TOI correspondent from London: The number of Indian students going to study at British universities has fallen by 20% amid a worrying drop in international students generally, which is posing a grave risk to the financial stability of the sector. The education sector relies heavily on the higher fees paid by international students.
The current upheaval in India’s students is attributed to a number of factors, including the latest riots in the UK and the lack of job prospects.
The Office for Students, the regulator of UK higher education, published a report on Friday which showed that students from India have seen the largest decrease, with Indian students falling from 139, 914 in 2022-23 to 111, 329 in 2023-24, a fall of 28, 585 ( 20.4 % ).
Nigerian students are down 25, 897 ( 44.6 % ) to 32, 192, and students from Bangladesh are down 5, 202 ( 41.2 % ) to 7, 425
Between 2034 and 2024, the total number of” Confirmations of Acceptance for Studies” granted to international students has decreased by 11.8 % from the same period last year.
Between January 2024 and September 2024, international students submitted 16 % fewer visa applications than they did in 2023.
Additionally, rising firm national insurance premiums and under-expected recruitment of UK undergraduates are causing a hole in the university’s finances.
According to the report, there will be a decline in annual income for UK universities of £3.4 billion and a deficit of £1.6 billion for the sector, which will result in a 40 % deficiency and a 40 % decline in liquidity for the sector. According to the report, this is likely to result in training and university shutdown, with those focusing on postgraduate taught courses relying on foreign students, which it said.
According to Amit Tiwari, president of the Indian National Students Association UK, the decline in interest from master’s students was caused by the lack of permission for students to bring partners, the financial climate in the UK, and new rioting incidents. The perspective for British universities is grim because they rely heavily on American students, he said, “unless the UK government addresses this.”
American kids are looking at Germany, Ireland, the US, and the Middle East rather, said Sanam Arora, founder and head of National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK. She attributed the” traditional party ban on children, confusion about the post-study work visa, increased income thresholds for skilled workers, and apparent lack of jobs in the UK” to the latter group. ” For the first time, safety is also being raised as a problem”, she said.
