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From The Times

July 26, 2007

Indian talent is university challenge

Despite its shared history with India, Britain has lost out to the US in the battle for its students and entrepreneurs. However, London is leading a new charge to attract the brightest brains

Ashling O’Connor

The first Indian students at Oxford University came in 1871 when entry was broadened from members of the Church of England. By 1885, no fewer than 108 Indian barristers had been educated in Britain.

Nearly 140 years on, the population of India has increased nearly fivefold to 1.1 billion and its middle class has swollen to 250 million, but the number of Indian students at Oxford last year was only 257. Despite all the bonds rooted in 89 years of direct colonial rule, Britain does not play a preeminent role in educating modern Indians outside India.

That role lies firmly with the United States, which in 1871 was just recovering from a civil war and continuing the subjugation of its own indigenous population.

Indians still look to Britain for further education, but these days they have the whole world to choose from, and the facts say they are more likely to have studied in Cambridge, Massa-chusetts, than Cambridge, England. Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra and Rahul Bajaj are just three prominent Indian industrialists among Harvard’s alumni.

The US is the No 1 destination for the sub-continent’s best brains, taking in 88,000 Indian students and scholars each year. India is its biggest source of overseas students. British academic institutions – now as expensive, if not more expensive, than their US peers – take fewer than 20,000.

It is a far cry from the days of the Raj when the likes of Cornelia Sorabji, India’s first female lawyer, K. P. S. Menon, independent India’s first ambassador to China, and C. V. Narasim-han, former undersecretary of the United Nations, rose to prominent positions on the back of an English university education.

Lord Bhattacharyya, professor of manufacturing at the University of Warwick, said: “The US is stealing a march on the UK in accessing a key source of competitive advantage – the brainpower that is emerging from the Indian education system.”

Business may be the main reason for Indians to visit Britain, but if old sympathies rooted in shared histories are to be preserved for the next generation of entrepreneurs, Britain needs to make up lost ground in education or watch the best business leaders continue to migrate from India to the US.

Arun Sarin, chief executive of Voda-fone, and Indra Nooyi, chief executive of PepsiCo, were both born in India, but their later-stage educations, and hence their careers, were shaped by America – at Berkeley and Yale, respectively.

The British education establishment and the corporate world that it feeds have woken up to this threat.

“Harvard and Stanford certainly have a big appeal for Indian students and places like Australia and Singa-pore are also vying for a piece of the cake, but Oxbridge is making a big effort through scholarships and visits to India and I think it is having an effect,” says A. A. Baig, honorary president of the Oxford and Cambridge Society of India.

After a 60-year hiatus, the links between Indian business and British education are getting closer. Aditya Birla, a cement and chemicals conglomerate, sponsors an India centre at the London Business School, while the Confederation of Indian Industry is collaborating with Imperial College on science and innovation. Mr Tata was this month made an honorary fellow of the London School of Economics.

Lord Bhattacharyya said: “Indian business leaders are imaginative enough to fund scholarships if they see a real benefit. Where commerce goes, educational partnerships must surely follow.

“Two decades ago, to most British educationists, Delhi and Mumbai [Bombay] seemed as distant in relevance as the Raj was in time. That attitude is being transformed as India’s economic presence in the UK expands.”

More, however, could still be done. Although Britain is increasingly courting India’s students, it still attracts almost as many from Greece, a country of far less size and geopolitical importance.

London is leading the charge in trying to rectify the imbalance. Oxford and Cambridge still have incredible cachet, but most Indian students are heading to the UK capital for further education.

International students numbering 86,000 bring an estimated £1.5 billion to London each year, supporting 44,000 jobs. Of this, India is worth £60 million, according to London Higher, the body promoting London’s higher education sector. Three quarters of Indian students are postgraduate, spending on average £10,000 a year on fees.

“India is seen as the honey pot – they bring money and a lifelong relationship,” Kevin McCarthy, director of London Higher’s Study London campaign said.

Education also brings fringe benefits. Students have big extended families back in India and, swayed by the availability of cheaper direct flights, they now have good reason to visit Britain.

Given the potential, it is no surprise that Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, has declared a closer economic relationship with India a priority for his 2007 emerging markets strategy.

Indians do not choose the UK anymore, as they seek to copy and keep copying American culture, Amrica s very much glamourised in India, this is why they choose th US instead.
Neeraj, The UK doesnt offer sub-standard education at all, Where you got this wrong information from is beyond me, UK gained degrees have higher international worth than US degrees, and this is because most countries copy the UK model in higher education, as did the US too,

Most midde class Indians choose the US, however only the very select Upper classes from in India come to the UK, for the best possible education, our institutions are second to none, not beacuse we have bright students but because our university faculties are the best, and with the worlds best lecturers too

KIRIT GANDHI, LONDON, ENGLAND, UK

In order to capitalise on the Indian brain and talent Britain will have to make their immigration laws more flexible ,making it easier to give positions to uk graduated Indian students. The current economic position and increasing business relations with the uk is a call for the British government to act now and alter their immigration rules as soon as possible.This can be facilitated by changing the colonial mindset which is still present today.

Sukriti Dugal, New Delhi, India

This publication needs to shed the laughable British Raj link. Just because there exists a language commonality does not mean that Indians will continue to seek sub-standard education at their former tormentor's doorstep.
Rather than looking at structures and policies, perhaps universities would be wise in overhauling their systems. Oxford and Cambridge continue to enjoy their historic prestiege--yet from what I hear from students, this is increasingly because of bright students rather than the faculty.
The Ivy League and other exceptional institutions in the US have succeeded in keeping with the times. Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Columbia, MIT, Stanford etc hardly need the fanfare and pomp of ancient british institutions--their graduates' salaries and skills speak for themselves.

