Pakistani students at crossroads

The clock ticks and we are made to hear about the world assisting Pakistan to eradicate terrorism by virtue of economic and political prosperity. But as they say and rightly so, that the actions speak louder than the words - the ground efforts at the micro level, largely deviate from what the words claim.
The youth at home is already struggling with the lack of educational facilities and clouds of uncertainties looming over their work future amid the worsening security situation - enough to shatter their confidence and hopes. The recent student policies of the west have only made matters worse, as there are now a lot of hurdles in the way to seek education and employment abroad.
United Kingdoms latest decision to reduce the foreign students visas, signals tough times ahead for the students in Pakistan planning to move abroad for better education and living. Although, there is no explicit mention of Pakistan or any other Muslim county for that matter, but analysts believe that the move to combat terrorism will affect the Muslim countries and Pakistan tops that list given the recent problems of Pakistani students in the UK.
The 9/11 incident brought about a major shift in Pakistani students favoured destination as stringent measures taken by the US government led to a considerable decline in the number of visas granted to the Pakistani students. The Pakistani knowledge seekers rediscovered their love for the British educational institutions as the post 9/11 saw more locals going to UK than the US on student visas.
The UK is already considered an expensive place to live for the foreigners and the recent decision of restricting the foreign students to work part-time will be a huge blow for a large number of students, as a vast majority there works temporarily to make a living.
To overcome this issue, it is essential for both the local and international community to design strategies to present the youth with more opportunities for development, as it will help erase the wrong perception about western authorities that are supporting the war on terror.
In this regard, they can take the cue from a report published by the British council, titled "Pakistan: The next generation", which has highlighted the challenges faced by the youth and also accentuated the importance of education to combat the present set of challenges.
Primarily, foreign assistance is required in the form of foreign scholarships and work permit visas, not only from western countries but also from Middle Eastern countries. In this regard, Kerry Lugar bill, which has allocated a sizeable portion of funds for the educational expenditure will certainly have positive consequences on the youth - if executed efficiently.
Moreover, policies at home should address the issues of local students trapped in unregistered or low rating universities. A lot of such cases have been reported where the youth, frustrated with the poor domestic resources and lack of opportunities, spend their parents life-long savings and get themselves registered with the even worse so called colleges abroad.