“Last time we campaigned for seven years to bring it back,” said Sanam Arora. (representative)
London:
One of the UK’s prominent Indian student representative organizations on Thursday launched a new ‘Fair Visa, Fair Chance’ campaign in support of the post-study graduate pathway visa, which is proving popular among Indian students since its launch almost three years ago very popular.
The National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) in the UK had initially campaigned for a visa to give international graduates the chance to gain two years of work experience after completing their degree, but fears an ongoing review of the route will reverse the progress that has been made.
Home Secretary James Cleverly has commissioned the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the postgraduate route visa to ensure it is “fit for purpose”, with a report expected next month.
Lord Callan Bilimoria said: “The ability to work for two years after graduation can help international students earn money to pay for their degree and enable some to gain valuable work experience and continue to build strong links with the UK.” International Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Student Issues (APPG) and Patron of NISAU UK.
“We are in a global competition and must offer attractive post-study job opportunities in competition with countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia. Concerns over the cancellation of two-year post-study job opportunities and work visas are being issued around the world , damaging negative information, the university has seen a significant decline in international student applications,” he said.
He also warned that the UK would “shoot itself in the foot” if postgraduate routes were cut, given that international students contribute £42bn to the UK economy.
The UK Home Office said 213,250 visas had been issued under the route since its relaunch for international students in 2020-21, with Indians continuing to dominate as the largest group of students granted leave to remain, accounting for 43% of the last batch of visas Year.
“It is extremely regrettable that just a few years after the UK reintroduced post-study work, we are once again having to make the case to defend it. Postgraduate visas are a key requirement for Indian students and an important requirement for Indian students. UK International An important part of the higher education system,” said Sanam Arora, Chairman of NISAU UK and a member of the UK Council for International Higher Education.
“We last campaigned for seven years to restore it and will work again to protect this important pathway. Without the postgraduate pathway, university finances could collapse. The impact this will have not only on international students but on domestic students in the UK as well That would be terrible considering the world-class research carried out by domestic students and UK universities is heavily cross-funded by international students,” she said.
NISAU UK has been invited to provide evidence to the MAC and plans to share its own research and lessons learned as part of the annual Indo-UK Achievers Honors scheme, which recognizes high-achieving Indian graduates from the UK who have excelled in their fields and made outstanding contributions to the field. whole society.
Indian students are already showing signs of not applying to UK universities, with the latest figures from the Universities Admissions Service (UCAS) showing a 4% drop in applications from India.
However, the Home Office pointed out that MAC analysis showed that the number of international postgraduate students studying at institutions with the lowest UCAS entry requirements increased by more than 250% between 2018 and 2022, reflecting its slogan of attracting “the brightest and best”. best” is questioned.
In its annual report, completed before parliament announced the review late last year, the MAC said: “More fundamentally, we recommend that the government needs to decide what the purpose of the postgraduate route is. If its main aim is to enhance the provision of offers to international students who choose to study in the UK, And thus increasing the number of international students in higher education, then that seems to be a huge success.”
“If the aim is to attract talented students who will then go into highly skilled graduate jobs then we doubt it will add much to the skilled worker route that is already available upon graduation and we would expect at least a significant number of graduate routes A large portion will be made up of low-wage workers,” it said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
