South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard
The 45-year-old acknowledged the challenges, particularly economic ones, but said the opportunities offered by the region made it worth considering.
“What we can do is make sure students get the warmest welcome possible and all the support they need,” Coppard told TOI at the ICFAI University campus on Wednesday. “Having policymakers champion that for us is important,” he said, adding that UK universities were lobbying the govt on visa issues. International students, he said, make education “much more relevant” and are not just a source of income and pointed out to China, where UK campuses have operated for 20 years without a drop in the number of students heading to the UK. Most Indian students go to the UK for master’s degrees, he said, adding that studying at a UK university’s Indian campus could make the transition to the UK much more natural. ICFAI vice-chancellor A Vinay Kumar said universities could no longer rely on their brand or country of origin alone and needed to offer a compelling student experience, particularly as students increasingly prioritise outcomes – that is employment.
However, he underlined that policy decisions ultimately rest with the national govt. Dharmendra Shadija, head of the School of Computing and Digital Technologies at Sheffield Hallam University, which signed an MoU with ICFAI on Wednesday to strengthen academic and research collaboration, said the scale of the visit itself addressed concerns about uncertainty.