Brexit’s Impact on UK Study Visas

Chapter One Introduction

According to a senior manager at the London Business School for visa application, Brexit is a cause for concern regarding visa issuance to international business students applying for Universities across the UK. However, this manager notes that despite the concern, it has not translated into a decline in applications from the international students. The manager notes that while visa is vital in the process of applying school as an international student, it is not a significant determining factor. Marginson, 2018) however notes that Brexit and any other activities that clampdown the process of acquiring a visa have a detrimental impact on international business student as it might make it challenging for them to secure schools or a right to work in the UK after they graduate. As Marginson, (2018) notes, getting a right to work in the UK is a significant reason why international business students choose to study in the UK. In recent years back, international business students graduating from the UK universities were allowed to stay longer in the UK. Notably, the Tire 1, a post study work visa was abolished in the years 2012 therefore affecting the life of international business students in the UK as it allowed them to stay in the UK and get job within 2 years post graduate. For international business students from the EU, it was easy and straightforward to acquire a study visa with which students were allowed to work and stay in the UK less or more as they pleased. Besides these changes that will have an impact on the business students, there are other changes that will affect all the international students in general. One of the major factors can be considered is the incident of Brexit, which is difficult for the international students to accept who are not British; at first, it looked like it had nothing to do with anyone, but this was not the case. Although the effect of this in the present situation is not at a higher pace, and it will gradually affect the international people living in the United Kingdom (Marginson, 2018). In the past few years, the government has required international business students to be sponsored by the employers. This has acted as a limiting factor to students flocking the UK to study business. For the students already studying in the London business school however, Foley, a visa manager claims that there is not a significant negative impact. This group comprise of the 2nd and 3rd years; at least 60% still opts to work in the UK despite the bureaucratic hurdles they have to deal with following the requirement for employee sponsorship.

1.2 Theoretical background and research focus

The economy of the United Kingdom relies heavily on the service industry, both as a source of export demand as well as a major contributor to job creation. The service industry requires a labour force from business specialists. From 1997 to 2013, the data shows that the number of services has increased from 28 percent to 41 percent with increased growth in important activities, such as business services and financial services. According to Dennis (2016, p.3), the creative and digital sectors were considered important for job creation, and these were the priorities of the United Kingdom in order to increase their job market. However, the momentum was lost after the Brexit decision and the number of jobs produced after this decision was not enough to meet the needs of people. It is thus clear that Brexit will have a significant impact on the job creation and entrepreneurship in the UK. After the Brexit vote in June 2016, the business environment has been described as uncertain. Since then each day with a no deal Brexit issue that has been ongoing, persistent uncertainty has affected corporations both local and international, therefore crippling them from making decisions. Also, Brexit has had a political impact which has equally been transferred into the economic status of the country. Leaving its EU relations will affect the UK’s market avail ability, labour mobility and production as well as business regulations. These factors have been established to have an impact on the business performance; companies continue to restraing using their resources and even relocating. With the ongoing ucertainity, research has shown that in the past two years, Brexit has directly led to a reduction in investment by about 6%. Employment also has reduced by about 1.5%. Furthermore, international students are concerned that the Brexit decision of the United Kingdom has left them shocked. That is why, international students have already decided to turn away from the United Kingdom and choose nations such as Australia, The United States, and Canada. According to the De Ruyter and Tsiligiris (2018),A number of foreign students are less in the United Kingdom after the Brexit decision due to the fact that stricter visa rules have been implemented, that reduced the interest of international students and graduated. According to the Killwick, and Cuddeford (2016) that weakening of the value of pounds after the Brexit decision possibly made the United Kingdom financially attractive to international students, but this has to be set against the way the United Kingdom is viewed by a large number of international students after the Brexit decision, especially related to issues regarding the implementation of “restrictive immigration policies” by the United Nations government.

