Addressing a seminar at the Education UK Exhibition, Ewan Cunningham, a representative from the Commission, admitted that the office had suffered a backlog in its visa processing and has not been able to return the visas within their target of 15 days.
An MBA student at the exhibition said she had already missed two weeks of classes. She applied for her visa on January 6 but is yet to hear back. She asked the university for an extension to start her academic year, but even this discretion expired on Friday. Her university too had been slow to send necessary documents.
The exhibition, nonetheless, got a thumbs-up from the students who said it helped them get first-hand information about the universities and courses on offer. Participants were, however, worried about scholarships on offer as education in the UK is among the costliest in the world. “I am told universities offer about 15 per cent discounts on tuition fees. But that’s meagre,” Vivek, an MBA graduate who wants to pursue a master’s degree in child psychology, said.
Sowmya, a science graduate who aspires to do an MSc in finance, said: “They give rebates of up to £1,000 if the tuition fee is paid once”, hinting that paying the fees at one go was difficult.