An increasing number of Indian students are heading to the United Kingdom (U.K.), but the number of those who manage to stay in that country by securing jobs or pursuing further studies has been poor in recent years. Indians, like other foreign students, pay higher tuition fees than domestic students, so they are disproportionately more impacted when they can’t find jobs. Moreover, for foreign students, it’s a double blow as it leads to the expiry of visas.
In 2022, two out of ten students, who migrated out of India, went to the U.K. for a degree. In the U.K., Indians now form the second largest cohort of foreign students, behind China. Indians as a share of foreign students, surged from around 4% in 2015-16 to over 22% in 2021-22. The share of students from the European Union — which used to be the second-largest cohort — dwindled to 8%, post-Brexit. Indians filled this void following the graduate visa policy in 2019, which allowed foreign students to work in the U.K. for two years after completing their studies.