It was discussed that influence of changes in the regime of tuition fees, as a result of the Brexit decision on the recruitment of international students, together with the burden in future of fees for international students taking their studies in the United Kingdom. It is believed that only increase in tuition fees has not impacted the attractiveness of the United Kingdom as a place of taking education. Several other factors have also contributed to this. For instance, more restrictive policies of immigration have been introduced such as changes of policies related to work visas and student visas after the Brexit decision have already started its impacts of mobility of international; students to the United Kingdom. Subsequently, there are changes in opinions and point of views about the United Kingdom after the Brexit results (Corbett and Gordon 2017). According to the Corbett and Gordon (2017) that previously, United Kingdom was considered welcoming, open and outward-looking by international students. However, perceptions have started to change. This is why the number of international students has decreased by 7 percent after the European Union referendum. Furthermore, it is believed that a number of international students will further reduce the number of jobs in the United Kingdom after the Brexit. Besides this, the capability of international students to begin their career in the United Kingdom after their studies is also an important factor that makes them reluctant to choose the United Kingdom as their study destination. Furthermore, results of Brexit have increased overall tuition fees of universities in the United Kingdom. According to the Tannock, (2018 p. 39). Fees of universities in the United Kingdom have increased by 704 pounds per annum. It is also expected that the tuition fees of the university will further increase by 13, 738 pounds more per year. It also contributes to the reduced number of students applied in universities in the United Kingdom. According to the survey conducted by the Hawthorne (2018, p.195). That included 65 universities and 67, 172 students from different countries all over the world. The findings of this study have found that only 53 per cent of international students reported that results of Brexit had not affected their interest to study in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, 40 per cent of people reported that they are less likely to study in the United Kingdom as a result of Brexit because of tough policies of visa, increase in tuition fees, increase in overall living cost and fewer chances of finding a job after graduation. According to Sharma, and Gaulle (2018, p.1) that one of the common concerns of international students after the Brexit that they have to pay high fees to study in the United Kingdom. Therefore, they prefer to choose Australia, Germany, and Canada as these countries have an adequate number of job opportunities.

1.3 Aims and Objectives

To determine the impact of Brexit on finding jobs for international business students after graduate in the United Kingdom.

To determine the effects of Brexit on visa policy and tuition fees for international business students in the United Kingdom.

1.4 Research Question

Exploring the impact of Brexit on international 2nd and 3rd year business students’ postgraduate employability?

1.5 Justification and Contextualization

The research regarding this topic is very important because international students make up a large proportion of the population of the UK's students (Gewin, 2017, p.361). No matter they are studying postgraduate, undergraduate or at the research level. They require the same support as home students since the decision of the UK regarding Brexit has affected the country in several ways. It is important to research how the Brexit is affecting the international students as an increased rate to international students are turned away from the United nation choose nations such as Australia, United States and Canada (Corbett, 2016). This research will also help in making a recommendation regarding the introduction of supporting international students. Similarly, for the researcher, it was important to conduct his research, as the UK has always been open towards the new talent in academics, to welcome them in their country from all over the work. All around the world the UK has some of the best researches and universities in which international students play a prominent part in establishing the long transition attracting the bight minds at all stages and around the globe (Hawthorne 2018, p.195). This research is considered important to the researcher because the UK and Brexit relationship resulted in the loss for the world-class academic setting of Britain because it leads to the loss of funding for research and loss its communication with the European Union. It is also daunting international staff and students to work or study in the United Kingdom which made this research more important and essential as both the staff and students play a critical role in their wider cost and economy in order to help the UK to remain at the forefront of research and science. However, the existing need as per the evidence can easily be built by examining the effects of the Brexit on international student’s studies and jobs. Based on its theoretical background it can be seen easily that UK’s drop rate has now been increased because of the higher fees and also contributes towards the reduced number of students applied in universities in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom as a result of Brexit because of tough policies of visa, increase in tuition fees, increase in overall living cost and fewer chances of finding a job after graduation let international students prefer other countries for job and education this evidence made important to carry out this research. However, this research and its purpose are not timely as it is an immediate need of UK to know about its consequences and it makes recommendations before the UK face a big crisis of international student and workers if the policies remain the same. It is believed that only increase in tuition fees has impacted the attractiveness of the United Kingdom as a place of taking education. Along with it, Brexit decision has already started its impacts of mobility of international students to the United Kingdom (Dennis, 2016, p.3).

1.6 Methodology

The current study employs a mixed research approach in which both secondary and primary qualitative data was used. Secondary data for this study was suitable because of the largest available literature from published research work on the impact of Brexit and post-Brexit outcomes on job creation, availability, and economy in the UK. Primary research for this study was also useful because of the necessity to get opinions and experiences of the target population. The targeted population for this study comprised of postgraduate home or immigrant students. Interviews were employed for gathering primary data will a systematic review of the literature was used to gather secondary data from peer-reviewed journals.

