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THE number of Indian students doing higher studies in Britain has increased nearly five-fold in as many years despite the steep fee hike, the Indian envoy to the UK has said. "The number of students studying in the UK went up from 3,800 five years ago to 18,000 last year, the same as in the USA, despite the steep hike in the fees," said Indian High Commissioner Kamalesh Sharma, the chief guest at a function held by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, UK, on Monday night. Speaking on the occasion, Lord Navnit Dholakia, Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, said: "In the olden days, educated Indians were queuing up to come to the UK. But now the biggest problem for the UK is to how to stop them from going back to India." Sharma also pointed out that out of the 21,500 work permits issued by the UK last year for software engineers , 85 per cent were from India. Referring to the rapid progress India has made in the last few years, Sharma said that last year, Indian companies invested $ 2 billion in mergers and acquisitions worldwide. He pointed out that apart from acquiring the Tetley and Tyfoo tea companies, Tatas opened a design centre in Coventry, employing 1,000 persons. Sir Gulam K. Noon, founder of the multi-million dollar Noon products, told the gathering: "I am very proud to say I was born in India." Lord Dholakia said that reflecting the growing India-UK relations, delegation after delegation from the UK was now visiting India. The function was also
attended by Maneck Dalal, Chairman of the Bhavan here, Dr Atul
Khare, Director of the Nehru Centre, and K.S. Bhardwaj, Minister for
Press and Information in the High Commission. — PTI
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