Now, UK off city student’s job map

CHENNAI: Harshini Muralidharan, 23, of Chennai is pursuing a Masters’ degree in environment and energy engineering in the University of Sheffield in UK, but she has no plans of staying on to find work there after her course. “Opportunities are difficult to find and there are visa complications too,” she says. “So I plan to try my luck in India itself.”
However, most of her friends are in a quandary whether to stay or leave, she says.“They study in other universities in UK and have been looking for jobs there to repay loans,” she says. “Although the new rule says that work permits can be obtained if one has an offer letter in hand, some of the companies they approached refused to give offer letters unless work permits were already issued. My friends in India who planned to apply to UK this year are now looking at other countries.”
When the UK government announced last year that the post-study-work-permit issued to non-Europeans on a student visa will be cancelled, a sizeable chunk of the student fraternity hastily changed their plans and diverted their applications elsewhere. The announcement came into effect on Friday.
Foreign students in UK on a student visa must now apply separately for a work permit which will be issued only if they have a job offer letter that offers an income of more than 20,000 pounds per annum.
According to Bhavna Bhavnani, director for Global Education Counseling, India, the number of applications in 2011-12 reduced by half as compared to the year before that. “We cater to 37 universities in the UK and we have seen nearly 50% fall in applications,” she said. “Most people entering UK with a student’s visa are really looking for jobs and some want to settle down there. With the government no longer offering any guarantees, the numbers are falling.”
With some of the community colleges with unclear credentials also barred from admitting foreign students, people who go to seek work in UK on the pretext of studying too have backed off in general, she added. Bruce Miller, dean of international affairs at Hindustan University in Chennai says that his students are seeking other options this year. “We have had very few applications for UK this year,” he said. “The general trend has been to apply to US and Australia for masters in engineering courses and Malaysia for IT. However, for PhDs, UK still tops the list.”