Historically, the United Kingdom has been known worldwide for the quality of their higher education. It is the second most popular destination for the prospective students who are willing to get higher education from abroad. For years, students have been coming here to full-fill their ambition of getting a British degree with some relevant work experience. For many courses, UK is the first choice for students. i.e. law.
In the past years, students had the opportunity of getting a 2years work-permit visa after finishing their higher education. The main purpose was to allow students getting some work experience before they return to their country. However, the UK government has abolished this visa in April last year. The main reasons for the government to implement this policy is- the gov election manifesto to reduce immigration by tens of thousands and there were substantial abuse of this opportunity by the non- EU students.
In the point of reducing immigration, there may have been different approach, because not necessarily the immigrants are students. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of immigrants who are not students. They came in this country under different working visas. After all, the 2 years work-permit visa was for the non-EU students as EU students don't need any visa to stay and work in the UK. And, in the last years, hundreds of European immigrants came in the UK. So, different immigration policy would have been more effective to reduce immigration because there is no guarantee to be immigrant in this country.
Students came in this country with their student visas not the work permit visas. When it is said about misuse of visas it should be student visas, where students were not studying properly but working only. Now, if a student is not studying sincerely then he is likely to end up with bad result which can be used to qualify for the work-permit visa. If not, students are producing good results even after working should be appreciated, it won't encourage others to follow them.
International higher education has become a big financial market. It is estimated that non-EU students generate 5 billion pound annually in the UK economy. It is a market where competition is becoming fierce among many countries (especially western countries) to draw the attention of prospective students. There used to be around 30000 students every year from India alone and thousands more from China, South-East Asians, middle-east and central Africa. Since the introduction of new regulation there is reported to be more than 40% drop in application from non-eu students. University of Wolverhampton reported 70% drop of indian students this year. This drop of non-eu students have forced many educational institutions to go bankrupt and contributed to the closure of more than 30% of educational industries both here in the UK and abroad.
The government is arguing that there is still opportunity for genuine students to get a work-permit visa in the new policy. Under the new visa policy students can apply for work-permit visa after finishing their education if they can show that they got a job with a salary more than £20000. The gov is saying it is normal graduate level job salary. Needless to ask, how many students can start their profession with a salary of this amount, where I can say as a trainee solicitor you get just £17000.
It is not only undermining the country's position as a popular study destination but it may allow other countries to divert substantial portion toward them. The impact is not just economic but overall quality of education in the competitive market and the adverse effect on native students, who are the next generation of the country. It may play an important role in the privatisation of most of the top educational institutions, if it ever to happen in the upcoming years.
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