High rent, lack of jobs, has made lives of many Indian students in UK a nightmare. According to the National Student Accommodation Survey released some months ago some 80% international students were worried about their day to say living with 58% of students noticing their energy bills rise due to the cost-of-living crisis.
Based on our conversation with Indian students and Industry experts the study abroad journey appears to have become a bumpy road for the students who have just moved into the country.
"Even though this country is going through some sort of recession, the poind still holds a lot of power as compared to Indian rupees, says Adesh Thapa, an Indian student who went to Britain to pursue marketing management at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.
“London is one of the costliest places to get accommodation on rent Thankfully I got an accommodation inside the campus but my friends are paying 600-850 pounds a month as rents has increased in recent times ,” Adesh told FPJ.
“I have friends who work two different part-time jobs to support themselves,” Aastha Pradhan a student at London's Imperial Business school said
Another student, Soumyanil Chakraborty from Coventry University, claimed that tuition fees are significantly higher compared to some other European countries like Germany, Australia.
“But there are alternative cheaper ways of living to offset costs. There is public transport and food on the go is readily available to keep expenses manageable,” said Soumyanil.
Joyce Isaac, a career counselling specialist, however, feels that a massive shift in the popular choice of study abroad destinations is unlikely.
“Majority of students take an education loan to study abroad and with inflation in sight, it has become an issue for everyone, but more pronounced for Indian students due to their large numbers. Despite that, students are still preferring the UK as it has to offer some excellent benefits. A little planning can mitigate some aspects of the issue,” he said.
Lakshmi Iyer, Managing Director Indian Operations for SI-UK, claimed that UK is seeing unprecedented inflation as a result of the energy crisis and Ukraine situation, thus its having a cascading impact all across.
“During the pandemic many private landlords decided to move away from letting out space. This meant that there is reduced inventory available”
“The universities in the UK have a certain number of places in their accommodation which doesn't have the elasticity to absorb the demand. It is important for Indian students to know that they need to secure their accommodation well in advance rather than wait till the last moment,” she added.
According to latest British High Commission’s statistics, India has now overtaken China as the largest nationality being issued sponsored study visas in the UK. Indians received the largest number of UK student visas at 1.27 lakh till September 2022.
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