This year, a hike of 36 per cent has been observed in the number of Indian students applying for courses at UK universities.
“The UK’s universities are highly popular with EU and international students because of the quality of the teaching and experience they offer. There are probably several factors influencing the increasing numbers of applicants from the EU and beyond,” said Helen Thorne, UCAS Director of External Relations.
THE HAPPY FIGURES!
The UK’s centralised university application system stated that a total of 4,470 students from India applied for undergraduate courses set to begin at universities across Britain later this year. Although these figures do not speak about the actual number of Indian students whose applications will be accepted to join these courses, they are seen to reflect an interest in the UK as a destination for higher education.
The latest UCAS figures also reveal the country’s wider appeal, with applications from within the European Union (EU) also registering a hike this year. Overall, more than 100,000 EU and overseas candidates applied for enrollment at UK universities.
China was ahead of India in terms of numbers with 11,920 applications, but this reflected only a 21 per cent hike over the previous year compared to India’s 36 per cent.
NEED OF THE HOUR
Indian ministers and diplomats have also repeatedly stressed upon the need for a more welcoming immigration regime for Indian students. “The treating of students as immigrants leads to negative perceptions in India of the UK’s restrictive visa regime. There is no justification for seeking to reduce numbers of international students,” said Lord Karan Bilimoria, Indian- origin entrepreneur and Chancellor of University of Birmingham.
