Thomas Cook launches University Tours

Travel company Thomas Cook has launched University Tours in collaboration with education consultancy firm The Red Pen College Tours in the United States. The Tours will take Indian students on a tour of select colleges and universities in the US to help them decide where they want to pursue their higher studies.

Students will be taken to campuses of leading universities such as Stanford University, University of California - Los Angeles, Harvard University, New York University and Princeton University.

According to a release from Thomas Cook, traditional route of online research and word-of-mouth has fallen short of providing Indian students and their parents a realistic and hands on perspective.

The University Tours are expected to give prospective students and their parents a glimpse into university life experiences with visits to the US colleges, interactions with students and university admission advisors.

The tour operators promise customized sessions and workshops at some universities, a pre-departure workshop on the US university admission process and on how to select a university for parents and students, workshops to guide students on how to select majors and careers, how to prepare resumes and individual counselling after the trip.

According to the release, Shibani Phadkar, senior vice-president and head, Leisure Travel (Outbound) Products of Thomas Cook (India), says: "This initiative is aimed at giving students a vibrant firsthand perspective of what to expect when pursuing their undergraduate studies in America. On-ground counselling and interactions with local students and counsellors make for engaging sessions while ensuring selection of an apt university."

Number of Indian students in UK drops

Britain's strict student visa regulations has resulted in a dip in the numbers of Indian students in higher education by nearly a quarter last year.

Students from India coming to study at UK schools and universities fell by 23.5% overall, including a 28% drop at the postgraduate level.

Figures released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) on Friday show fewer than 30,000 students from India were studying at UK higher education institutions in 2011-12 , compared with around 40,000 in the previous year.

India, however, remains the second most common country of origin for foreign students in Britain after China, which sent 79,000 students last year.

Universities have been warning the UK government that recent changes to student visa rules mean they face losing bright foreign students to rival institutions in the United States, Canada and Australia.

India, China to lead with degrees, OECD report

China and India are fast becoming powers to reckon with in the global higher education arena.

According to the recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the two countries will produce about 40 per cent of post secondary degree-holders by 2020. The United States and some European Union countries will produce about 25 per cent.

The report, part of the organization’s series Education Indicators in Focus, takes into account higher education graduates between the ages of 25 and 34 in OECD and Group of Twenty member countries -- 42 countries in total.

The gap between China and the United States -- the two leading producers of graduates in 2010, with 18 and 14 per cent  -- will be significant by 2020. China is expected to produce 29 per cent of all higher education graduates studied in the report, and the United States is expected to produce 11 per cent of all those graduates. India, which produced 11 per cent of graduates in 2010, is expected to overtake the United States and produce 12 per cent of the share of graduates by the end of this decade.

UK losing out on Indian students due to immigration laws: Baroness Blackstone

The British government’s immigration control drive has led to the country missing out on students from India.

According to Labour's Baroness Blackstone, the country risked being in a "very unfortunate position" when it came to attracting lucrative overseas students. Her concerns were echoed by several peers at question time in the House of Lords.

However, Home Office minister Lord Henley said latest UCAS figures showed a 13% increase in university applications from students from outside the European Union.

Lady Blackstone said: "Some bona fide institutions - universities - have lost as many as 20% of their overseas students, particularly from India. The restrictions on employment when graduating will put us in a very unfortunate position compared to our main competitors the United States and Australia, which have much more generous arrangements for students who wish to work for a temporary period when they graduate."

BARONESS TESSA BLACKSTONE

Labour Viscount Hanworth, a professor at Leicester University, said it was "inappropriate" to treat students along with other immigrants.

He told peers: "The measures designed to combat bogus institutions are also having a severe effect on reputable institutions in the higher education sector. Under normal circumstances, without the impediments created by the Government, their numbers would be expected to follow a steeply upward trend which would be highly profitable for the UK."

Lord Henley told peers it was right to "clamp down on bogus institutions" that were being used "merely as a vehicle to get round immigration rules".

He added: "It might be that there are some particular institutions that have lost out but we have seen proportionate increases elsewhere."

He acknowledged there had been a fall in applicants from the Indian sub-continent, but added: "There have been areas where there have been significant rises - particularly Australasia where there has been an increase of some 20% and Hong Kong 37%."