With the return of Suella Braverman as UK Home Secretary, what lies ahead for Indian students

Popular among the citizens and diaspora, Indian-origin Rishi Sunak has garnered good wishes after his appointment as the first British Asian UK PM, the same cannot be said for his reappointment of Goan-origin Home Secretary Suella Braverman who has raised eyebrows for her controversial comments about Indians overstaying their visas, heavy influx of international students, and prevalence of student visa dependents in the UK. 

Comments on Indian migrants didn’t go well with nationals, students

While talking to the British magazine, Spectator, Braverman had said Indian migrants made up the largest number of visa overstayers in the UK while expressing her reservations about the long-awaited India-UK free trade deal. The comments contradicted UK Home Office data which suggested that only a tiny proportion, 4.4%, of Indian migrants overstayed their visas. 

“Braverman's comments were clumsy and have caused understandable offence in India. Whether by accident or design, the comments scuppered any hope of a pre-Diwali announcement of an FTA with India at a time when Truss desperately needed some good news,” said Sam Burney, a recruitment specialist and Regional Manager, India at Falmouth University, who added that though Braverman’s rhetoric unsettled many students considering studying in the UK, it is unlikely on its own to reduce the number of international students coming to the country in the next major intake of September 2023.

Most Tory politicians don’t share the same views as Braverman

Braverman, who resigned earlier from her position of Home Secretary amid a series of debacles in the new Truss-led government, is an outlier in the Tory party when it comes to her views on international education. Former UK PM Boris Johnson had presided over the reinstatement of post-study work visas which has benefited thousands of Indian students studying in the country, while the current Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is a former edtech entrepreneur who has been supportive of foreign students coming to the UK and the benefits they bring to the country. 

“There are many politicians on the Tory side who are international-student friendly,” stated Lakshmi Iyer, Managing Director, India at SI-UK, an agency that provides support to students wishing to study in the UK. Lakshmi further said that “rhetoric and reality is different” and as long as Britain offers post-study work visas the interest among Indians will not wane. 

Low-skilled students, dependent visas issues could be resolved, say experts 

The Home Secretary’s suggestion that Britain has a high number of low-skilled migrants and international students, with the latter bringing many dependents on their visas, invited backlash from the international education sector as tuition fees from non-EU students represented 17% of UK universities’ total income during the 2020/21 academic year according to research published by The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford. Speculation was rife among British media outlets that Braverman was mulling a plan to analyse the number of dependents, international students bring with them, as Home Office’s national statistics suggest 81,089 visas were granted to the latter. 

“Changes to student-dependent visas would not impact upon the large majority of students considering investing in UK study but it is possible the Home Office may judge that cutting back on such visas could deter the small proportion of candidates who may be more likely to overstay visas,” stated Burney, who believes Braverman’s comments about ‘low-skilled migrants’ are not directed at the students themselves but the dependents themselves. 

Experts believe there are possible solutions to the argument made by Braverman about low-skilled migrants and her desire for fewer students to come to the UK at specific institutions. 

“The UK could consider special schemes to attract students for specialist areas quite akin to the US STEM OPT schemes. This would enable the UK to attract talented individuals from across the world,” stated Lakshmi. 

Others believe the issue can be managed, mostly by the universities themselves. “Understandably the pace of growth has led to some localised issues, but these can be largely managed by universities themselves, or if necessary within the current system of sponsor licences and by caps on numbers at individual institutions,” elaborated Burney. 

Good and bad news for Indian students wishing to study in UK

The debate over Indian and international students in the UK has clashed with the recent announcement by the British High Commission in India that the office will restart processing visa applications from India to the UK within the allocated 15 days, as more than 89% rise has been witnessed among Indian students studying in the country compared to the previous year. 

An increasing number of students are also facing an accommodation crisis in the UK which has led to many not being able to rent or find suitable housing, Free Press Journal’s October 18 edition had reported.