Student visa issue raised
Indians enrolling in UK colleges win-win for all, says Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue of student visas and the dwindling number of Indian students during bilateral talks with his counterpart, David Cameron, MEA spokesman Vikas Swarup said while summarising the first day of the three-day visit.
Modi noted that the number of Indian students in UK higher educational institutions had fallen by 50% in recent years at a time when several countries were courting them.
Modi told Cameron that Indian students were among the best and the brightest in the world and that it would be a win-win partnership for both sides - Indians needing quality education and the UK benefiting from the expertise the students would bring to the UK.
Nandini Singla, MEA joint secretary (Europe West), said, “The PM said we are right now in a situation where countries are actually wooing Indian students because India is the biggest education market today. There is a burgeoning middle class, there is an aspirational upper class that wants to educate its kids abroad; and he said it is an opportunity to actually tap into what has become a big economic market.”
She said there was a “lot of understanding and appreciation” from the British side on the issue, but it was a matter for continued discussion. “I do not think we closed the chapter on this,” Singla said.
Meanwhile, the expected purchase of 20 Hawk jet trainer jets was a ‘procedural issue’ and was unlikely to be announced during the ongoing visit, official sources said.