UK universities limit recruitment from Bangladesh, Pakistan, FT reports

At least nine UK universities are restricting or suspending recruitment of students from Bangladesh and Pakistan, the Financial Times reported.

The moves follow tighter UK Home Office rules on student visa refusals, the newspaper said.

Universities including Wolverhampton, Sunderland, Coventry, London Metropolitan, Hertfordshire and Oxford Brookes have halted or paused intakes from one or both countries, according to the FT.

Chester, East London, Glasgow Caledonian and private provider BPP have limited recruitment mainly from Pakistan, with some measures running until 2026, it added.

The FT said earlier Home Office changes to the Basic Compliance Assessment mean universities must now keep student visa refusal rates below 5 per cent to retain their sponsor licence, down from 10 per cent.

Official data for the year to September 2025 show refusal rates of 18 per cent for Pakistan and 22 per cent for Bangladesh, excluding dependants, the paper reported.

Student visa applications from Pakistan and Bangladesh accounted for half of 23,036 refusals in that period, according to the FT.

Asylum claims from nationals of both countries have also increased, many involving people who first entered on study or work visas, it said.

International higher education consultant Vincenzo Raimo told the FT the tougher regime posed a “real dilemma” for lower-fee universities that rely on overseas students.

He said even small numbers of problematic cases could threaten compliance with Home Office thresholds.

The newspaper reported that the University of Hertfordshire, placed under a Home Office “action plan”, has suspended recruitment from Bangladesh and Pakistan until September 2026, citing visa processing times.

Glasgow Caledonian University, also under an action plan, temporarily reduced international student intake for the September entry before restoring some courses for January, it said.

Lahore-based education agent Maryem Abbas told the FT that sudden changes were “heartbreaking” for genuine students whose offers were withdrawn late in the process.

She said many overseas recruitment agencies in Pakistan treated student placement as a “moneymaking business”.

According to official estimates published in May and cited by the FT, 22 higher education institutions would fail at least one of the tightened compliance criteria.

Five could lose student sponsorship rights for at least a year, affecting about 12,000 international students, it said.

Jamie Arrowsmith, director at Universities UK International, told the FT some universities would need to diversify their intakes and strengthen application and deposit checks to meet the new rules.

The Home Office told the FT it “strongly values” international students.

It said rules were being tightened to ensure incoming students were genuine and that education providers met their responsibilities.