Wanted: Students from India

British and US universities looking to India for growth send teams there to woo them


LONDON - AN INCREASE in students from India has helped to offset continued falls in numbers from China and Hong Kong, making them the second-biggest group of foreigners in British universities, according to data released this week.

But Britain is bracing itself for competition from American universities, which are also training their sights on India.

The number of Indian students in the country soared by 15 per cent in 2005-06 to 19,205, Britain's Higher Education Statistics Agency said on Monday.

The increase will reassure vice-chancellors worried that a continued decline in the number of Chinese enrolments - who, along with all non-European Union students, pay substantially higher fees - would push some universities into deficit.

The total number of Chinese students fell by 3.7 per cent, but they remained the largest overseas group, accounting for 50,755 students. The Hong Kong intake fell 12.4 per cent to 9,445.

Some universities are already looking to India for growth. Last year, Mr Chris Patten, chancellor of Oxford University, spent a week in South Asia promoting his institution.

The government has also backed such efforts. In 2005, Prime Minister Tony Blair launched the United Kingdom-India Education and Research Initiative.

Meanwhile, US universities eager to expand to markets abroad are discovering the economic rise of India, a country where some 40 per cent of the population is under 18, and which faces a scarcity of higher education opportunities.

The Bush administration's envoy for public diplomacy, Ms Karen Hughes, is visiting India this week with six American university presidents to promote Brand America in Indian education.

The United States wants an easing of rules under a draft law on foreign investment in Indian education, which is to be introduced in India's Parliament next month.

If the law is approved, foreign institutions would be exempt from strict rules that apply to all government-accredited universities in India regarding fees, staff salaries and curricula.

The Indian government has already proposed setting up an expert committee to review the standards and reputation of foreign universities that want to establish independent campuses in India.

Dr Madeleine Green, vice-president for international initiatives at the American Council on Education, calls India 'the next frontier' for American institutions, many of which have already set up base in China.

At the moment, instead of setting up satellite campuses, as was done in China, Singapore or Qatar, most American institutions are opting to join hands with existing Indian institutions.

Columbia Business School, for instance, started a student exchange programme earlier this year with the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad. The institutions teamed up to write case materials designed to teach American students about doing business in India.

'For us it's market access, for them it's access to a bigger business school,' said Professor R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia Business School.