UK woos Indian students

Wooing students from India, the British Council today launched the GREAT Britain Scholarships - India 2015 programme in Kerala.
Student Mobility is critical for cultural relations. The mutual movement of people and ideas between India and the UK helps create the condition for more creativity, innovation and enterprise. The British Council is working with partners across Government in the GREAT Campaign, promoting the UK as a destination to study, a press release said.
As part of the GREAT scholarships, 401 part scholarship awards worth 1.51 million pounds (approximately rs 151 million) on offer for courses ranging from Engineering, Law and Business to Art & Design and Biosciences. At least 57 UK institutions across England, Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland are participating in this programme. The Scholarships are tenable for September 2015 and January 2016 intakes.

An Education UK Exhibition, in which over 15 universities will participate, will be held here tomorrow for students who want to know more about education and living in the UK.
With 401 scholarships this year, and over 750 in the last two years, this is the largest ever scholarships programme offered to Indian students. The scholarships are worth almost 1.51 million pounds (about rs 151 million).
The exhibition is being organised to provide information on undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes in the UK and also give information on student life and culture.

Over 2,50,000 Indians have studied in the UK over the last 10 years. The exhibition will give the latest information about studying and living in UK and showcase the benefits that the UK education offers, Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India, said.

Pointing that Indian students were very much welcome in the UK, she said about 84 per cent of Indian student visa applicants in 2013 were successful. 'There is no limit on the number of Indians who can come to study - and stay on to work in a graduate level job after their studies,' she added.
The British Council has announced a new programme called Generation UK, which aims to bring up to 25,000 UK students to India over the next five years.
The objective of the initiative is to promote India as a destination to gain study and work experience, offer mutually beneficial placements that will give UK young people the chance to develop employability skills and support the internationalisation of Indian companies and academic institutions.