Indian Students Avoiding Master Degree in UK

Indian students seeking higher education in the United Kingdom have begun to decline, with over 21,000 fewer Master's degree applicants than the previous year, according to official statistics revealed in London on Thursday.

UK Home Office data based on Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates reported that Indian student applicants fell by 16% in the year ending December 2023, resulting in a 10% decline in net migration compared to 2022.

While British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will welcome the results, as migration control is one of his primary campaign promises for the upcoming general election on July 4, the student visa figures will concern universities that rely on international student tuition. 

"There were 116,455 sponsored study visa grants to main applicants that are Indian nationals in the year ending March 2024, (26 per cent of the total), 21,717 fewer than the previous year," the Home Office analysis reads.

"The majority (94,149, or 81 per cent) of Indian students come to the UK to study at Master's level, and the recent decrease in Indian students was driven by 21,800 fewer Indian nationals coming to study at Master's level," it notes.

A drop in numbers followed earlier this year's visa restriction on students' ability to bring family members, spouses, or children. It comes when university vice-chancellors and diaspora groups urge the government not to protect the country's post-study work visa offer under the Graduate Route initiative. 

In the fiscal year ending March 2024, Indian nationals, constituting the largest group of students, were granted visas on this route (64,372), accounting for over half (46%) of all awards. This underscores the situation's urgency and the need for immediate government action to address the visa restrictions. 

This supports earlier facts about this system. It provides the opportunity to obtain job experience at the end of a degree and is regarded as critical when Indians choose their higher education destination.

The ONS said: "Long-term net migration (the number of people immigrating minus the number emigrating) was provisionally estimated to be 685,000 in the year ending (YE) December 2023, compared with our updated estimate of 764,000 for the YE December 2022; while it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, emigration increased in 2023, while new Home Office data show visa applications have fallen in recent months."