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 The impact of Brexit on students

The EU freedom availed by Britain being a member of the EU has been a fuel for easier immigration into the UK and to other EU countries. As a result, Wihlborg and Robson, (2018) insisted that EU freedom simplifies the process of studying in the UK for EU students. In the current, the UK has about 125,000 EU students which represent around 5% of the total number of students. As a result of having these EU students, the UK has added to its GDP about £2.7bn and over 20,000 extra jobs. As an EU member, EU students can study as “home students” and therefore do not have to pay the fees charged on international students. It is easy for an EU student to apply for a bursary and study loan as UK students. Besides cheaper school fees, studying in the UK has been cheaper because of the ability for universities to higher EU staff. Under most recent EU Treaty agreements, the proper of unfastened motion for workers extends additionally to students. This method that EU nationals can stay and study in another EU member state as a proper EU club. In doing so, EU nationals studying at the undergraduate stage are entitled to the same tuition fee preparations as apply to home nationals (Macpherson and McIver, 2014). In Scotland, this means that EU nationals can take a look at the full time at undergraduate level without paying training costs (SPICe, 2015). The EU gives UK universities a huge amount of cash each year. Swansea University, for instance, currently opened a new technology and innovation campus at a price of £475m – a mission that could no longer have been viable without the financial support of the European Union. While the UK does pay costs for being a member of the EU, the monetary return on universities represents an income. Having furnished 11% of the EU's basic budget, the United Kingdom obtained 15.Five% of the price range to be had over the last seven years EU funding programme (FP7). Included within this was disproportionate economic praise from EU instructional mobility and foreign exchange programmes, with the UK amassing almost €1.1bn over FP7 (Hannula, 2018).

Funding from the European Research Council is allocated totally on the idea of research excellence. UK-based total research has so far secured over 20% of all funds distributed, and among 2007–thirteen, 4 British institutions were some of the 10 maximum successful recipients. Britain punches above its weight in this vicinity and has the highest share of the world’s most extraordinarily-mentioned clinical research articles. This statistic stands out all the extra given that Britain has simply 0.9% of the world’s population, 3.2% of global studies and improvement expenditure and best 4.1% of the arena’s researchers (Kim, 2017). The Russell Group has commented on Brexit, saying that they're already working closely with the authorities to make sure that universities and the research community get hold of the fine feasible outcome from the negotiations to go away the European Union. While UK universities are urging students to stay calm, they are no longer the handiest our bodies affected within the higher training quarter. Universities throughout Europe may be maintaining a near eye on how Brexit unfolds, mainly to look if UK students will still be categorized as Home–EU when paying charges. British students examine at universities across the EU, and any trade to their fees category will surely effect on European universities' pupil consumption and financial earnings (Macpherson, 2016)

2.2 The economic impact of Brexit

In both the EU and the OECD, the immigrant populace has grown via more than 30 % (OECD, 2015), and the proportion of migrants with better degrees is at the upward thrust within the OECD region. In the OECD region, the 5 biggest fairly knowledgeable migrant populations are from India, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, China and Germany (OECD 2013), which confirms that enormously skilled migrants aren't constantly moving vertically from the South to the North, and the patterns of transnational mobility and migration are getting greater complex. When it comes to academic migration, mainly, it's miles equally critical to be aware that teachers do now not move for basically economic reasons. Academic migration desires to be classified in a different way from the normal financial migration (Bauder 2015). Chankseliani, (2018) argued that transnational instructional mobility and migration are extra regularly formed by the highbrow centre/outer edge relationships in preference to merely directed by using pure financial incentives (Kim 2010). Similarly, for the so-known as ‘Creative Class' (Florida, 2014), the way of life incentives (including variety, community, identification, and vibe) are considered ways greater crucial than monetary incentives/ employment possibilities (Florida 2004, p. 7; p. 224). In many respects, and counter‐intuitively given the Brexit end result, London has already end up a “Eurocity”: a magnet for young humans, each enormously knowledgeable and less knowledgeable, from throughout Europe who, especially for the reason that turn of the millennium, have flocked to the city and its wider location to paintings, look at, and play. Now, those erstwhile open‐ended migration trajectories have been potentially disrupted with the aid of a referendum end result that few anticipated, and whose consequential effects are nevertheless unclear (Morley et al., 2018). The most important theoretical props for our evaluation are the notions of "liquid migration," "processes of belonging," "whiteness," "privilege," and "effect." Data are drawn from 60 in‐intensity interviews with Irish, Italian, and Romanian younger‐grownup college students and higher and lower professional workers, executed in overdue 2015 and early 2016, plus 27 reinterviews carried out in overdue 2016, publish‐Brexit. Results suggest contributors' profound and typically terrible response to Brexit and, as a result, a diversity of uncertainties and of plans over their future mobility: either to stay positioned using "approaches of belonging," or to go back home earlier than deliberate or to transport directly to another (Kim, 2017) Many character foreign researchers have said they feel much less welcome in Britain after the Brexit vote, or that they now see higher possibilities overseas. But the present day ballot is one of the clearest symptoms of the huge nature of this feeling in UK academia. The survey additionally famous huge competition to the UK authorities’ arguably plans to reform better education (HE) and research. More than half of teachers assume that the notion to merge the nine the UK research funding corporations into one body — currently being debated in Parliament — will have a poor impact. Just 9% assume it would be an effective pass. Even greater proportions assume that there might be poor impacts from other adjustments, together with plans to make it less complicated for brand new universities to be set up.

