Indian students still prefer to study in the UK despite expensive pound

The number of Indian students at Durham University, around 380 kilometres from the capital London, has grown by more than 200 percent to 340 in the last four years. India is currently the second-most represented nationality at the postgraduate (PG) level, overtaking Taiwan, Thailand, and the US.

Besides, India is now third-most-represented at the undergraduate (UG) level, overtaking Singapore and other countries since 2019.

Indian students have been consistently opting for the United Kingdom as their study-abroad destination, banking on scholarships and the availability of wide-range of courses, not just in cities with heavy competition such as London, but in smaller ones as well.

In England and Wales, Indian students constitute the largest population, making up 11.6 percent of over 3.7 lakh international students, Census 2021 data released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed. In fact, Indian students are second only to Romanians on a list of international students most likely to be employed in England and Wales.

Management and Engineering remain the courses preferred by Indian students due to their focus on securing a job and eventually permanent residency (PR). However, various institutes are introducing new-age courses due to increasing interest from students.

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A similar trend was seen in York, in the northeast of England. Indian students surpassed the US and Hong Kong in 2021 to become the second-largest source of international students to the University of York and have remained in that rank to date. The largest source is China. In the 2022 intake, Indian students made up 14.6 percent of total international enrolments at York.

Though already popular, Manchester is also seeing a significant upsurge in enrolment of Indian students. The University of Manchester currently has more than 1,300 full-time students on its campus from India. This is a 150 percent increase over 2019. Of those students, 42 percent are UG (Bachelor's), 52 percent are PGT (Master's) and 6 percent are PGR (PhD). India is now second only to China in terms of student representation.

Scholarships

With the increased focus on the subcontinent, some universities have India-centric scholarships. For instance, Durham University's international scholarship of £5,000 has been awarded to all Indian students, excluding those pursuing Business and Law courses, for the September 2022 and September 2023 intake, and will be offered for the next enrolments in 2024.

Recently, the UK-based University of Essex also announced scholarships for Indian students for postgraduate studies. The amount of the scholarship is up to £3,000 for students looking to enrol themselves in the January 2024 intake.

The scholarship is for students belonging to Tier II universities in India and those who pursued undergraduate degrees overseas or in the UK, and are self-funding their postgraduate studies.

Meanwhile, all undergraduate degree programmes at Loughborough University are covered under scholarships, currently to the value of 25 percent of the tuition fee for the first year.

At the University of York, the proportion of Indian students in receipt of a scholarship is now at around 14 percent of the overall intake. Around 60 percent of UG students were awarded a university scholarship in 2023 compared to around 7 percent of PGT students.

The proportion of undergraduate students accessing a scholarship is much higher than that of master's students, as study costs at the undergraduate level are greater.

“We welcome all our new Indian students. Our relationship with India is growing at pace and spans many of our activities, including the recruitment of top-quality students, joint research and PhD student training, and business engagement,” Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President of the University of Manchester, told Moneycontrol.

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More than 200 Indian students registered at The University of Manchester and have availed of academic merit-based scholarships, ranging from £8,000 to £21,000, since 2021. The figure doesn't include the number of awards for PhDs, awards funded by India’s multiple national and regional governments, such as the Rajiv Gandhi Scholarship for Academic Excellence (Rajasthan), Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj Scholarship (Maharashtra), and National Overseas Scholarship Scheme.

Besides, Manchester has its own set of scholarships. The Bicentenary Global Futures Scholarships for South Asia are open to applicants domiciled in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Awardees are selected based on academic merit, but the university said it tries to achieve a balance in the allocation of awards by gender, domicile, qualification type and course of study.

Alternatives to London and Oxford

While London and Oxford remain the most popular destinations for international as well as domestic students for higher education, not all of them get the chance to enrol in one of the top colleges in these highly competitive cities. Besides, managing expenses in cities such as London and Edinburgh (Scotland) for students, who usually take large loans, can be difficult.

Various students said the cost is 30-40 percent lower in cities such as Leicester, Newcastle, Manchester, York etc.

“Finding accommodation and travelling can put much pressure on our already scarce student wallet. Living in smaller cities provides much respite to unnecessary expenses, coupled with easy-to-find accommodation and less commuting,” said Mrunmayee Bhagwat, who is pursuing a Master's degree in Management (Finance) at Durham University.

At study abroad consultant Fateh Education, the number of students opting for the UK has grown six-fold between 2019 and 2023. Interestingly, 78 percent of the students choosing the UK have opted for the Russell Group and other traditional Universities. This is the inverse of the overall UK numbers, where Modern Universities tend to dominate total recruitment.

“In 2019, 20 percent of the students selected the UK as an option. In 2023, 54 percent of students selected the UK as an option. Besides, 81 percent of students in 2023 chose to study outside London,” said Suneet Singh Kochar, CEO of Fateh Education.

Universities such as York and Durham follow the Collegiate system, portrayed in the Harry Potter franchise, where autonomous colleges foster a sense of community while being part of the broader university. York University claims its 11 colleges offer events, clubs and guidance, creating a sense of belonging for every student, whether on or off-campus.

Emerging courses

According to data shared by Fateh Education, among students selecting the UK as a study destination, 9 percent chose to study in an Arts or Humanities Discipline in 2019. In 2023 this figure stands at 14 percent.

Meanwhile, 47 percent of students choose STEM courses in 2019; this percentage will remain unchanged in 2023. Computer Science courses were the dominant stream among the STEM courses, of which Data Analytics/Data Science-related courses had the maximum traction.

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However, certain emerging courses are finding their place among Indian students. Historically Loughborough has been very popular with students from India for its Engineering programmes. Over the past two decades this has started to change and it has seen more students go into Business-related programmes, with more representation from across India.

“As the global economy has diversified, so, too, has our provision to include areas such as entrepreneurship, innovation, sport business, analytics, circular economy, as well as more traditional fields such as banking, finance, economics and marketing,” the institute said.

At York, the most popular course was the Master of Public Health (comprising 44 percent of Indian students). The institute is introducing newer courses seeing the traction among students going for new-age job roles and industries.

This includes launching an MSc in Renewable Energy Technologies, an MA in Sustainable Built Heritage, a BA (Hons) in Business in the Creative Industries, an MSc in Artificial Intelligence for the Creative Industries, MA in Philosophy in Artificial Intelligence, among others.

With 14 percent of Indian students, Archeology is also gaining prominence at Durham. Meanwhile, the bachelor’s level at Manchester has seen increasing interest in Law, Psychology, and Biotechnology among others.