UK Remains Welcoming For India Students, Echoes Top UK Education Leaders

There was lots of speculation going on around whether the UK would retain the Graduate Route or not and international students including Indians were worried about how it would be in future to study in the UK. However, with the latest developments and comments from experts, the UK is still welcoming Indian students, in fact, it is a priority country for the UK.

The UK undoubtedly is one of the most popular study-abroad destinations for Indian students. Home to universities like Oxford and Cambridge, it offers a promising global career opportunity and a cultural exchange through wide networking opportunities.

Going by the comments of the top UK education leaders, it is evident that the UK is aggressively encouraging Indian students to come to the UK to study and they are also equally willing to send UK Students to India for further studies.

Indian Students Are Priority For UK Universities

Sir Steve Smith, UK Government International Education Champion, who works to encourage governments and institutes of other countries to work in two-way partnerships with UK universities, said, "India is an absolute priority and it was a privilege to visit India 20 times including three times in this role as International Education Champion. Last year the biggest delegation from the UK with 28 universities came to India and we worked very closely with UGC in India and the Indian government. Our aim was to encourage Indian students to come to the UK to study and to understand the needs of Indian students, what their employability needs are what courses they want. We also intend to encourage more UK students to travel to India. I see the strength of the UK and India relationship, we have a very good relationship with the government, and we work very closely with each other. We do want it to be a two-way relationship with more Indian students coming to the UK for higher education and also more UK students going to India for education, with campuses of both the UK and India opening in each other's countries.

Labour Government Welcomes And Values International Students

While relying on how it is going to be for international students in the new government, he said, "The initial statement of the Labour government given by the new British Universities Minister Bridget Phillipson MP was that the government welcomes the international students, and the change of tone was evident. We want international students to come to the UK, we want to form a deeper partnership. The message last year was not very clear, there were some concerns but the message I got from the new government is to encourage countries to have a two-way exchange of students. The UK government is absolutely welcoming more and more international students to the UK."

UK Degrees To Be Valid In Both UK and India

Alison Barrett MBE, Director Of British Council India, "The role of the British Council of India is to support the deepening of education between the UK and India. We do it across the world, we have 100 officers around the world but particularly young people and students are at the heart of whatever we do and we aim to ensure that young people are able to achieve their goals, build those skills, have the knowledge and the understanding and to make sure that they are able to achieve that success both locally and globally."

"There are five main ways through which we support students for their higher education. The first is we work with the Indian and UK governments to support policy exchanges and push initiatives. You must have heard of the mutual recognition of higher education and qualification, what it means for students is if you go to the UK and you will do a year master's at a UK university and you come to India, that master is recognized for the employment purposes in India, so it makes easier for students when they come back. Second, we hold a whole range of different professional opportunities or programs for students in India, eg- through our study UK campaign last year we reached 120,000 students in India in 24 cities with a range of different activities related to professional development, briefing. UK government advised students on scholarships and visa. We were in North East India recently where we had 50 UK universities talking to Indian students, now these universities are in Kolkata talking to students. We also have a digital library where students can access a whole range of resources and information about the UK. Thirdly, we manage and promote a whole range of different scholarship programs and there are scholarships for Women In Science, for English Language Teachers, for artists who want to study in the creative industry of the UK," she said.

"We also support education agents, so we have around 7000 agents from India registered on our agents' hub. Also, when Indian students come back to India we offer a whole range of UK opportunities when they come back to India as UK alumni," she further added.

Graduate Route Remains In Place

Jamie Arrowsmith, Director of UUKI (Universities of UK International) said, "I represent the UK universities. We are an association of 141 institutes spread across the UK. Whatever interests students we have a program for them. These programs are going to be valid in both the UK and India. Also, for Indian students Graduate route also matters which was being questioned by the previous government. It was introduced to encourage more students to come to the UK and it gives work-after-study opportunities for international students including students from India."

"After a thorough report by the committee, the previous government retained the graduate route. The new government reaffirmed that international students are absolutely welcoming and the graduate route remains in place," he added.

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