There has been a sharp decline within the wide variety of Indian students seeking admission to UK universities because of the withdrawal of publish-take a look at paintings visa, tightening of English talent necessities, and comparatively more expensive higher schooling in the u. S. A ., the authorities knowledgeable the Rajya Sabha. In a written reaction to a query in the Rajya Sabha on whether there has been a steep drop in the number of Indian college students in search of admission to UK universities, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said as per the United Kingdom official supply – the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the number of Indian students decreased from 40,470 in 2009-10 to sixteen,559 in 2016-17.
In 2017-18, the number of Indian students improved to 19,750, he said. The reasons attributed especially for the sooner decrease consist of withdrawal of submit-examine work visa, tightening of English skillability requirements, comparatively more expensive schooling inside the UK, starting up of recent opportunities in countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand as well as the opening of latest worldwide universities in India which have commenced attracting Indian college students who used to move overseas, the minister stated. Issues relating to Indian college students were continually raised with India’s aid in all bilateral discussions with the UK at numerous degrees, Mr. Muraleedharan said.
He said the difficulty was taken up through the MEA with the United Kingdom Home Office in a meeting held on January sixteen, 2019. On May 10, 2019, the foreign secretary raised it with his British counterpart at some point during India-UK Foreign Office Consultations. In a comprehensive revamp of the program, restricted to students of scheduled castes and tribes, the kingdom has now allowed recipients to pursue undergraduate guides. To qualify for the scheme — additionally known as the Karnataka SC/ST Student Overseas Scheme — candidates need to take the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) or Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) as well as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
Social welfare minister Priyank Kharge said the authorities made it mandatory for college kids to apply for the four hundred to be had scholarships to take the GRE or GMAT to illustrate their flair in middle topics and the TOEFL IELTS for proof of talent in English.
“The basic intent is to ensure that a beneficiary does not waste the opportunity by settling for a varsity without popularity that does not provide employment opportunities,” he said. The made-over scheme allows students to select from among one hundred pinnacle universities in 12 countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The scheme, relaunched by the social welfare branch in December 2018, has proved so popular that the minority welfare and backward lessons welfare departments have evinced keen interest in replicating the model. The authorities will pay the recipients’ full price to make certain economic constraints no longer pressure them to drop out midway through their courses.
“If, for instance, a student’s expenses at Harvard training session to Rs 50 lakh per year, the authorities pay Rs 2 crore to sponsor a whole four-12 months course,” said Kunal Shah, a senior representative at Stencil Consulting, who played a key role within the authorities’ efforts to overhaul the program. Officials stated the scheme earlier attracted nearly a hundred applicants each year. However, a common of 80 finds comfortable funding as a right for the credibility of the varsities they joined. “With the brand new norms, only around 20 students were admitted to colleges overseas,” Shah said. “A mere 17 students have qualified for the postgraduate scholarships, and a maximum of them are yet to post their GRE/GMAT and TOEFL/IELTS rankings.”