The British Council is set to send 15 meritorious students from Telangana to United Kingdom (UK) on March 25, 2023, in collaboration with the state government and University of Glasgow as a part of its Scholarships for Outstanding Undergraduate Talent (SCOUT) programme, Rittika Chanda Parruck, director, education, British Council India, told FE Education. The course is designed as a two-week curriculum with a certificate from the varsity. “The British Council has covered expenses for accommodation, food, and travel within the United Kingdom, while the Telangana government is providing flight tickets for the students,” Parruck added.
Furthermore, as per the council, there are 47 UK universities which are in collaboration with 62 Indian universities at present. “These partnerships have been inked with both public and private universities. We look forward to industry-academia partnerships,” Bobby Mehta, chair, British Universities’ International Liaison Association (BUILA), associate pro vice-chancellor (Global Engagement), University of Portsmouth, said.
Interestingly, post-Brexit, the focus area of the UK’s education sector has been shifted to the global market. “Before Brexit, we focused on relationships with Europe, but now an approach has changed and India is a key strategic driver for UK universities,” Mehta explained. He further added that after the occurrence of the pandemic, the demand for the kind of subject in the UK industry has drastically changed. “Data science, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence are in demand. However, humanities has also emerged as a prominent and preferable discourse in the last few years,” Mehta added.
In addition, the council claims to offer scholarships at postgraduate level. “The GREAT scholarship is for UK universities at an average cost of £10,000. The Women in STEM scholarship is fully funded with an average cost of £35,000,” Parruck added. Furthermore, the British Council also claims to provide annual grants to the universities for certification programmes.