UK students flock to India for study, internships

Next month about 500 British students will leave for India to either intern, study or be part of a cultural ‘immersion’ programme. They are the first group in the Generation UK-India scheme, facilitated by the British Council in collaboration with the government of India, which will see as many as 25,000 students from the UK travel to India over the next five years, in the hope of enhancing their career prospects in global Indian firms.

Of the 6,000 British applicants this year, 400 have been selected. An additional 400 have applied for 100 positions to teach in 60 schools across India.

Richard Everitt, head of education, British Council India, said: “There has been an unprecedented interest among UK students to be part of the India growth story.”

At present five Indian universities are involved in the programme. These are the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad or IIM-A; the National Institute of Design or NID, Ahmedabad; the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay or IIT Bombay; the University of Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Science or IISc, Bangalore.

It is hoped that at least 25 more Indian universities will be ready to participate by the next summer when 1,000 students from the UK are expected to arrive.

The programme aims to create a generation of young people who are more globally, culturally and business aware. It will provide opportunities for British students to either work as teaching assistants, or gain work experience at top Indian companies or go on specially designed cultural “immersion tours”. Indian companies such as Tata, Mahindras, KPMG, and Grant Thornton have shown a keen interest in the programme to take on interns.

The universities would be involved initially on the level of technology and students would get exposed to Indian manufacturing pactices.

Richard Everitt said that one of the major reasons for running this programme was the feeling among employers in the UK that British students were not career ready and were not competitive enough when they left universities and took up jobs. “We want them to go out into the world and gain international experience and understand India better.” It is also hoped that through this the UK will be able to further cement its ties with India.

India has been touted as one of the major powers that will shape the world economy and it is felt that the UK’s youngsters must have enough knowledge about India – especially contemporary India.

Rob Lynes, country director of the British Council India, speaking to The Times of India, said that with the huge increase in the UK’s trade with India, the UK needed “more youngsters to be eligible to work in Indian multinational companies”.


Fewer Indian students

Interestingly, this comes at a time when Indian students are shunning the chance to study in Britain, as opposed to the US. This has been as a result of a fall-out from the UK government’s visa restrictions on Indian students.

Measures range from tightening work visa rules to asking foreign students to pay a fee to cover possible treatment under the National Health Service or NHS. The government has also stipulated that no foreign student pursuing a undergraduate degree can stay for more than five years in the country. In addition institutions in the UK with more than 10% visa refusals are restricted from recruiting overseas. These stipulations have come into force over the period of the last two years

Speaking to University World News, Urvi Patel, who recently completed her undergraduate course in travel and tourism from the Herriot-Watt University’s London campus, said: “I was unable to stay and work. I would have liked a bit of work experience at least. Also I don't see why Indian students, when sponsored by companies for a work visa, need to justify why locals in the UK cannot do the same job.”

This was harsh on many students whose families had spent a lot of money to get them across to the UK for an education, she said.

A British Council study published last October predicted that by 2024 at least 54% of international postgraduate students in the US would arrive from India, compared with just 9% in the UK. Other data shows that enrolment of Indian students in UK universities is down by 50%.

Speaking to University World News, a British Council official said that the British government’s obsession with visa restrictions was self defeating. Considering the fact that foreign students generated close to £17 billion (US$26 billion) a year, the government would do well to welcome them with open arms, he said, adding that each foreign student practically funded two to three home students’ university studies.

British universities and other think tank organisations have been trying to flag the UK government's attention to the fact that the UK must engage with countries like India in a ‘win-win’ partnership as India is poised to enrol the largest number of students in tertiary education in the world by 2020.

Warning that the UK cannot sit back and wait for students to come to universities in Britain, universities have been advised to go out and actively engage in partnerships with Indian universities.

While the British programme will cover accommodation etc, participants are expected to foot their travel, visa and insurance costs. Despite there being some reservation as to which kind of UK student would finally be able to afford all of this, the move has been widely supported by UK industry as well as international bodies.

The student profile is varied and most of them are British in origin. Many feel that such an opportunity will give them a head start and a better understanding about the business and cultural practices in India. It is now accepted globally that an India posting looks good on resumés.

International experience

Indian universities hope the interaction will be mutually beneficial, with Indian students learning a thing or two from their British peers.

According to Professor Furqan Qamar, secretary general of the Association of Indian Universities or AIU, this programme would support the internationalisation of Indian universities and help promote excellence in these institutions.

In an interview with University World News, Qamar said that “all 570 member universities had to be ready in terms of infrastructure etc to host such a scheme”. He said it was the job of the AIU to pass on information to all member universities but final selection would depend on participating students.

Qamar added that some universities in India already had similar programmes which were being run very successfully. One of them has been conducted by Hyderabad University for many years. He said with India being an emerging market there was a global interest in knowing the country better. The programme would also facilitate job opportunities on a global level.