From yoga to prototype design engineering, close to 500 students from the United Kingdom (U.K.) will be able to study a wide range of short-term courses, in around 15 to 20 Indian universities next academic year. This is because the Study India Programme of the British Council is set to get bigger and more course-centric for the second batch that gets to visit India.
Introduced this year under the Cultural Immersion Strand of the council, the first batch had around 300 students who got a two-week shot at understanding Indian culture and experiencing the Indian education system at five universities. The Cultural Immersion Strand received as many as 7,000 applications this year.
“Next year, the numbers will go up. The second batch will also be mainly about studies. The first batch had part-culture, part-studies,” explained Himanshu Mittal, assistant director, Generation UK-India, Education and Society, British Council.
Close to 70 universities across India are said to have shown interest in hosting students from the U.K. in July-August 2016. They are expected to submit their course curriculum to the council, which gave them terms of reference. Based on the curriculum, 15 to 20 universities will be shortlisted to host the students, Mr. Mittal told The Hindu .
Admitting that there was a huge mismatch in the number of students heading from India to the U.K. as opposed to the other way around, Mei-Kwei Barker, Director, South India, British Council, said, “We are in discussions with a lot of universities, some most certainly in Karnataka.”
The ambitious programme assures U.K. students a “new understanding of India” and its relevance to their studies and careers. “From crossing a road to dancing at a wedding, participants gain practical skills for living and working in and with India,” the initiative promises. The British Council takes care of the accommodation, food, tuition, and activities of visiting students in the two-week intensive programme.
Close to 70 universities across India are said to have shown interest in hosting students
from the U.K. in
July-August 2016
