Only the students who want to pursue a degree in the UK will be granted a visa. The UK government plans to target students as well as colleges abusing this category of immigration. Even the students who qualify will have to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. There will be stricter rules with the number of hours allotted for work as well the dependants accompanying the students. The student visa like all other categories will witness curb, as the Coalition had promised the people of Britain that the net immigration will be brought down to tens of thousands.
Studies have revealed that the number of unrecognized colleges has risen by 40%, many of the students who came to the country in 2004, were still in UK. The revision in this category will particularly deny visas for non degree courses like vocational courses, GCE’s and A-levels.
In 2009 the number of students coming to UK outside the EU was reported to be 130,000. That was nearly 50% of the total capacity of 280,000 allocated to the student category visa. Most of these students who attended private colleges approx 90,000. They pursued vocational courses and GCE’s. Thousands of students enrolled for language schools. Going by the general rule only students pursuing degree courses will be admissible while lower level courses if offered by top prestigious universities will be considered.
Members of the cabinet as well as the educational institutions are quite worried about this revision affecting the reputation of UK as a global education destination. Going by the general rules the students staying in UK for more than 6 months can get their dependants with them. This may be revised as well and the term might be increased. Also the 20 hours a week permit for the students might be subject to further cut down.
David Metcalf the adviser to the government immigration policies said that the student flow in the country has to go down by 90,000 if the government is determined to meet its promise. A source from the Whitehall said that the student entry via this category has to decline, if the net immigration has to come down at a certain level. The government has emphasized that such a revision was needed to make sure the students coming to UK are for real and they have the best education from the recognized colleges and universities. The government said that it has to chosen to be highly selective to get the most talented students in to its most prestigious universities.
The student visa route has been misused by many. The colleges admitting revoked students also have seen a sharp rise by 40% since last year. Per month, the rate of their activity is 3.5%.
