The London Mayor, Boris Johnson will give a proposal to the UK government on Tuesday for introducing the new Commonwealth visa program for reversing the drop in Indian student numbers who study in the UK universities.
The UK might shortly introduce the first of its kind visa only for the students from India which would allow them to work for two year period of time after passing out of the Britain University. Johnson had also proposed two-year work program for engineering, science and technology foreign graduates.
Johnson also told that it would be trialed with the citizens from India, and if successful, then it can be extended to other Commonwealth students.
Students from India in London were third biggest income generator having contributed around 130 million pounds in the year 2014. Indian students had paid around 56 million pounds in the form of fees and around 74 million pounds for cost of living, all the money supporting and creating around 1643 jobs.
Mr. Johnson also pointed out that the latest restrictions on the foreign students are preventing the bright students from coming to study in London.
Around 1,00,000 foreign students visit to study in London every year, which according to the mayor’s office is more than in any other city in the whole world. According to the official data, the Indian student numbers have been halved from 39,090 in the year 2010-11 to around 19,750 in the year 2013-14.
According to mayor’s office, these foreign students contribute around 37 billion pounds to the economy of the London and also assist to support 37,000 jobs.
According to the information from the Universities UK, despite the pledges from the UK government in the year 2013 to raise the foreign student numbers by the year 2018, the none EU students who arrive in the UK had been flat on the average between the year 2013 and 2014.
Estimates told that by the year 2024, one in every three students across the world is expected to come from India and China. By the year 2024, it is expected that there would be around 3.85 million mobile higher education students internationally. China and India would contribute around 35% of the world growth during this period. Students from India would be the second largest portion with around 3.76 lakh of them traveling to get enrolled in the overseas universities.
