UK universities withdraw offers after government tightens student visa rules
Big update if you're eyeing the UK for studies: universities there are now pulling back offers to international students, including those from India.
The reason? The UK government just made visa rules tougher; if more than 5% of a university's student visas get rejected (down from 10%), that school could be banned from recruiting international students.
Universities' Pakistan application withdrawals near 41%
The crackdown is aimed at stopping misuse of student visas, and it's already making waves.
Applications from countries like Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, and India are being withdrawn in much higher numbers: Pakistan saw a jump from 3% to nearly 41% this year.
Schools like the University of Sunderland are now cutting back on recruiting from these regions.
As Jamie Arrowsmith, director of Universities UK International (UUKi), put it, "Many refusals appear to rest on flawed, inconsistent and highly subjective reasoning, forcing universities to withdraw offers at scale to avoid breaching compliance thresholds."