Neeraj Soman, Philadephia, PA

I earned my first degree in India, completed post-graduate studies in the USA, and have worked at a UK University. Having experienced the environment at Universities in the UK and the USA, I would always encourage an Indian student to try and gain admission into a US University before applying to a UK University for the following reasons:
(1) The student's Rupee would go further in the USA, where the cost of living is typically lower than in the UK;
(2) Better research facilities in the typical US University (for post-graduate work) than in the typical UK University;
(3) Better-paid jobs available in the USA for a well-qualified US-degree holder.

John E. F. O'Reigner, Wirral, England

Britain has been losing out on the Indian talent pool (and the commercial gain from it) because of the British Immigration law that not only treats a non-EU students unfairly (by charging anything between 3-10 times fee for every university course),but even after qualifying from Britain, there are safeguards in place so that non-EU (not just non british) citizens dont get the best of jobs. Even as a highly skilled migrant (with supposedly unrestricted working rights on papers and resident labour market test waived off) and a doctor doing my training in the NHS,I have felt this discrimination (not while working in the NHS -I emphasise, but the department of health trying its level best to keep us away from coveted SpR training rotations). UK has to realise that it cannot treat its highly skilled migrant workforce as garbage,if they are from outwith the EU, while not even testing the EU immigrants for english language skills,leave apart professional qualifications that we are tested for.

Mayank Vashishtha, Glasgow, UK

In ref to student preferring USA because of the the lack of equal opportunities how do you think Asian's born and bred in this country feel? We are disadvantaged in this country by being not the NEW (affluent) Indians and in India by not being Indian enough! no, I'm just an over educated , under employed immigrant with nowhere to go looking enviously at the opportunities in India. There is a huge swathe of bilingual Asian talent in this country which are ignored by the same multinationals wooing the new India and their talent. Could it be any more ironic.

nina, london,

Mayank Vashishtha, York, UK

As a doctor who has worked for 15 years in the UK, after my basic medical degree from India, I feel misused as to the way the NHS treats non EU doc's, especially from India. During the 70's and 80's, it was the imported Indians doctors who kept the NHS running good, doing all the nights, overtimes and other side of British medical care that home grown doctors turned away from in disgust. Again, the NHS is now crubbling, but this time, majority of juniour indian doc's opted to stay in India. Let the eastern european doc's who apparently can speak better english than indian ones AND not suprisingly havent a clue about the difference between a forcep and a kitchen knife, enter the hull of the sinking ship, known as the NHS! India is booming, we are catching up, face the facts and look beyond the brown skin and treat us as equal human beings.

Dr Navin Menon MBBS, FRCP, FRCPath., Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England

I agree with the comment that overseas students are not given equal opportunity in obtaining suitable positions in the UK after graduating. This is one of the reasons why students from India and other countries would choose to study in the USA . I passed through the UK higher education system obtaining the highest university degree one could obtain and two professional qualifications. All my efforts were in vain in trying to obtain a suitable position in the UK. For this reason I worked in 3 other countries where surprisingly my total emoluments were far in excess I could have obtained in the UK. Even my younger son after obtaining two degrees and 71.3 average in his professional exdamination had to leave the UK for want of a position relating to his qualifications. Although he obtained more than the minimum mark for a distinction he was denied this on the pretext that he was late for an oral presentation.

Dr Nat Khublall, Harrow on the Hill, England, UK

I feel often very surprised to see mention of East India company and British Raj on many of articles on modern India. I would say what is happening in India today has absolutely nothing to do with British Raj. In fact that part in history of India was one of the worst time of India in terms of social oppression, poverty and unrest. India was totally crippled financially by exploitation of British Rulers. When British left they very irresponsibly ended up partitioning India leading to further economic and social disasters. The journalists writing articles please stop glamorizing British Raj. Modern Indian young generation back in India will be furiously surprised if they come to know that most of the British media articles on modern India today end up giving some credit to British Raj.

Having said that almost every young generation Indian including me looks at Britain in very different perspective of a modern western nation full of potential business opportunities and friendly ties.

Durva Shiv, Bristol,

The reason Indian students are choosing USA as their destination is because there is a problem with UK system. The UK system started treating Indian students unfairly once they finish their education. UK system does not give equal opportunities in jobs anymore. This dissuades the Indians coming to UK and thereby UK is loosing revenue and a talented pool of law abiding people who can contribute to the growth of UK economy. There is always a give and take relationship. If UK only wants to take money from Indian students to run its universities and not give them jobs, then soon revenues for universities will dry up. This example stand comparable to other international students aswell.

Dheeraj, Derby, Derbyshire

In this post-colonial new world, perhaps Britain needs to work hard in stealing the best brainpower coming out of India.This story reminded me of a fairly recent comment made by Al Qaida senior official in which he casually mentioned about 'Britain & her Indian slaves'! In the old colonial world, Britain would have never been such a great colonial power if not for India. It was millions of Indian soldiers and civil servants deployed throughout thirtysomething colonial countries that kept British emperor thrived and prospered for centuries, all at the expense of sufferings of hundred of millions of colonial people worldwide.

JJ Yorks, Seattle, USA