No cap on number of Indian students in UK

Hyderabad: In a bid to woo Indian students, the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Edward Davey said that there was no cap on the number of Indian students in UK.

Interacting with the students of Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology (MJCET) here on Wednesday, Edward said that 84 per cent of student visa applicants were successful in 2013.

“Our work regulations will allow students at higher education institutions to study and work 20 days per week in vacation. UK education is one of the best investment students can make,” Davey informed.

He urged to strengthen education and research ties between two countries, 20 leading community colleges from UK would develop new partnerships in India.

“Around 500 million people would be empowered with essential vocational skills in partnership with Indian colleges by end of this decade,” he said. Davey stated that in the next five years up to 25,000 UK students would be funded to boost number of UK students pursuing education in India.

He mentioned that UK has been supporting India in several issues and joint investment programmes in science innovation has increased by 150 million pounds in the last five years.

Davey said that India has vast young talent. “By 2035, India will add 270 million people to the workforce and most of them would be under the age of 25. I believe that India’s new government has a clear mandate to deliver economic opportunities for everyone in India,” the secretary said.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Davey said that he was impressed by Modi’s commitment to tackle climate changes.

“Modi is passionate about skill development and he is keen on ensuring young India with skills. I clearly sense, the new government’s priorities to drive employment creation and growth in the country,” he said.

Davey specified that UK being the hub of education, skills and research can help India in the skills development. “UK has four of the world’s top 10 universities and 30 of the world’s top 200 universities which are a popular choice for thousands of Indian students,” Edward added. He mentioned that 3.3 lakh foreign students from over 200 countries including 25,000 from Indian are studying in UK.

“Students are allowed to stay in the country for three years after finishing graduation to work. Many students who graduated from UK are now the frontrunners in innovations, setup enterprises,” Davey said.