The stage of the subject among the body of workers approximately the bill's plans need to be motive for alarm. The government ought to awareness its complete attention on handling the impacts of Brexit and shelve the divisive HE bill.

2.3 Brexit and The Internationalisation of UK Universities

EU staff constitute a collection of global personnel that enjoys the proper to paintings in every other Member State and be treated on an equal footing with nationals of that Member State (see: Article forty-five of the Treaty at the Functioning of the European Union) however it can trade after Britain formally withdraws as a member nation from the EU. Professor Margaret Wintermantel, head of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD, n.D.) said that there are 32,000 non-British EU teachers making up 17% of the United Kingdom’s coaching and studies posts, with the determine topping 20% at higher-ranking universities. While academics aren't the main target organization of this anti-immigration sentiment, their lives will, but, be strongly stricken by any modifications in immigration policy (Hannula, 2018). Academics from the EU in the UK face insecurity in their professional future and worry that their voice is unheard and their concerns neglected. Many have consequently already implemented for residency or British citizenship or are making plans to leave the UK. While it's far nevertheless uncertain what Brexit in reality ‘means’, it's going to, in all likelihood, have an impact on the composition and variety of college team of workers and college students with implications for the UK but additionally EU universities (Robson, Almeida and Schartner, 2018). For EU teachers operating in the UK, the referendum results introduced uncertainty and confusion. This isn't handiest associated with professional troubles, however, also has implications for the way that EU lecturers sense that they may be perceived and represented with the aid of the British society. Consequently, they're required to reshape their non-public and expert outlooks to in shape within the new landscape (Wihlborg and Robson, 2018). One of their major reasons for the problem is that this new milieu continues to be not defined, and the multiple messages that flow into are doubtful. Main debates about the future of EU citizens dwelling in the UK cognizance attention on their financial fee and EU academics understand it as a shape of dehumanisation and objectification. Within this context, we argue that the internationalisation technique has been threatened, for the reason that instrumentalisation of teachers is meddling within the moral measurement of the project.

2.4 Work after graduation for the UK and immigrant students

The UK remains a very famous destination for worldwide college students, attracting greater students from overseas besides the tons large the US.However, the UK's closest competition, which includes the USA, Australia, France, and Germany, all keep growing at a faster fee than the United Kingdom. The UK is in threat of dropping our role as one of the world leaders in international training. The UK as a country desires to make it clear that global students are really welcome. In 2012, the UK abandoned the post-have a look at visa that had allowed graduates to stay and work within u . S . For 2 years. It was claimed that up to one hundred,000 overseas college students have been failing to go back home, fuelling issues that submit-study work visas have been a lower back door to immigration, had been discredited, said Smith, with recent go out data displaying ninety seven% of students whose visas expired in 2018 “left on time”. British universities have known as on the government to reintroduce a visa that could allow foreign places college students to live inside the united states to work for up to two years after graduation. It would supply the United Kingdom an aggressive part over rival nations and help it maintain the 450,000 international students, 134,835 of them EU-born, who come to look at in Britain each year. Demand for better schooling places from international college students has increased in countries along with Australia, Canada, and the United States, which all provide opportunities for college students to benefit work experience after graduating, in keeping with Universities UK (Chankseliani, 2018). The overall wide variety of enrolled international college students inside the UK has remained flat over an equal period. Since the post-painting take a look at visa became abolished, worldwide graduates can only stay inside the UK if they discover a task within four months of completing their course with a earnings of at least £20,800 at a corporation with a Tier 2 sponsor licence, or if they could achieve sponsorship underneath the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) course. Ph.D. students are capable of continuing to be inside the UK for up to one year following the crowning glory of their diploma. The capability to paintings in a skilled job for a constrained duration after graduation is, for lots of prospective worldwide college students, an important a part of the general package whilst identifying in which to study (Sampson, 2017). This progressed put up-have a look at visa could place us on a par with what is offered via nations consisting of the USA, Canada, and Australia. It could ship a more welcoming message to worldwide students and sign that the UK is open to gifted individuals from around the sector. As Brexit discussions hold, the UK wishes a formidable immigration coverage that facilitates raise our regional and global competitiveness (Dhingra, et al., 2018). The new visa, as proposed with the aid of Universities UK, could be made available to international graduates from publications which closing 11 months or longer at registered Tier four sponsor HEIs. Graduates might have a duration of two years to search for and gain work without restrictions on task stage or earnings and without a corporate sponsorship requirement. They would, but, be expected to replace to the Tier 2 route in the event that they observed an activity where this became available, and might be required to depart the UK after two years in the event that they were unable to accomplish that (Mayhew, 2017).

