A CRACKDOWN on student visas to stop people entering the UK illegally has caused a slump of 25% in undergraduates from Pakistan and India coming to Scots universities.
Undergraduates from Nigeria fell by more than 14% in the same period.
Numbers from the three key countries fell by 1400 in 2011/12 compared to the year before, after the introduction of tougher visa restrictions by the Home Office.
It was sparked by widespread concern at the proliferation of bogus colleges operating as "visa shops". Scottish universities now fear they could lose as much as £23 million in revenue after the dramatic fall in students from the key countries.
Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said the decline, revealed in new figures from the UK-wide Higher Education Statistics Agency, was "deeply worrying".
Universities rely increasingly on the lucrative fees paid by overseas students to subsidise courses for home students – with charges as much as £17,000 a year for postgraduate courses.
They have recruited more students from countries such as China and the US this year to ensure numbers stay stable.
However, Mr Sim said India, Pakistan and Nigeria were "important markets for Scottish higher education and countries with which we have long-standing academic relationships".
He said: "It's very important that the message gets out to these countries that international students are welcome in Scotland. This is not the perception given out by hardline rhetoric from parts of the UK Government. It is telling that this fall occurred only months after the UK Borders Agency announced the end of its post-study work route that enabled international students to help pay off - fees."
Mr Sim said such work was still offered by many of Scotland's competitors and the loss of it had damaged the sector's ability to compete.
Graeme Kirkpatrickof NUS Scotland, which represents students, said:. "The UK Government's policies risk damaging Scottish education's international reputation for excellence.
"International students not only provide huge cultural and educational contributions to Scotland's college and universities, they make a huge economic boost to their local communities - The Home Secretary needs to urgently review these policies and ensure UKBA is not unfairly rejecting talented students."
A spokesman for UCU Scotland, which represents academics, said: "Many countries are now building huge new campuses for students who find it increasingly difficult to navigate tough immigration laws in the UK.
"It is particularly worrying that the Westminster Government does not seem to be aware of the damage these policies do to Scottish universities."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We have expressed concerns to the UKBA in the past around the difficulties that individuals from countries outwith the EU face when taking up a place at Scottish universities."
Last month, Home Secretary Theresa May announced consular staff would interview more than 100,000 prospective students to prevent bogus applicants entering the country.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article