The UK has seen a massive drop in the number of students coming to its universities from the Indian subcontinent. The number of Indian students dropped from 17,271 to 13,608 in 2013 as compared to the previous year. The report does not provide insights on whether the number of students from India pursuing an MBA in the UK are also falling, however data from other reports suggest this trend.
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The latest migration figures released on Thursday by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the UK agency responsible for releasing statistics on the economy, population and society, show study visas issued to Pakistani students were down 55% in the year to December 2013, and down 21% for Indians. This means the number of Indian students dropped from 17,271 to 13,608 in one year while the number of Pakistani students tumbled from 10,984 to 4,947.
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The main nationalities to show an increase in the number of visas issued for study purposes in the year ending December 2013 were Chinese (5,227) — an increase by 9%, Brazilian (2,438) — an increase by 147%, and Malaysian (1,961) — an increase by 24%.
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There was a 4% overall increase study visas issued compared with the previous year. [pullquote]While some British b-schools blame the slow economy for the tumble, others hold inconvenient immigration rules responsible. The declining rupee has been a dampener too, increasing studying expenses by 15%[/pullquote]
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A big part of the drop seems to stem from reduced student interest in pursuing an MBA in the UK. As per a report released in 2013 by the Higher Education Statistics Agency of the UK government, Indian applicants to MBA courses in UK dropped 24.7%, from 5,015 students to 3,775 between 2011 and 2012. While some British b-schools blame the slow economy for the tumble, others hold inconvenient immigration rules responsible. The declining rupee has been a dampener too, increasing studying expenses by 15%.
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The UK government has pledged to reduce net migration to the “tens of thousands” by 2015. It managed to reduce total immigration from outside the EU to 244,000 in the year to September 2013, compared with 269,000 the previous year.
“This is due to fewer New Commonwealth (such as India) citizens migrating to the UK for formal study,” the ONS report says.
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On the other hand, in 2013, the highest numbers of work-related visas were issued to Indians (35%), Australian (10%) and United States (10%) nationals.
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The ONS data says from the year ending September 2009 onwards those with an Asian nationality have accounted for the majority of visas and have driven the recent fluctuations in visa numbers. Asian nationals accounted for 275,709 (52%) of the 532,574 visas issued in the year ending December 2013, with India and China each accounting for 15% of the total.
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In the year ending December 2005, a total of 191,584 visas were issued for the purposes of study (excluding student visitors). This figure increased gradually at first, but then increased sharply, peaking at 320,183 in the year ending June 2010, a rise of 41% on the previous year.
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Following this peak there has been a fall in the number of visas issued for the purposes of study (excluding student visitors) to 204,469 in the year ending June 2013. The figure has now risen to 218,773 for the year ending December 2013, a 4% increase compared with the year ending December 2012 (209,749).
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