Should the concept be evolved, HEIs ought to be able to control their licence for the brand new visa gadget one by one from their present Tier four licence thru a brand new, however, related, company entity, in step with Universities UK? This could dispose of the chance of disruption if the Home Office has concerns about both licenses (Hodson and Puetter, 2018). Immigration regulation expert Euan Smith of Pinsent Masons, the regulation company in the back of Out-Law.Com, said that the notion was an "exciting" one which "we hope the authorities will consider carefully". The government wishes to understand that our universities operate in an international marketplace and want at the least in order to match the work opportunities different countries presently offer their distant places students after graduation.

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

To conduct this research, Research opinion process will be used. Saunders presented the research concept that would allow the researcher to constructing the methodology comprehensively (Sahay, 2016). This process will also facilitate the researcher to collect information in detail related to the research topic that helped in addressing the research questions.

3.2 Research philosophy

The researcher will use interpretivism philosophy in this research. It will be essential to use this research philosophy because it will help the researches in data interpretation from secondary sources. The researcher will utilize information in a better way that will be collected by secondary and then it will be linked with one another to form effective result, analysis, and the conclusion. [Johnson and Turner, 2003, p.297]. The interpretivism philosophy will be successfully used by the researcher. It will help the researcher to understand and interpret the data that was collected by from the secondary sources.

3.3 Research approach

For this research, the researcher will focus on using qualitative data collection technique as a research question required the researcher to use analytical skills and interpretation for understanding the collected data. In order to be highly successful with regards to this research, the researcher will make sure that the data collected under secondary data collection is perfectly in line with qualitative nature as this research’s objectives cannot be achieved if data was collected using a qualitative approach. For the purpose of this research, qualitative data collection technique will be necessary as it is all about finding views, opinions, and ideas of authors. Hence, it is very important to make sure that the qualitative data collection process is applied to this research and qualitative approach is used for data analysis [Neuman, 2013]...

3.4 Time Horizon

In order to successfully complete this research, the researcher will focus extensively on making sure that the entire process goes according to the plan and follows a strict period. Concerning the period, the researcher will use a cross-sectional time horizon, which means each activity was assigned a specific targeted time.

3.5Data Collection Methods

The researcher in terms of literature review will use the technique of Secondary data collection. Additionally, in this research, the researcher's aim is to recognise the collected data and research gaps already present in the various resource. Review of various Books, Published articles and journals will be done in order to collect the data or literature related to the topic of research. Researcher’s aim will be to make sure that a foundation or base is created from secondary data collection. To collect the data successfully from secondary sources, researchers focused on the reliable use of databases [Cooper et al., 2006]. Research strategy used by researcher in this dissertation is to collect qualitative data from secondary data collection sources which means researcher will collect secondary data from sources which are reliable and can be used to formulate literature review or chapter two of this research as this strategy would allow researcher to collect literature review from previously published scholarly work in the form of journals, books, and research papers. Data collection from secondary data sources will be made sure that it is done successfully by the researchers, and it will also make sure that data collected by the secondary source is updated, new and recent. This will increase reliability and the credibility of the collected data.

