Pak students still prefer Britain despite crackdown on them in UK

Lahore, Aug 3 (ANI): A large number of Pakistani students still seek admission in universities abroad and their preferred destination remains the UK, even after they were held and deported by British law enforcement agencies.

Nine Pakistani students were held by the agency in the UK on suspicion of terrorism and later released and deported without being charged.

According to various student visa consultants, although some students were now reluctant to register in a university in the UK, the majority did not ask questions about agencies' attitude towards Pakistanis in the UK.

The consultants said, however, a shift in the students' mindset was seen during the last few months and now many preferred other countries to the UK.

They said Australia had become the centre of attraction for many students since the visa rules for the UK were now more stern, the Daily Times reported.

Amanat Ali Anjum, a British Council trained consultant, said no change was likely to occur in the student visa applications filed with the British embassy.

He said each year 8,000 to 9,000 students were admitted to various British universities, although the number of students filing visa applications was higher than those gaining admission.

Anjum said applications for admission to the UK, filed with the British Council, was a major source of its funds. He said most students wanted to enroll in Business Administration and Chartered Accountancy and after the UK, Australia was the country where students were seeking enrolment the most.

Falcon Education and Consultancy Services' Tanveer said after the Pakistani students were deported from UK, the trend of filing applications with British educational institutions had changed and students were filing application in other countries like Sweden and Germany and in many cases preferred these to the UK. (ANI)