Britain plans to make tougher English tests for overseas students

October 05, 2015
Britain is considering making new English tests tougher for overseas students. This move was set to put a negative impact on the foreign students whose numbers are already dwindling, including those who apply from India for studying in the country.

The move may cause clashes within the government, as some of the ministers are opposing for putting the international students through strict norms to stem the number of Indian students whose numbers are already falling, who stood second in group of students applying to the universities in the UK.

Britain is planning to prepare tougher English tests for international students

A workshop was held last week by the officials of the UK Home Office with the university representatives for planning to remove the existing system and replacing it with the new more rigorous system for testing of international English language.

The upcoming new language tests is expected to be tough than those placed in America and Australia, making it a disadvantage for top universities of the Britain 

David Cameron had demanded language tests to be tougher and Theresa May, Home Minister also wants to crackdown on those students who don’t speak proper English.

However, the vice chancellors of many universities are concerned about the drop in the number of students which is going to cost them millions every year in fees, as they had called for an assessment on economic impact.

Chancellor George Osborne and Sajid Javid, UK business secretary, both are concerned about the cutting numbers of foreign students is going to damage the economy.

Universities are arguing that the students from science and engineering streams would be hit harder, because the language skills of those students are worse than the arts students. They also fear that some of the science courses will have to be close down.

Universities UK, chief executive, Nichola Dandridge, said that there is no proof for suggesting that the students who are recruited under the requirement of the English language are being held back by their skills in English language or they are academically performing poorly.

Students from India constitute the second largest group of international students in the UK after the students from China. Around 20,000 students from India went for higher studies in the UK in the year 2013-14.

The number of Indian students in the STEM courses has dropped by almost 50% between 2010-12 after scrapping the permit of the two-year post-study work by the UK.

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