The reasons behind the declining numbers of international students to the United Kingdom

Genuine students

Alex Galloway, associate dean, faculty of engineering, University of Strathclyde, talks about the reasons behind the declining numbers of international students to the United Kingdom

The scrapping of the poststudy work (PSW) scheme seems to have affected the aspirations of Indian students wanting to pursue their education in the UK. Your thoughts. The government is trying to prevent students coming to institutes that do not offer good degrees. Institutes that have had their licenses to sponsor international students revoked in the past usually do not have a structure in place to take account of the visa conditions. These conditions are very clear — a tier 4 visa, which is what an international student will get for study and checks in terms of attendance. The situation that arose a few years ago was the result of a money making exercise where universities were bringing in low quality students. But if all universities operate in a system where they monitor the movements of their tier 4 visa holders in terms of attendance in lecture and visits to the college library, the situation will get better and the PSW situation will relax with time. In fact, it is already getting better. A good quality degree means you will get good employment opportunities in the UK. Such students will find that their employers want to extend their visa. 

With the PSW situation and criticism for high fee for international students, how can the UK sell itself as a viable study destination? Are there any steps the government can take to do this?
The reputation of UK education is known to be of a very high quality. So, probably the misconception of poststudy work is a reason for a fall in the number of international students. However, the fee is not an issue. Parents who are willing to give their children a high quality education will resource the funding requirement for a UK education. 
 
In India currently, a number of engineering graduates are finding it difficult to
    find relevant jobs. Which are the upcoming areas in this field that promise good prospects? Given that there is a lot of interest among young students and institutions in aerospace engineering, I am guessing that the aerospace technology sector is a growing market here. Also, students are interested in automotive industry. With the investments from large automotive companies into India, there will be a wealth of opportunities for qualified automotive experts. This industry tends to recruit graduates from across sectors including mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, and industrial engineering as well as computer science. So a degree in any of the four sectors will be particularly attractive to the growing automotive industry. Also, there seems to be opportunities for civil engineers and architects.
    As the Scottish chairman of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, which is a global organisation, I can say that there is a worldwide shortage of engineers. While travelling here, I have noticed the presence of some large companies and you can be sure that they will be employing engineers. However, they will be very selective about who they are employing. So students need to acquire quality engineering degrees.

Alex Galloway