Summer riots over immigration hostels may have left international students and their families wondering how welcome they were in their new home. On top of changes in government policy many international students are questioning the feasibility of overseas study.  In the current environment, international students must consider numerous questions before embarking on an overseas course of study. Will they encounter hostility as foreign nationals? Can they bring their families; are they welcome? What additional costs are involved for visa applications and healthcare? And what level of security and accommodation standards will they encounter?

 

Universities themselves are aware of tensions and ironies as reflected on the latest figures showing a 16% drop in international student visa applications. Since UK student fee contributions have effectively been frozen since 2012; Universities are under pressure to balance the books and monies from international student numbers are a valuable source of income. And yet ensuring the wellbeing of international students who choose to remain in their own indigenous group, accessing courses online rather than in person, not getting to engage with the wider community, continues to be a challenge and a headache for university international offices and institutions as a whole.

 

Alan Tower, National Director of Friends International commented; “Churches and Christian student groups make an offer that is not replicable elsewhere. Genuine Spirit-filled hospitality that welcomes the stranger ‘mind body and spirit’ is a gift that is literally ‘out of this world’ and can’t be replicated. At Friends International we seek to offer real friendship borne out of Christlike commitment to reach into the human condition and point to a hope-filled future which is not found elsewhere.”