UK student visa refusals rise to 8% and strain universities
Getting a UK student visa just got tougher for Indians: refusal rates have jumped to 8% over the last three quarters.
This is causing headaches for universities that count on international students, and India now joins six other countries facing higher rejection rates.
With application backlogs and increased refusals, universities are having to rethink their plans.
Universities pause recruitment from high-refusal countries
Some universities, like Hertfordshire and Coventry, get most of their international students from high-refusal countries like India and Nigeria. As a result, universities have started pausing recruitment from these regions.
Meanwhile, top-tier schools like University College London are not really affected since they rely less on these markets.
The financial impact is real: universities such as Sunderland are even making budget cuts as fewer international students come in.
In contrast, places like China and the US still see numbers since their refusal rates stay below 1%.