Are ‘shoddy’ courses in the UK affecting Indian students?

A graduate adjusts his mortarboard outside the Sheldonian Theater after a graduation ceremony at Oxford University, in Oxford, Britain. | Photo credit: Reuters

An increasing number of Indian students are heading to the United Kingdom (UK), but the number of those who manage to stay in the country by securing a job or continuing their studies has been low in recent years. Indians, like other foreign students, pay higher tuition fees than domestic students, so they are disproportionately more affected when they cannot find work. Also, for foreign students, it is a double whammy as it leads to visa expiration.

By 2022, two out of ten students who immigrated from India, went to the uk for a degree. In the UK, Indians now form the second largest cohort of foreign students, behind China. Indians as a percentage of foreign students increased from around 4% in 2015-16 to over 22% in 2021-22. The proportion of students from the European Union, which used to be the second largest cohort, dropped to 8% after Brexit. Indians filled this gap following the 2019 graduate visa policy, which allowed foreign students to work in the UK for two years after completing their studies.

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immigration status

Of the Indian students who arrived in 2017, only 17% switched to work visas, while 5% managed to extend their study visas. In contrast, most visas (76%) expired in 2022 (Table 2).

The trend of high lapse rates started after 2010. For example, 35% of Indian students who arrived in the UK in 2004 had permission to work or study five years later. Furthermore, 10% of them were on indefinite residence permit (right to live, work and study in the UK for as long as they wanted) and only 50% of visas expired.

Tuition fees collected from overseas students form a substantial part of the revenue of UK universities. As Table 3 In the sample, foreign students accounted for nearly 24% of higher education enrollment, but their share of fees collected was 43% in 2021-22. The international student tuition fee supports the education of domestic students whose fees were capped at £9,000 between 2012-13 and 2016-17 and increased to £9,250 thereafter.

Sunak’s explanation

In mid-July, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hinted at a possible reason for this trend. He blamed the “low quality” courses. his government declared strong measures against courses that were not delivered “good results” by limiting the admission of students. These courses were defined as those that did not lead to good jobs and left young people with low wages and high debts. The data shows that Indian students may also have been the most affected by these ‘low quality’ courses. A large number of Indian students enrolled in universities ranked much lower in The Guardian University Guide 2023 rankings.

In the past three years, about 30% of Indian students enrolled in universities have scored above 100 per The Guardian (Table 4). The University of Hertfordshire (ranked 74), followed by the University of East London (ranked 113), were the top two destinations for Indian students. Only about 13% of Indians were enrolled in the 24 prestigious Russell Group universities, which includes the University of Oxford and Cambridge.

Chart 4 | The graph shows the average number of Indian university students enrolled in the last three years. The larger the circle, the greater the number of students. The circles on the right are better ranked.

Read also | UK inflation: Study abroad for Indian students becomes more difficult amid scramble for affordable living

Source: Agency for Higher Education Statistics, Migrant Journey Report and The Guardian University Guide 2023

nihalani.j@thehindu.co.in