Proposed UK visa cuts opposed by education leaders

United Kingdom, 1st February: Several education leaders have joined hands in protesting against the proposed cuts in the UK visas for overseas students.

The proposed cuts are being stated as dangerous, damaging and catastrophic by the Universities UK, a vice-chancellors’ body in the nation.

Consultations are being held by the UK government with regard to planned UK visa cuts for overseas students wanting to pursue studies below graduate level and also for increasing the requirements for English language for international students.

If the changes are implemented by the UK government on overseas students wanting to study in the UK, it will affect thousands of students hailing from non-EU nations.

As per the data, out of the total 273,000 UK visas issued in the year 2009, nearly two-third were issued to overseas students in that year.

The government plans to make such cuts in the UK student visas to be issued every year in order to bring the level of net migration to below 100,000 in the year 2015 from the present level of 215,000. A large number of overseas degree students are recruited by the UK universities from under-graduate degree courses on which they have increased their knowledge in the subject and improvised their English.

And, around 9 percent of the total income of the sector comes from overseas students, Universities UK has maintained.

Hence, raising the level of English language requirement will have catastrophic effects on the UK universities, states Vice Chancellor of East Anglia University, Edward Action.

And Chief Executive of Universities UK, Nicola Dandridge stated that such proposals, if accepted, will be extremely damaging and dangerous for the higher education sector of the nation and it is for this reason that such steps are being opposed by the universities in the UK.

It is going to wipe out around 70 to 80 percent of the potential overseas students wanting to come to the UK, cautioned chief executive of English UK, an English language teaching association, Tony Milns.

Around 50 percent of overseas students recruited by universities actually come from such courses, added Milns. The plans for UK visa cuts follow an increase in the tuition fees to £9,000 in the year 2012 from the current £3,000.