Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister of Britain, has indicated in advance of his proposed trip to India that he supports a review of the recently toughened UK visa immigration restrictions imposed on foreign students.
The regulations had caused a considerable hardship on Indian students who wish to study in the UK. In his interview with the Times of India, the Deputy PM disclosed that he will be visiting Delhi University to have a ‘first-hand’ experience of the reservations and concerns Indian students have over UK’s new stringent student-visa policy.
In an excerpt from the interview, the deputy Prime Minister said, “During my trip to India later this month, I will meet Indian students to discuss and hear for myself their reservations against the visa policy. I will not hesitate to initiate a review of the policy and bring in further changes if need be. Education is a top priority sector during my visit to India. My delegation will include a large contingent from the education sector.”
His visit comes at a time where there has been a massive drop out of about 25% of Indian students choosing to study in the UK. The number of Indian students applications has significantly dropped from around 17,271 to 13,608 within a year. An average of 60% Indian students currently studying in the UK have mentioned that UK wasn’t welcoming. All these studies are from the annual migration figures.
Student immigration generates an estimated £10 billion for UK universities all through the fees and expenditures of the overseas students. The recent restrictions have hit a wide number of students from countries like India, Australia, Germany and Canada and go to UK for education in large numbers.
Clegg, who also heads the Britain’s Liberal Democrats has said that about 84% of Indian student visa applications are likely to get a approval, while overall 90% of Indian application will get a visa.
He maintains, “I will try and dispel any misgivings that Indian students have. One of the myths is that that somehow we have stopped any ability to work after you’ve graduated in the UK. That’s actually not the case. What we have said is as long as you earn a certain graduate salary, a certain minimum; you are welcome to work here after graduating. In fact, students earning over the required salary can work for three years after graduating with the option of working a further three years. That’s considerably longer actually than the previous postgraduate work rules.
