New British student visa restrictions to curb influx of bogus students backfires

Government plans to curb the number of bogus foreign students entering Britain have resulted in large numbers of genuine applicants eschewing UK universities in favour of those in competitor countries, according to Universities UK, the nation’s umbrella group for higher education institutions, Re:locate reports.

Ministers’ repeated pledges to be tougher on immigration because of the number of bogus applicants using student visas simply as a means to settle illegally in Britain, had made genuine students from non-EU countries feel unwelcome, Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, told The Guardian newspaper on Wednesday.

Students from China, India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia seemed particularly put off by the government’s tough talk with universities reporting significant drops in the number of applicants from those countries for the 2013-14 academic year, she said.

"These are countries that send large numbers and also they are important countries in terms of international engagement, so we want to be promoting and fostering relations with them, not erecting barriers," said Ms Dandridge.

EU-Digest