‘The UKIERI Mobility Programme aims to double the number of UK students studying in India’
The UK government recently announced revisions in the postwork visa policy. Barbara Wickham, Country Director, British Council India explains the implications of this move. Edited excerpts:
What role does the British Council play in the bilateral UKIERI programme?
The British Council is the secretariat and India delivery partner of the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI), a long-term bilateral programme between India and the UK. It is India’s first such initiative that enables the Indian and UK governments, and their universities, to work closely in the areas of higher education that matter most to them. British Council has played a central role in strengthening India-UK academic collaborations, enabling the internationalisation of higher education institutions in India and the UK.
How is UKIERI contributing towards internationalisation of higher education institutions?
Through UKIERI, the British Council has worked extensively towards internationalisation and systems development in higher education. Since 2006, the UKIERI initiative has facilitated internationalisation by supporting research collaboration between India and UK institutes, mobility of researchers from both countries and live projects in both countries. Over phase one and two of UKIERI, there have been 1,057 institutional partnerships, 2,000 research publications and 25,000 academic exchanges between India and the UK.
UKIERI has contributed significantly in setting up Sector Skills Councils in India during the first two phases of the project. It will contribute to professional Leadership Development of close to 1,000 potential leaders of technical and higher education institutions. The 56 partnerships under SPARC would aim to build capacity of these institutions in research. The recent UKIERI Mobility Programme: Study in India is the latest initiative, aimed at doubling the number of UK students studying in India by March 2021.
What were the key areas of discussion during the recent delegation of UK universities senior leaders to India? What were some of the conclusions from the policy dialogue with the Indian stakeholders?
The delegation comprising of 20 university leaders from the UK, the largest ever delegation of UK universities to India, led by Universities UK International (UUKi), met with Indian central and state government bodies, and counterparts in the education sector. The discussions focused on current and future policy and strategies around internationalisation, research, mobility and employability. Against the backdrop of these priority areas, understanding the scope arising out of the Draft National Education Policy 2019 was one of the primary objectives for the delegation. Stakeholders from both countries found common areas of interest such as increasing gross enrolment rate, developing future skills for employability, setting up national research centres and flexibility following the UNESCO policy on degree recognition, among others.
What are some of the recent initiatives to improve student mobility between India and the UK?
With globalisation, nature of jobs and consequently expectations of the students from the educators are evolving. Students across the world increasingly want holistic exposure to the real world of work and life. International exposure and a global, multi-cultural education system can equip students to be more employable and successful in the future.
Hence, student mobility and international exposure is a mutual interest area between Indian and UK education sector stakeholders.
The number of Indian students in the UK has been increasing each year. This is also assisted by the large pool of scholarships for deserving students offered by the UK government, British
Council and the UK universities. In 2018-19 alone, the UK government and British Council offered 480 scholarships, worth approximately £4.675m, to Indian students.
The UK government recently announced the new Graduate Immigration Route, which will further promote mobility of Indian students. It will allow for international students in the UK to pursue professional opportunities for up to 2 years duration, after completing their education degree. Applicable from academic year 2020-2021 for all students, this announcement came right after the largest ever delegation of Vice Chancellors from UK universities to India, reinforcing UK’s commitment to attracting the brightest and best talent from around the world to study and work in the UK, which of course includes Indian students.
To accelerate student mobility from the UK to India, the UKIERI Mobility Programme: Study in India was announced in July 2019, aiming to double the number of UK students studying in India at present. The programme will facilitate 200 UK students to study in India and gain diverse exposure by March 2021.
What is the trend with respect to Indian students studying in the UK?
Indian students aspiring to study oversees trust the UK education system. This is evident from the fact that Indians are among the fastest growing nationalities of students in the UK. The number of Indian students in the UK has been increasing each year for the past few years and has doubled since March 2016. In the period July ’18 to June ’19, the number of tier 4 UK visas issued to Indian students grew by 42%. We expect the announcement of the new two-year post-study work visa to make the UK an even more attractive education destination for Indian students as it will allow students across skill levels and disciplines to stay in the UK and find a job post-graduation. As per the Indian Graduate Outcomes 2019 study, conducted by UUKi, 51 per cent of all Indians graduating from the UK said that they earn above or well above average. 60 per cent of Indian respondents surveyed said they were in their current jobs because it was exactly the type of work they wanted to do, with 82 per cent saying they were satisfied or very satisfied with their careers.