The UK Government is finalising plans to cut annual student visa figures by nearly half, from the current 3,00,000 to 1,70,000, a media report said on Monday amid a sharp fall in students coming to the country from outside Europe, including India. Some university chiefs are also warning that many Indian students are already being denied visas on minor grounds as part of a wider move to cut immigration into the UK.
“They are telling some students there is exactly the same quality of course available in India so why are you coming here. That is outrageous,” a UK vice-chancellor was quoted as saying by the Guardian newspaper. The move comes despite recent UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures indicating there has been a drastic drop in students coming to the UK from outside Europe.