Tier 1 (General) is closed? What does it mean?

[clio]

"The Tier 1 (General) category is now closed to applicants who are outside the UK, and to those who are already here and want to switch to it from most other immigration categories."

Does it mean that there's no longer Tier 1 (General) visa? or is it temporarily closed?

I'm a non-EU 2nd year full time BA graphic design student on Tier 4 visa which will expire next year, when should I apply for the new visa?

[Wanderer]

Immigration is vote winning topic for the Gov and will remain so, Tier 1 is closed in an attempt to curtail immigration numbers, to be honest I doubt it will reopen, there's already Tier 2 (more controllable) and Tier 1 Entrepreneur to switch into. T1 Gen was pretty unique visa wise, there's not many countries in the World that have work visas that allowed unrestricted access to the labour market, not surprised it's closed really.