It would be wrong to penalise genuine students who want to study in the UK!!s

In a major blow to the Nepali students wanting to pursue their studies in Britain, the country has temporily suspended new student visa applications from Nepal -- and North India, where new applications have been suspended too-shot up dramatically in recent years. Of the 6,000 students who got the 'No Objection Letter' to study abroad from the Ministry of Education (MoE) in the last two months, MoE officials believe most were headed for the UK.

British concerns are genuine. That a small country like the UK with its limited number of universities and colleges has overtaken the US -- which has the most expensive education system with nearly 4,000 centres for higher education-- in the intake of Nepali in recent times. But the limited absorptive capacity of British universities and cities is not the reason the UK has had to suspend new tier 4 visa applications. Of late, the trend of seeking tire 4 visas had caught on among even the non-students who were looking to enter Britain through illegal means. Notably, the applicants under this category donot have to show their income sosurce, nor do they have to produce property evaluation certificates. Many non-students have managed to enter Britain by exploiting the loopholes in the tire 4 visa system.

Notwithstanding their security and population concerns, the suspension of student visas poses some tricky questions before the British government. Many genuine students who wished to pursue their education in the UK will now be forbidden from doing so. The easy visa procedure had allowed students from South Asia, which, according to global standards, lags far behind in providing its youth with quality education, obtain world-class British education. Thus, the British authorities, through their latest decision, have closed a big window of opportunity for students from this part of the world.

We believe the issue has to be looked at from a broader perspective. The wish of the British government to keep out unscrupulous elements from its shores is understandable. But again, it would bewrongto penablise the genuine students who cation at British institutions for no fault of their own. If the temporry suspension of new students visas is aimed at closer scrutiny of the applications which are already with the UK Border Agency (the body responsible for vetting visa applications to Britain), and if the qualified students in the lot will eventually be considered for visas, itis hard to find fault with the stopgap measure. We would like to believe that once the current crop of applications have been cleared, the tire 4 system, or something along similar lines, will be resumed, hopefully sooner than later.

(This editorial was published on Kathmandu Post on 2FEB10)