3.6 Sampling technique

In order to achieve the objectives successfully regarding the research secondary, data will be collected or performed in which various articles, journals, and books were collected, the sources were taken from the year 2014 until 2018. Multiple official websites of UK regarding international students and various other websites were also used to collect the data. The researcher will make sure the policies on the various website were authentic and new. Keywords regarding UK international students, Brexit, employment, fees, and international student's issues will be searched in order to make sure that the data extracted from the secondary sources, which are relevant to the actual topic.

3.7 Research Ethics

In research ethics, it will be made sure by the researcher that the process of research is properly completed and in a very ethical manner [Biccard et al., [2017]. This means that the research ethics will be used in secondary data collection approaches by the researchers. The researchers will make sure that process secondary data collection is ethical and the data is collected from credible and reliable sources.

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction

In this section, the dissertation presents the findings from the interviews and from the literature review. An in-depth discussion of the results is presented explaining what the results mean with regard to the research objectives. All results were interpreted in categories of themes identified in the process of exploring the research issue and the data gathered using the interviews. A discussion stemming from an interpretation of the interview data corresponds with the findings from reviewed literature. In total, participants responded to 12 questions, 5 of these were used to gather their demographic information while seven were used to gather data in investigating the impact of Brexit on the employability of graduates both local and international.

4.2 Demographic Information

4.2.1 Gender

Respondents were required to state their gender. Of the 10 respondents, 6 of them were male and the other 4 were females. Figure 1 below is a graphical representation of this data for easy access and readability.

4.2.2 Age

Respondents were asked to state their ages and the following are the results to this question. In Figure 2 below, the majority of the students were aged 26- 30 years (40%) only 1 student was aged less than 25 years and only 1 student aged above 40 years.

4.2.3 Local and International student

Respondents were asked to state whether they were local or an international student. In this study, a local student was any student born and is a citizen of the UK while an international student meant any non-citizen who had primarily come to the UK for academia. The following is a graphical representation of the findings. From the chart below, 80% of the respondents reported that they were international students. Of the 8 only 6 of them were from the EU, and the other 2 were not; 1 was from Africa and the other 1 was from the USA. 2 of the respondents were from the UK. This data was important for this study especially because the focus of this study is Brexit and issue that involves members of UK in the EU. 6 of the respondents were from the EU countries and this number represents 60% and was important in determining the impact of Brexit and post-Brexit on their immigration life. Also, the 2 students who were not from the EU and were not citizens of the UK were important for getting the opinion of students who might not be directly affected by Brexit.

4.2.4 Highest level of Education

Respondents were required to state their years of study. The targeted sample comprised of business students in their 2nd and 3rd year of study. Figure 4 below shows that 40% of the respondents were in their 2nd year of study while 60% were in their 3rd year of study.

4.2.5 Working Status

Respondents were asked to state whether they were working in the UK or were not. The following are the results of this question. Based on the findings in Figure 5 below, 9 out of the 10 respondents reported that they were working in the UK. However, the interviewer asked whether they were employed or self-employed. 7 out for the 9 reported that they were working for different companies across the UK. 2 of the respondents stated that they were self-employed operating small businesses. Further, the researcher sought to find out whether the respondents were working their best jobs or would like to apply for better positions in the future. All the 9 respondents agreed that they were not working in their dream jobs and in the future, they considered applying for a better position. Those operating small businesses also agreed that they were looking forward for opportunities to expand their businesses with the right conditions in the UK economy.

4.3 Research Questions

4.3.1 Introduction

The findings and discussion presented in this section are profiled by the findings on demographic information. Also, the findings are an analysis of the data provided in responses to seven questions.

