As you may have heard in the media over the past few days and weeks, the UK is voting tomorrow, June 23rd on whether or not to remain a part of the European Union. The campaign has been full of arguments for and against, but I thought it would be useful to let you know how a ‘Brexit’ would impact Thai students studying in the UK.
- Most economists predict that if the UK leaves the EU, it would be a negative for the UK economy.
- In turn, this would lower the value of the British pound compared to the Thai baht. With this in mind, the cost of studying in the UK would be lower for Thai students. In fact, we have already seen the value of the British pound decrease against most currencies lately including the US dollar.
- There will be no impact on visas & immigration since the UK has never been a member of the Schengen agreement and already controls its own borders.
- Leaving the European Union would take at least two years and in the meantime, little would change.
At the moment, polling suggests that there is a nearly 50% / 50% split for the ‘leave’ and ‘remain’ groups. Tomorrow’s referendum is sure to be close, but rest assured that the UK will remain a leading destination for international students and that Hands On will provide complete support for our students regardless of the outcome.
Pieter Funnekotter (Piet)
Managing Director
