Fewer than 5,000 international students, i.e. 3 per cent of the total number stay in the UK after their visa has expired, according to the latest estimate by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The figures based on new border exit checks dramatically overturn previous claims that around 100,000 students a year overstayed. They should have gone to homestay hosts! Any seasoned international student accommodation provider would have immediately given the ONS a heads up on their experience of what really happens when studying comes to an end and the visa is due to expire.
A good accommodation host will proudly show you the many ‘Thank You’ cards sent from the home address of international students who were staying with them just days or weeks earlier. And there’s also the Christmas cards or follow up letters announcing a first job, either at home or another country. Students can often be in touch with their former international accommodation host for years afterwards.They remember the kindness and care showed to them throughout their stay. Hosts will ensure that their young guests practise their English speaking every day, and also prepare great tasting meals students actually really like to eat!
International students may not feel overly impacted by Brexit
Following the Brexit referendum, there has been some concern that international students may no longer feel that a UK university or College of Further Education would be their first choice for studying abroad. Previously, the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) reported that the UK was the second most popular destination for international students in the world after the US. In another separate survey, it was also found that overseas students were more satisfied with their living and learning experience than in any other country.
The findings were recently endorsed by Home Secretary, Amber Rudd as “something to be proud of…”, glossing over her earlier pledge to “crackdown on international student numbers”, and also bring in tougher visa rules for “lower quality” universities and courses. Labour MP for Hove, Peter Kyle, has also given his thumbs up to international students, saying they are a “huge boon” and warning that “any attempt to make it harder for them to study in the UK would be a disaster.”
Latest figures for overseas candidates applying to study in the UK at the start of this academic year suggest that a broad number of international students may not actually feel that overly impacted by ongoing events involving Brexit. Applications from overseas in June 2017 are up 2 per cent to nearly 71,000, according to The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), who also state that more than 430,000 international students study in the UK every year.
Universities UK report that in 2016, the year that the Brexit referendum was held, just over 1 in 7 (13 per cent) of undergraduate students were from outside the UK. Further support was voiced by Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK who points out that “international students have a very positive impact on the UK economy and local communities” adding that “many return home having built strong professional and personal links…”. Once again, a view that many international students and their homestay hosts would wholeheartedly endorse.
Hosted family experience offers real insight and understanding
International students who choose a homestay option soon find they have opportunities to more quickly and easily learn about the British way of life and its amazing variety of cultural traditions. The hosted family experience offers the kind of real insight and understanding that they would probably not be aware of even after one year in a halls of residence.
The role of a homestay provider is very different from a commercial landlord or estate agent who simply rents out a room to a lodger / tenant for financial gain. Homestay providers know they’re expected to treat a student as part of the family, which is why so many apply to become hosts for international students in the first place. A typical host sees their spare room as part of a bigger world view of shared humanity and cultural exchange.
Both homeowners and students can, of course, indicate the type of person(s) they prefer to be sharing their lives with for the duration of a course of study. In recent years, student applications from the EU have mostly come from Germany, France, Ireland, Italy and Spain, while the top Non EU applicants include those from China, India, Malaysia, United States and Hong Kong, according to the Higher Educational Statistics Agency (HESE).
It’s not too hard to see why a homestay host would be the natural go-to person to sound out what a variety of international students are likely to be thinking and feeling. After all, some of them are living under the same roof – and fast learning to speak fluent English.