4.3.2 Brexit and Student’s and Working life

Having established that the respondents were both business students and working, at this section of the study, it sought to determine whether the respondents were conversant with Brexit and whether it had affected their working, personal and students’ while in the UK. The first question sought to determine what the interviewees new what Brexit is. Further, two more questions sought to determine how the interviewees thought Brexit had affected their student and working life in the UK. Based on their responses, it was evident that all the respondents had heard about Brexit. Mainly, the respondents reported that they had heard it from the news. The following are some of the respondents; 3rd Respondent As a business student, it is important that I am conversant with what Brexit entails…. Uh, where do I start? First, at this stage, I think everybody in the world know something about Brexit. It has been all over the news. In the UK, it is a part of our daily life…however, I am not sure everybody really understands what it all about. All we see is politicians saying this or that. But we cannot assume we don’t know what is happing… we have seen companies parking out of the UK or threating to leave obviously this is not good for job seekers. 6th Respondent Yeah….am quite aware of Brexit…it all over. It is what everybody is talking about. Several issues are however not clear yet based on what I have seen in the news…however, as an international student from Netherland, am aware that post-Brexit will affect my situation ….however at the moment I don’t know how. 7th Respondents Brexit has become a part of the UK and the world especially in recent times when it all over the news and in our politicians' mouths. As a citizen of the UK, there is no shortcut to the matter, you got dig into the pieces of information available to really know what we might be facing….so I have been following the news and what am aware of is that Brexit might result into a nightmare especially if the country will be secluded by the EU….we might soon be dealing with a high unemployment if investors will walk out… and stuff like that… According to the findings of this study, it was identified that all the respondents were aware of Brexit and also had a rough understanding of what it is. Recent news as the UK government struggles to take the country through the Brexit process has served as a primary source of information regarding the matter. However, the respondent’s seemed to not be sure about what Brexit would do to their personal or working experiences. Notably, however, all respondents reported that they believed that if the UK achieves leaving the EU, there would be a definite impact on the immigration policies as well as in international working policies. Also, citizens of the UK were concerned about the possible seclusion that UK would experiences post-Brexit and with fears that it would result in investors leaving the UK. One mater especially came into attention regarding the impact of Brexit on investment and job creation. This research targeted business students whose job opportunities are affected by the investment trends, business ventures opening and expanding their operations. Business students take job as investment managers, sales managers, business administrators, production managers, accountants, marketing managers and others related to investing and production. Based on this observation, it is clear that declining investments and corporations withdraws from the UK will have an adverse impact on the employability of the business students. These observations, although highly subjected to uncertainty around the lack of know-how, are in line with what has been reported in other studies. According to Henökl, (2018), Brexit has been highly marked by uncertainty and full of misleading and highly uninformative information spreading through campaigns in support and against. In support of this, Bista, Sharma and Gaulee, (2018) reported the lack of clarity about what Britain will look like or the issues it will be dealing with post-Brexit. However as noted in Hodson and Puetter (2018) the uncertainty and lack of clarity do not eliminate the fact that for EU citizens living and working in the UK are the most affected. With the ongoing negotiations, EU citizens in the UK were assured that if they applied for permanent residency, they would be provided citizenship by default. However, this report was however uncertain as it came out after an official document leaked with details that apart from the highly-skilled employees, post-Brexit would result in the ceasing of free movement of labour.

4.3.4 Getting a job post graduating

Respondents were asked to give comments, based on their opinions and experiences, regarding the challenges and opportunities to get a job in the UK post-graduation, especially for an international student. The following are some of the responses provided;

1st respondent

I currently have a job, which…uh….I work part time. In my 3rd year, I …..uh, in an years’ time, I will require a permanent job so I keep trying new and better opportunities. However, as an international student, and the rate at which employment opportunities are reducing…cause business are not sure what will happen… I believe chances of getting a job in the future will be harder for international students.

5th Respondent

I currently have a job but am not sure post graduate will give us… international students…a guarantee to get a job or stay employed in the future….I fear a no deal Brexit…..international companies might move out of UK sliming chances for foreigners like me to get a job.

8th Respondent

As an EU citizen, I can affirm that when there are no corporate “hiccups", getting a job in the UK with a degree is not as hard…. opportunities have always come my way and in the job interviews…in my experience, it is all about the qualifications… and not about whether you are a citizen or not. But when companies sense uncertainty in the business world, companies shy away from hiring immigrants...

Based on the comments made by the participants, it is clear that having a degree, whether undergraduate or postgraduate, expresses a level of professionalism and expertise and therefore attract companies to hire the degree holders. However, when investors start experiencing uncertainties, they tend to be selective about where their resources go to and as a result will prefer hiring with certainty; preferably only citizens. These observations support the conclusions drawn in Dennis (2016), concerning the challenges that international workers and student encounter when looking for employment. Bista, Sharma and Gaulee, (2018) noted that when the citizens are worried about their applications being accepted, international workers and students worry about meeting policy requirements such as having the right visa. For example, in the UK, immigrants are required to have a Tier 4 visa which limits the number of hours that a student can work and the level of degree they are studying. With EU freedom, it is possible for international students to work and study without limits. However, in post-Brexit, when EU students don’t enjoy work freedom and therefore may not be considered for employment. James (2016) also noted that with post-Brexit conditions, international students and professionals’ placement rely on the stability of macroeconomic factors in the country.

