Nigerians and other immigrant students in the UK currently face a high risk of deportation after completing their studies following a dispute between UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman and the Department for Education.
According to The Daily Mail, Braverman is currently looking to reduce the amount of time overseas students can stay in the UK after graduation.
the punch reports that currently, immigrants who travel to Britain to study can stay for two years after graduation.
But the education department is said to be resisting Braverman’s plan to reduce it to just six months, after which they must have a skilled job that makes them eligible for a work visa or to leave the UK.
The Daily Mail further stated that the development is the latest twist in a long-running row over the number of foreign students.
“Braverman has pledged to cut immigration and ‘substantially reduce’ the number of unskilled foreign workers arriving in Britain, from 239,000 to ‘tens of thousands’.
“As part of that, he wants to reduce the number of international students who can apply for a post-graduate work visa, allowing any student who has passed their degree to stay and work in the UK for at least two years. .
“But education officials fear this will make the UK less attractive to overseas students, who pay far more than UK students for their courses and are a major source of revenue for universities,” the house said. media.
the punch reports that the UK is one of the top destinations for Nigerian students looking to study abroad.
Recent data released by the UK Home Office revealed that the number of study visas granted to Nigerians increased by 222.8%, with 65,929 issued by June 2022, compared to 20,427 in the same period of 2021. .
Similarly, according to SBM Intelligence, Nigerian students and their dependents in the UK contributed an estimated £1.9bn to the UK economy.
A professor of Mathematics at the Federal University of Technology in Minna, Gbolahan Bolarin, pointed out that the government must devote more efforts to financing tertiary education in the country to avoid a total collapse of the sector.
