By Anastasia Dzutstsati, reporter

The Universities UK call for a new visa opportunity for international students after their graduation received a positive feedback from lectures and students across the country.

The visa proposals to allow international students to work in the UK for two more years after their graduation was pushed by the UUK earlier in September during Universities UK’s annual conference in Sheffield. According to the UUK, graduates would get sponsored visas by their universities on a more flexible basis, unlike the currently permitted Tier 2 visa.

“I considered staying in England, but the visa requirements are really difficult to meet, and the most accessible one is the Tier 5 visa for internships, but those do not pay well, causing difficulties with living costs in the UK,” says Wanteng Liew, a University of Exeter graduate from Singapore.

Since 2011 the visa reforms have been introduced in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zeeland, being more attractive destinations for international students and graduates, unlike the UK.

“My fees have been rising every year, just as the number of rejections due to inability of companies to sponsor my work visa. Being a skilled, experienced graduate with an LSE degree and fluency in multiple foreign languages meant nothing for employers when faced with a prospect of dealing with bureaucracy, red tape and extra costs,” complains Valerie Kozlova, LSE graduate and former LSEU international chairman.

“Brexit might seem like a daunting future for Brits, but I have been living in a similar hostile environment for a while as an international student,” she continues.

After UK universities dropped in this year’s global reputation rankings for research and teaching, many lecturers got concerned about the UK’s future as one of the most popular countries among international students.

Yana D Nikolova, lecturer in Sociology, Psychology and Medieval History at Campbell Harris College and Bales College, says that it paints “a sad picture for teachers to see international students leaving the country”:

“It is necessary not only to extend the visas, but mainly make the application conditions for them quicker and easier. Unfortunately, we will struggle to find clever brains and hardworking young people who can make their ideas real.

“Internationals in the UK help to define the UK! Yet discrimination is a huge problem in this country, as it becomes difficult for students from some nations to find a job. But the market will need them after Brexit, when new people will be on demand to fix the big economic, social, political and psychological mess in this country.”

Multiple international colleges and UK universities have lost a lot of business in the past couple of years due to the declining number of international students coming into the country.

Steven Stelios Lambros Antoniou, former Politics lecturer at Bellerbys College Oxford, an international college that shut down a year ago, blames the Tories for the visa situation and the job loss:

“Restricting non-EU international students from getting a visa is a stupid and counter-productive law. Like Brexit, the Tories shot themselves in the foot. It has created a brain drain where talented overseas students have chosen other English-speaking countries instead. The new UUK proposition seems like a sensible choice.”