Indian students' arrival at UK declined by 12 per cent:Report

Image
Press Trust of India London
Last Updated : Jan 16 2015 | 8:35 PM IST
Enrolment of students from India at the UK universities declined by a "worrying" 12 per cent last year, partly due to the government's clampdown on student visas and tough rhetoric on immigration, according to official statistics.
Students from India declined by 12 per cent and Pakistan by 7 per cent, however, the United Kingdom received more Chinese foreign students than from the whole of the European Union, The Independent said, citing official data.
The report said that the government's clampdown on student visas and tough rhetoric on immigration had put many off coming to the UK.
Gordon Slaven, the British Council's director of higher education, described the decline of students from India and Pakistan as "worrying" and warned that the UK needed to be more proactive or risk losing talented students to competitor countries such as the US and Australia.
"It is very pleasing that the overall figures for non-EU students coming to the UK has increased by 3 per cent. But this headline figure does disguise one worrying trend; the decrease of students coming from India by 12 per cent and Pakistan by 7 per cent... While the UK sector can be pleased that the overall numbers have increased, our competitor countries such as the US and Australia have shown much more significant increases," he was quoted by the report as saying.
The number of international students, however, rose by 3 per cent to 310,195, the figures published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency showed, the report said.
Nicola Dandridge, the chief executive of Universities UK, said, problems remain with recruitment from India. There is growing demand for quality higher education around the world, so the UK should be capitalising on this, rather than seeing the stagnation of the past few years.
Under current rules, international students can remain in Britain for four months to search for graduate jobs, which critics have already argued is too harsh compared with the US, Canada and Australia which allow 12 months.
*Subscribe to Business Standard digital and get complimentary access to The New York Times

Smart Quarterly

₹900

3 Months

₹300/Month

SAVE 25%

Smart Essential

₹2,700

1 Year

₹225/Month

SAVE 46%
*Complimentary New York Times access for the 2nd year will be given after 12 months

Super Saver

₹3,900

2 Years

₹162/Month

Subscribe

Renews automatically, cancel anytime

Here’s what’s included in our digital subscription plans

Exclusive premium stories online

  • Over 30 premium stories daily, handpicked by our editors

Complimentary Access to The New York Times

  • News, Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter & The Athletic

Business Standard Epaper

  • Digital replica of our daily newspaper — with options to read, save, and share

Curated Newsletters

  • Insights on markets, finance, politics, tech, and more delivered to your inbox

Market Analysis & Investment Insights

  • In-depth market analysis & insights with access to The Smart Investor

Archives

  • Repository of articles and publications dating back to 1997

Ad-free Reading

  • Uninterrupted reading experience with no advertisements

Seamless Access Across All Devices

  • Access Business Standard across devices — mobile, tablet, or PC, via web or app

More From This Section

First Published: Jan 16 2015 | 8:35 PM IST

Next Story