Project: Outward Student Mobility from UK to India

Tender description

By 2025, several forecasts predict a worldwide internationally mobile students population of 8+ million. The UK’s International Education Strategy highlights the importance of boosting international study and global opportunities for all the young people living in the UK. , Replacing previous engagements around Erasmus and Erasmus+, the UK government introduced a landmark £110 million Turing Scheme in 2021, offering students of all backgrounds across the UK the chance to study and work abroad. <br />The Turing Scheme provides funding for students in universities, colleges, and schools to undertake placements across the world. It gives pupils, learners and students in UK schools, colleges, and universities the chance to learn new skills, travel the world, and boost their employability, while learning about different cultures. It also aims to widen access to international opportunities. It is underpinned by four key objectives that address what the UK government considers important for its socio-economic and geo-political challenges: <br />(i) To promote Global Britain, through forging new relationships across the world<br />(ii) To support social mobility and widen participation across the UK (explicitly linked to the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda)<br />(iii) To develop key skills, bridging the gap between education and work<br />(iv) To ensure value for UK taxpayers in international student mobility <br />The Welsh government also launched Taith in 2022, an international learning exchange programme for education staff and students in Wales to learn, study and volunteer all over the world and it also brings educators and learners from around the world to Wales. Taith promotes collaborations between Welsh and international organisations that enable two-way learning exchanges and mobility opportunities to undergo transformative learning experiences.<br />India is one of the 150 global partner destinations under the Turing programme and is a priority country under the UK’s International Education Strategy. In year one of the Turing programme, i.e. 2021/22, 25 per cent of all higher education placements (7,534 students in total) were in the USA, China, and Canada, the three most popular destinations. India was at 9th place with 1,002 UK students and has continued to be in the top 10 destination countries chosen by the UK students consistently over the last three years for higher education placements. In terms of the overall placements including higher education, VET and schools, India and Thailand are the only two Asian countries in the top 10 destination countries in 2023/24. <br />The Indian government launched Study in India in 2018, its flagship initiative to attract foreign students to the Indian higher educational institutions. It provides a single window platform for all higher education opportunities for foreign students in the country, including details of schools and research institutes, visa rules, fee concessions etc. This initiative obtained further impetus with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which aims to position India as the education hub of the world. <br />India has one of the largest higher education systems in the world with more than 1,000 universities and 42,000 colleges that have a combined capacity to enrol more than 40 million students. According to the All India Survey of Higher Education 2021-22 report, there were around 46,000 foreign students enrolled in Indian HEIs from 170 countries. The largest share is from its neighbouring countries, that is Nepal, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. The UK takes 35th place with 252 students enrolling in Indian HEIs for various degree/diploma/certificate course at undergraduate and post graduate level. However, in comparison, this is 11 times lower than the numbers of students that come from the United States which is placed third with a 6.2% share – slightly above share of students coming from Bangladesh.<br />In 2022, India became the country sending the highest number of students to the UK with 139,000 student visas granted excluding dependents. Current visa issuance trends and feedback from diverse higher education stakeholders indicate a dip in the number of applications due to UK policy changes but the demand continues to be there from Indian students whilst on the other hand according to HESA data of 2021-22, there were only 252 UK students who came to India on education exchange programmes. <br />One of the NEP 2020 goals, ‘internationalisation at home’, seeks to attract an increased number of international students to study in India and provide greater two-way mobility for students along with signing of agreements with foreign countries to facilitate these exchanges. An agreement on mutual recognition of academic qualifications has also been signed between the two governments to support academic exchange and mobility within UK and India. There is mutual interest to have increased exchange of students and a greater number of UK students coming to India to strengthen the living bridge between the UK and India. Outward mobility to India is likely to lead to a diverse range of transnational education opportunities.<br />Given the ongoing initiatives, it would be important to understand the existing scale and pathways taken for outward mobility to India and examine factors that can spur interest of UK students to study in India and enrich their learning experience. <br />