UK Considers Plans to Slash International Student Visas

According to a Guardian article the Home Office is looking at slashing numbers from 300,000 to 170,000 under tougher student visa rules.

The Home Office is considering cutting international student numbers at UK universities by nearly half. The threat is being greeted with dismay by university heads, who say some good overseas applicants are already being refused visas on spurious grounds.

The home secretary, Amber Rudd, pledged a crackdown on international student numbers at the Conservative party conference in October, to include tougher visa rules for “lower quality” universities and courses. But senior university sources are warning that the cutbacks could be far more severe than expected. They say they have seen Home Office plans that model slashing overseas student numbers, with one option to cut the current 300,000 to 170,000 a year.

International students bring more than £10.7bn to the UK economy, according to Universities UK, the vice-chancellors’ umbrella group. The head of one leading university, who asked not to be named, denounced the potential scale of the cuts as “insane”, adding: “politics is trumping economics”.

If you are a UK student what are the best courses if you want to get a job. This graph is from 2014/15. 

According to a Guardian article the Home Office is looking at slashing numbers from 300,000 to 170,000 under tougher student visa rules.

The Home Office is considering cutting international student numbers at UK universities by nearly half. The threat is being greeted with dismay by university heads, who say some good overseas applicants are already being refused visas on spurious grounds.

The home secretary, Amber Rudd, pledged a crackdown on international student numbers at the Conservative party conference in October, to include tougher visa rules for “lower quality” universities and courses. But senior university sources are warning that the cutbacks could be far more severe than expected. They say they have seen Home Office plans that model slashing overseas student numbers, with one option to cut the current 300,000 to 170,000 a year.

International students bring more than £10.7bn to the UK economy, according to Universities UK, the vice-chancellors’ umbrella group. The head of one leading university, who asked not to be named, denounced the potential scale of the cuts as “insane”, adding: “politics is trumping economics”.

If you are a UK student what are the best courses if you want to get a job. This graph is from 2014/15.