London: Gone will be the days when Her Majesty will allow UK university degree holders from non-EU countries to stay back and gain valuable foreign work experience, before jetting back home.
Come April 2012, the most popular student visa scheme in the UK will be scrapped. The Tier 1- Post Study Work Scheme (PSW) allowed full-time degree holders from UK universities to stay back in the country for two years and look for a job, be self-employed or start a business.
All you needed to apply for this was your graduate/post-graduate degree, a maintenance fund of £800 pounds for 90 days, your passport and a certificate from your university proving that the UK Border Agency had given them the right to sponsor students.
Home Secretary Theresa May walks through Terminal 5 during a visit to UK Border Agency staff. Reuters
A six to eight week wait ensued and in came the passport in first class Royal Mail delivery to your doorstep, stamped with the working rights for the United Kingdom.
It also gave you the option of extending your stay in the UK if you earned a minimum of £18,000 per year for your working time in the UK, minimum wage here, and live in the country for as long as your employer wanted you to.
But after the announcement from Home Secretary Theresa May, there are already reports of a decline of nearly 30 per cent in applications from the Indian sub-continent.
Hardly surprising, given that as many as 67 per cent students who studied here said that they would not recommend the UK as a study destination if the PSW was abolished.
Firstpost spoke to Jo Holliday, International Students Advisor at the University of Sheffield, who believes this decision will see a massive reduction in the number of students opting for the UK.
“I have no doubt that we will see fewer students choosing the UK as their preferred destination to study as there will be fewer opportunities to gain valuable work experience,” Holliday said.
The university conducted a survey where an Indian student wrote: “For an international student, studying in the UK is not just about a degree, but an international experience. Working for a short while at the end of one’s course is an integral part of that experience, and also provides practical context to the course studied.”
Arnab Majumdar, who had already gained admission in his choice of a UK university has decided to stay back in India. We asked him how much the scrapping of the PSW affected his decision.
“It definitely was a factor. I was considering a student loan to fund my masters studies in the UK. Firstly, with the PSW to my advantage, I could pay back at least 20-30% of my loan in 2 years and secondly I could definitely buy more time, i.e 2 years to find a proper job,” Majumdar told Firstpost.
“I do not consider the removal of the PSW to be the only reason for my decision at the last moment, but it surely was a major blow to a lot of my plans and strategies,” he said.
“Students who do not take student loans might not be affected much. But I personally know two people who were considering student loans and cancelled their plans after the PSW was removed,” Majumdar said.
So what is the alternative for the students who are already here or those who are still adamant enough to come to the UK and work?
Organisations like British Council and Universities UK have said the move could affect the decision of many students planning to study in the UK . Reuters
“The new visa scheme from April 2012 will require an international student to have been offered a graduate level job by an employer who holds a Tier 2 licence. The job will have to pay over £20,000 in order to be awarded the necessary points,” Holliday, who advised thousands of students with the PSW, said.
Holliday pointed out that the pressure will be on those graduating from universities to find a job before the end of the course.
“The policy-makers want to reduce the numbers of migrants down from the hundreds of thousands to the 10,000s’ and students are a big part of their plan. Change, may of course come, if all parts of government begin to value the huge economic contribution of international students to our universities, colleges and the wider economy,” Holliday said.
The British Council and Universities UK have also opposed the changes to student visa rules saying it could have a significant impact in the number of students going to the UK.
But until then, universities in New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the US will surely cash in on the extra students who attach as much value to working rights as they do to education standards when choosing a country for higher studies.
