Indian group urges UK to take away abroad college students from migration stats

An Indian diaspora-led college students’ group has urged the UK authorities to take away abroad college students from migration statistics.

London,UPDATED: Nov 26, 2022 02:12 IST

By Press Trust of India: An Indian diaspora-led college students’ organisation on Friday urged the UK authorities to take away worldwide college students from the nation’s total immigration statistics amid unconfirmed reviews that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak could also be contemplating a crackdown on foreigners granted examine visas.

According to some UK media reviews, Sunak is mulling a crackdown on international college students bringing dependents and finding out so-called low-quality levels at mediocre UK universities after the nation’s web migration figures hit report ranges.

Downing Street has indicated that “all options” to convey total migrant numbers down are on the desk. The National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK, which campaigns for streamlined provisions for Indian college students finding out within the UK, mentioned any transfer to arbitrarily rank universities would show counterproductive in the long term.

“Students who are in the UK temporarily, should not be counted as migrants,” mentioned NISAU UK Chair Sanam Arora.

“International students, of which Indians are the biggest cohort, bring a net revenue of GBP 30 billion into the British economy and go back as friends of the UK, furthering ties of trade, culture, and diplomacy. The UK’s higher education sector is one of our largest exports to the world, and we are hopeful that the government will ensure that there is no arbitrary definition of what counts as a ‘top’ university,” she mentioned.

The group referred to as for a “creative and innovative policy solution” that addresses the UK’s abilities and labour shortages via its worldwide graduates. The Universities UK International (UUKi), which represents over 140 UK universities, additionally sounded a word of warning over any coverage strikes to chop down worldwide pupil numbers as a possible act of self-harm and pile on further monetary pressures on universities.

“Cutting international student numbers would run directly counter to the UK government’s strategy to welcome more students from around the world,” mentioned UUKi Chief Executive Vivienne Stern. “International students make an enormous cultural and financial contribution to the UK. They help make our campuses and cities the vibrant, thought-provoking places they are known for being. They sustain jobs in towns and cities up and down the country,” she mentioned.

“Beyond this, the financial contribution they make has been very significant for UK universities. Limiting international students would be an act of self-harm that would damage many parts of the UK,” she added. The considerations come up within the wake of the most recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures this week revealing web migration to the UK rose from 173,000 within the 12 months to June 2021, to 504,000 within the 12 months to June 2022 – a rise of 331,000 post-Brexit.

International college students had been a big contributory issue to this spike, with Indians overtaking Chinese college students as the biggest cohort of pupil visas for the primary time. The Conservative Party-led UK authorities has a manifesto dedication to cut back migration “overall”, one thing reiterated in latest weeks and months by UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman. She has beforehand expressed worries about international college students bringing in dependent relations who “piggyback” on a pupil visa and is believed to be proposals to sort out the problem.

Posted By:

Manisha Pandey

Published On:

Nov 26, 2022