An Indian diaspora-led college students’ organisation on Friday urged the British authorities to rethink its plan to crackdown on foreigners granted examine visas. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly planning to convey down immigration numbers by limiting admissions to high universities in addition to limiting visas for college students’ dependants after the nation’s internet migration figures hit report ranges.

The National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK mentioned any transfer to arbitrarily rank universities would show counterproductive in the long term.

“Students who are in the UK temporarily, should not be counted as migrants,” mentioned NISAU UK Chair Sanam Arora.

“International students, of which Indians are the biggest cohort, bring a net revenue of GBP 30 billion into the British economy and go back as friends of the UK, furthering ties of trade, culture, and diplomacy. The UK’s higher education sector is one of our largest exports to the world, and we are hopeful that the government will ensure that there is no arbitrary definition of what counts as a ‘top’ university,” she mentioned.

University our bodies additionally sounded a observe of warning over any transfer to restrict worldwide college students as a injury to economic system and Britain’s popularity.

“Cutting international student numbers would run directly counter to the UK government’s strategy to welcome more students from around the world,” mentioned UUKi Chief Executive Vivienne Stern.

“International students make an enormous cultural and financial contribution to the UK. They help make our campuses and cities the vibrant, thought-provoking places they are known for being. They sustain jobs in towns and cities up and down the country,” she mentioned.

“Beyond this, the financial contribution they make has been very significant for UK universities. Limiting international students would be an act of self-harm that would damage many parts of the UK,” she added.

The considerations come up within the wake of the most recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures revealing internet migration to the UK rose from 173,000 within the 12 months to June 2021, to 504,000 within the 12 months to June 2022 – a rise of 331,000 post-Brexit. International college students have been a big contributory issue to this spike, with Indians overtaking Chinese college students as the biggest cohort of scholar visas for the primary time.

(With PTI inputs)