UK continues to attract Indian students in large numbers

The Indian student numbers wanting to study in the UK universities continue to rise notwithstanding the Brexit, stricter visa rules and an overall decline in Asian students moving to western countries for higher education.

Representatives of many top universities of the UK such as Bath, Cardiff and Edinburgh said that the number of Indian students heading to Britain continued to be healthy in 2017.

One of the factors contributing to their increase is that the pound sterling, which rose to INR105 in August 2015, fell to INR79.4 in April 2017 when compared to the Indian rupee. It is valued currently at about INR88, making studying in London cheaper than before.

Sangeet Chowfla, president, GMAC (Graduate Management Admission Council) was quoted by The Economic Times as saying that in 2016, the downward trend was witnessed owing to the Brexit issue, but it was offset by the attraction of education in the UK becoming less expensive. She said that they had not witnessed a slowdown in Britain as was envisaged earlier.

In 2016, almost one-third of Indian students who visited GMAC’s website, MBA.com, in fact, had opined that their chances of studying in the UK were less because of the Brexit and no chances of landing a full-time job. The Theresa May government has, however, only cut down the time international students can spend in Britain after they complete their education.

On the contrary, it was reported by that the number of Indian students enrolling in the United Kingdom had risen. The number of students from India increased by seven percent in 2016 at Cardiff University, and if early indications are anything to go by, the university would achieve this year’s enrollment target too.

At the University of Bath, the application numbers from India grew by 20 percent for undergraduate courses in it in the last two years, with more people opting for management degrees. Indian student numbers increased by 12 percent in the University of Edinburgh in the academic year 2016-17, as 354 students enrolled in undergraduate as well as postgraduate study.

Major UK universities representatives told the newspaper that their investment to attract Indian students would continue to be high.

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