Small rise in Indian students, says report

LONDON: New figures released on Thursday show a minor increase in the number of students coming to the United Kingdom for higher studies, but the overall number remains around 50% less than that in 2010-11.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) said the number of Indian students declined 26% between 2012-13 and 2016-17, even though India remains the country with the fourth largest number of students in the UK.

New Indian students enrolling on first-year courses rose from 9,095 in 2015-16 to 9,720 in 2016-17. The overall number of Indian students in 2010-2011 was 39,090, but the figure for 2016-17 was 16,550, reflecting the shift in perceptions over the years due to visa curbs.

The figures suggest that the marginal increase in Indian student numbers was at the postgraduate level. The largest drop was for vocational courses, mainly due to the closure of several bogus colleges which were recruiting non-EU students for non-academic purposes.

A major reason for Indian students staying away from UK was the closure in 2012 of the poststudy work visa, which was popular among self-financing students. It is unlikely to be re-introduced anytime soon.

However, there have been some recent relaxations — a visa pilot running at 27 universities allows non-EU students more time to find employment after completing their studies, while another relaxation will allow taking up employment after completion of the course, without waiting for the degrees to be awarded.

International students are increasingly on the Brexit political agenda, particularly in the forthcoming legislation to put in place the immigration system after the UK leaves the European Union. There is a growing consensus that they not be counted as immigrants.