Italy, Britain woo Indian students

Updated on: Monday, July 06, 2009

New Delhi: India is emerging as the top battleground for foreign universities looking for students.

UK universities are rolling out their education roadshow for Indian students, the US is easing visa procedures to keep the flow of the "best and brightest" coming in. But the most interesting is the new entrant Italy. It is showcasing its top design schools and universities to attract Indian students.

For the first time, this acknowledged leader in fashion and design technology wants to open the doors of its prestigious institutes to Indian students. The best part is that all the courses will be in English.

The UK begins its huge annual education roadshow here on Friday with 60 universities laying out their education wares to recruit Indian students for undergraduate and post-graduate degrees. Travelling to five top Indian cities, the representatives of schools, colleges and universities will launch an extensive drive to get Indian students to study in the UK, complete with student and visa counselling services.

But snapping at the heels is Italy. Taking advantage of a visit by Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, five top Italian schools of design and fashion will do their own roadshow. They include Europe’s biggest, Instituto Europeo di Design which is sniffing at opportunities of opening one of its celebrated campuses here, to Politecnico of Milan, University La Sapeinza of Rome and University of Palermo.

They will offer post-graduate courses in everything from fashion to ceramics to environmental design and communication design for cultural heritage, car design to yacht design.

From past experience, the UK education exercise is a runaway success. It has succeeded in dispatching more and more Indian students for higher studies to Britain. On February 7, the UK government also announced that from April, non-EU students will have to pay as much as 500 pounds for visa services. With the current exchange rate, this may be hard on students, but is unlikely to deter them.

Italy, Britain woo Indian students

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