U.K. Immigration Minister Kevin Foster MP announced that a ‘Student route and Child Student route will open on 5 October 2020 to the best and brightest Indian students from across the globe’ as part of the government’s commitment to introduce a new points-based immigration system.
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He made the announcement on a visit to The University of Cardiff where he met with Indian students along with the CEO of Study Group Emma Lancaster - Study Group provides international student pathway programmes leading to undergraduate and postgraduate degree level study at Cardiff and at leading universities across the U.K. including Durham, Sheffield, Leeds, Royal Holloway University in London and Strathclyde which was recently named the Scottish University of the Year.
Following the welcome announcements which mean Indian students will be able to progress onto their studies without returning home to apply for a new visa, the Minister and his civil service team held a roundtable discussion with the Study Group on issues relating to international students. The Minister reassured his commitment “to make our immigration system much more user friendly and to work with businesses and communities to make sure the system works for everyone."
Speaking of the new student route which has positive implications for Indian students choosing UK universities, the government said: “International students play a key part in the government’s agenda to unleash the UK’s potential now that we have left the EU. They make important contributions economically, academically, and financially. Launching the Student route early sends a clear message to the world we want the best and brightest to come to the UK to study at our globally renowned education institutions. There will be no limit on the number of international students who can come to the UK. This will help to increase the total number of international students choosing to study in the UK higher education system each year to 600,000 by 2030, as set out in the International Education Strategy published in March 2019."
Study Group’s discussions with the Minister reflected the organisation’s longstanding engagement with the Home Office and Departments of Education and International Trade to support welcoming policies for Indian and other overseas students, including as part of the UK International Education Strategy.
Welcoming the opportunity to talk directly to the Minister and his team, CEO Emma Lancaster said:
“I very much appreciated the chance to engage with the Minister personally and to thank him for his efforts to support Indian students through policy mitigation in the face of COVID-19. Both Kevin Foster and the Universities Minister Michelle Donelan has worked closely with the international education sector to mitigate the adverse consequences of Covid-19 on international students to ensure no student has a negative outcome through the immigration system due to a circumstance beyond their control.”
“We also thanked the Minister for his commitment to the very welcome new International Education Strategy and in particular recent changes to reintroduce the opportunity for post-study work visas which are so important to Indian graduates. This is an important change for students seeking an opportunity to develop their careers and to mitigate the cost of study in the UK, as well as bringing vital skills and tax revenue to the UK economy, and we are keen to do our part to communicate the latest developments to talented potential students across the world.”
As a global organisation with its corporate headquarters in the UK, the Study Group team also shared with the Minister views on how to make British education even more competitive internationally and measures to help reach the UK‘s ambitious educational export target of £35 billion by 2030. Suggestions included streamlining visa process and delegating functions to trusted providers to provide a simplified student journey for prospective international students that would help make the UK a more competitive destination. Study Group also committed to continuing to work closely with government on its international education strategy, and to share insights drawn from its 25 years of providing international education across the world and through its extensive network in international education markets across the world.
