU students substantially caused the fall in net migration. According to her, the reduction in the number of international students is untimely because the UK needs the income at this time. She relates that most students do not stay for long and this means that the decrease at present will result to a further decrease in the future. Research data reflect that 18% of student migrants stay in the UK for 5 years.
According to Universities UK chief executive Nicola Dandridge, even though the number of university-sponsored visas have increased, new enrolments which indicates future numbers the clearest have not materially increased this year as shown in more recent data from universities. There are many other indicators found in the data from the universities. Most notable of which being reduction of students from countries like India and fall in the student count for taught international post-graduate courses.
With these different angles to the issue regarding the substantial decrease in the number of foreign students, what do you think is the most important aspect? Do you think the government was not able to solve the student visa abuse in the best way possible? Is the economic aspect being overlooked by the government? What measures can you suggest?
