The British government could ban foreign students from studying in the country

The British government could ban foreign students from taking university courses in the country if they do not get a place at a top university, The Times journalists reported. A significant number of young Romanians study in the UK.

The move is part of new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government’s plans to curb immigration which has reached record levels in the UK, with The Times noting that among the measures targeted are restrictions on foreign students bringing family members into the country after that number has almost tripled in just one year.

Sunak said “all options are on the table” after the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics in London showed the number of migrants arriving in Britain reached one million since the start of the year to June.

According to the same source, the number of people leaving the UK rose to 560,000, leaving a net migration figure of 504,000 people. Reuters points out that the number is a record for Britain, noting that in the previous 12 months net immigration was just 173,000 people and that even before Brexit the record was 336,000 people in 2015.

Almost 13,000 Romanian students in Great Britain 

According to data published by the independent public body Higher Education Student Statistics, in the 2020/2021 academic year, the last for which data were published, 12,860 Romanian students were registered in UK universities, compared to 8,250 in 2016/2017, an increase with 55.8%. The Italians ranked first among EU students with 14,605, followed by the French with 14,090 and the Romanians.

In the universities in the region of England, where most students from Great Britain study, the Romanians are in 2nd place, ahead of the French. In total, there were 152,905 EU students in the UK in the 2020/2021 academic year, three times less than non-EU students, 452,225. The most numerous students were those from China, 143,820, followed by those from India, 84,555, Nigeria 21,305, the United States 19,220 and Hong Kong 16,655 and Pakistan 12,975, which places Romanians in ninth place in the ranking of all foreign students in the UK , G4Media says.