Indian students applying to UK Universities declined, says visa figures

It was almost expected after the changing policies related to international students' immigration in the UK and the review of the graduate route visa by the previous government. Now, official data reveals that all these developments have impacted the number of Indians applying to UK Universities.

Study in UK: The country has always been among the top choices for Indians who are looking to study abroad. However, the recent changes in the immigration policies and debates and discussions on the graduate route visa which offers two years of work opportunity once a student completes his/her course in the UK, have put off Indian students to apply to UK Universities.

As per the latest Home Office statistics, the Indians top the international students list who get the maximum visa grants but they have started showing signs of being impacted by the recent developments around international students in the UK.

They still are the biggest group granted Graduate Route visa leave but the recent data has revealed that until June 2024, there was a decline of 23% in Indian students coming to the UK.

Home Office statistics stated, "There were 110,006 sponsored study visa grants to main applicants who were Indian nationals in the year ending June 2024 (25% of the total), 32,687 fewer than the previous year," as reported by Indian Express.

"Most of the increase in foreign students between 2019 and 2023 were from Indian and Nigerian nationals, but numbers for these nationalities have fallen in the latest year (by 23% and 46% respectively)," it added.

Indian students studying in UK: More Details

The data also revealed that those Indian students who came to the UK under the India-UK Young Professionals Scheme were 2,234 which is below the annual 3,000 visa cap. The scheme allows a two-way flow of young graduates to live and work in both countries for up to two years.

"In the year ending June 2024, Indian nationals represented the largest group of students granted leave to remain on the Graduate Route (67,529), representing almost half (46%) of grants of Graduate Route extensions to main applicants," the data reveals.

UK universities are highly dependent on international students and the decline in their applications is a major cause of concern for them.

"It is critical that we ensure that the chaos and uncertainty that the review of the Graduate Route had led to is now fully put to rest. NISAU has engaged with millions of students in India to spread the message that the UK remains a warm and welcoming destination for Indian students," said National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK Chair Sanam Arora.

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