4.3.5 International studying and employment post-Brexit

Participants were asked to give their opinion on the possibility that post-Brexit, international studying, and working will still be possible in the UK and the following are some of the responses that were provided.

10th Respondent

Uh…I feel as though we should just wait and see what a post-Brexit Britain will look like. However, I think it will be difficult to work or study in the UK post Brexit unless the ongoing negotiations will lead to a deal that allows international studying and working….

2nd Respondent

In my opinion, I think there is no future for international studying especially with a no-deal post-Brexit. Studying abroad in the UK will no longer avail grants and funds for research…. Tuition fees and accommodation cost is also likely to increase…so no hopes for studying abroad

9th Respondent

I don’t think international studying will be cheap post-Brexit…. Grants and funds…loans, I don’t think will be available for international students….this might double or triple the tuition…for business related job, uh.. I think it will be difficult to get a job.

According to the respondents, while clearly, the UK will not shield international students from studying there, it is not likely that EU students will continue applying or opportunities in the UK Universities. In particular, the respondents noted that the grants, loans, and funds that have been available for international students will no longer be available and as a result, chances of international studying are minimal. Wessel, (2018) investigated the impact of Brexit on international students in the UK and stated that in a study conducted in 2018, it was established that despite Brexit, the number of international UK university applicants increased. From the EU countries, the rise was at 2% while for the countries outside of the EU, the rise was 8%. As the Brexit process is ongoing, the authorities of the UK have already given a guarantee that international students from the EU who have already applied for enrollment in UK universities for the years 2019/2019 and before will continue to pay fees as the UK students and will also access loans and grants. It is clear that this just a short term solution considering that after mid-2021, students and citizens of the EU will be required to apply for settled status.

4.2.6 Plans to stay or leave the UK

Respondents were asked to comment on their interest to continue staying in the UK post-Brexit and if not then what other countries they would prefer and why. The results showed that 70% of the respondents reported that they still had plans to stay in the UK post-Brexit. However, they stated that these decisions were a short term meaning that in the future, they plan to adjust if they find it hard to live in Britain. Respondents showed interest in moving to countries that are members of the EU and on top of the list were France, Germany, and Italy.

CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Conclusion

The issue of post-Brexit is still full of uncertainty and at this period when negotiations are heightened, it is not possible to pick what information to believe and which one not to. As Britain awaits the final decision, it is only possible to make proximate expectations about the future. If Britain exits the EU, it will, therefore, leave the single free market that allows free trade for EU members. Speculations on what will happen to this country's economic performance, financial performance, academic, and research, are based on different perceptions. Economic speculators think that in post-Brexit, Britain will suffer economically as many businesses will close operations in the UK. On the other hand, those in support of Brexit contend that post-Brexit will give the UK and economic freedom, therefore allowing the country to negotiate more favourable trade deals globally. This study specifically considered the impact that Brexit will have on the 2nd and 3rd year business students. To determine the impact, the study focused on the impact of Brexit on entrepreneurship, service industry and business. Business students look for work in businesses and in the first industry, as such, an impact on entrepreneurship and business will have a direct impact on the graduating international business students in the UK. International academic and work consists of the other areas of interest that will be affected in post-Brexit. This current study sought to establish the impact of Brexit on international studying and employability after graduation. Like any other sector, the education and labour sectors in the EU benefit from free mobility. Post-Brexit, however, will not support this free mobility especially of Britain leaves the EU. As a result, international students will be required to apply for student and work visa to stay in the UK. Also, if the UK leaves without a deal, international students will not be eligible for student loans and grants as has been the case in which EU students enjoyed the same financial access as the UK students. Post Brexit, EU students will have to pay their own fees without assistance unless this will change in the future. International working which is mainly for the students who complete their studies in the UK has also been supported by free mobility of labour therefore not requiring the workers to apply for a work visa. This study has established that international working is mainly affected by the macroeconomic factors affecting the business environment in the country. As such, during uncertainty that are fuelled by unsettledness in the macro business environment, such as Brexit, affects the immigrants and international student’s employability as companies prefer employing citizens.

5.2 Recommendations

Considering the conclusions drawn from the findings of this study, it is important to note that the study was subjective; a greater part of the findings was drawn from the opinions and experiences of a small sample that does not necessarily allow generalization. Also, the finding was subjective to the perspective of the researcher regarding how things will be like in post-Brexit Britain. As such, this study recommends further study post-Brexit when all uncertainties are well known and can be measured with regard to how they affect international studying and employability.

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