British diplomat says change in visa norms have affected influx of students.
Describing the perception that ‘Indians could no longer work in the UK after graduation’ as a ‘myth’, British high commissioner to India James Bevan said that in fact it is quite the opposite scenario.
Indian students could work for up to six years after graduating, provided they get ‘graduate-level jobs’ that pay at least £25,000 a year, according to Bevan. He spoke on Wednesday during a press conference held in a city hotel.
He said that the number of Indian students had come down from 30,000 in 2011 to 20,000 in 2012 and admitted the cause for the drop was partly due to the changed visa norms. As per the new norms, Indian students can no longer work for two years after graduating.
He said, however, that Britain was keen on getting more Pune and Indian students to come to the UK. “Eight of ten Indian students who applied for student visas got them. Any genuine student will get a visa. One of the reasons for the drop is also that for four to five years, many Indian students were getting enrolled in low quality or fake universities mainly for the purpose of working in the
UK. Now, the number of students has reduced but the quality has gone up.” Bevan said.
He added that with India allowing foreign universities to set up shop, the British universities were exploring the idea of setting up campuses in India, particularly Pune as it is the Oxford of the East.
He said, “The Northampton University and Lavasa are thinking of a tie-up, which should fructify in the near future.” He said this was his second visit to Pune since taking over as high commissioner in May 2011.
Bevan said he was keen on bringing more British investment to Pune and take Indian investment to Britain. He said, “From a business perspective, we are keen on investing in sectors like automobiles, aerospace and information technology, in which Pune has a strong foothold.”
Mumbai-Bangalore corridor
Bevan described the Mumbai-Bangalore corridor as a ‘key project’ and said he met chief minister Prithviraj Chavan in this regard. “The project is currently at its preliminary stage. We are deciding the terms of reference for the feasibility study,” he said.
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