British officials familiar with the development, the UK will maintain its annual target of attracting at least 600,000 international students, with a focus on strengthening collaboration with Indian universities through dual degrees and joint research programs. With over 120,000 students enrolled in 2022-23, India is the second largest cohort of international students in the UK after China. The significant overlap between India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the UK government's international education strategy, according to Steve Smith, the UK Government's International Education Champion, on the sidelines of the two-day India-UK Higher Education Conference in Delhi, could further strengthen these ties. "It is my responsibility to increase the number of international students, and there is no limit to the number of international students who can come". I believe there is a lot of noise right now. The key point is that the target of at least 600,000 students coming to the UK each year remains unchanged. And we are meeting it, and nothing has changed. As a result, there's a lot of buzz surrounding it. I recognize that, but the UK government's goal remains the same.
The comments come just days after a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reportedly told the media that Britain has no plans to change its approach to reducing net migration in order to help India secure a free trade agreement (FTA). "The prime minister believes that current migration levels are excessive... To be clear, there are no plans to change our immigration policy, including student visas, in order to achieve this free trade agreement," a spokesperson told journalists on September 7, according to news agency Reuters. Alison Barrett, the British Council's India director, stated that the UK is very excited to welcome talented young people from all over the world. "We are delighted that they have chosen the United Kingdom as a destination." And it's something we want to keep encouraging".
The UK's emphasis on India comes at a time when France has announced plans to welcome 30,000 Indian students by 2030 and Germany has increased its intake of Indian students by 26% between 2022 and 2023. The conference is being held as part of the "Higher Education Mission 2023," in which the largest-ever delegation of 31 higher education representatives from the United Kingdom is visiting India for five days.
Smith stated that the delegation's goal is to strengthen already strong ties between UK and Indian institutions. "This is the third and largest delegation of its kind, and this time we're focusing on partnering UK institutions with Indian institutions". The future of education worldwide is shifting away from bilateral agreements and toward international collaboration. So we have a group of institutions that all want to connect with other institutions in India. This trip is all about deepening, and it's doing just that two way. It’s not about students coming to the UK, it is also about building partnerships here.
A total of 83 higher education institutions in the United Kingdom are already collaborating with their counterparts in India, either through dual enrollment under the University Grants Commission (UGC) 2022 regulations or through research collaborations. On the possibility of a UK-based university being willing to step-up campus in India under the upcoming UGC guidelines, Smith said that they will have to get the regulations sorted on both sides before making any decision. “We are also very interested, by the way, in the prospect of Indian institutions coming into the UK, especially the IITs. I hope it’s that internationalization model, which works both ways. So, we are certainly open to the idea of branch campuses, and there will be some institutions here that will have it at the back of their mind.
