Hyderabad, March 22: Director of the British Council Rob Lynes hoped to see the flow of students aspiring for higher education in both directions, that is, from India to United Kingdom and vice versa, in view of the Foreign Universities Bill due to be tabled in Parliament. Higher education is being internationalised and the Bill is an opportunity to forge institutional partnerships between both the nations, he said.
Terming science, technology, software and microbiology as the strengths of India in attracting foreign students, he hoped that the partnerships will see more English students arriving here to study in Indian universities. Talking on the sidelines of the first ever National Meeting of UK Alumni organised by the British Council here on Saturday, Mr. Lynes said the council was looking for global networking opportunities in 110 countries, and the National Alumni Network launched here on Saturday was a step in that direction.
Reckoning the total number of Indians who have graduated from the UK universities at nearly two millions, Mr. Lynes said a website will soon be launched for hosting the network. Though alumni groups representing various universities and institutions from UK are active across the country, this was the first time they have been brought together to form a network, he said.
At the meet, film director Dev Benegal spoke about his next movie Sacred Numbers which is about the life history of legendary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, while actor Rahul Bose spoke of his dream about India. Two alumni from UK Dharini Bhaskar, and Shameen Prashantham shared their experiences of living in UK.
Network
The British Deputy High Commissioner for South India Mike Nithavrianakis made the opening remarks and said United Kingdom is a better place due to foreign students inducing multicultural environment, and wished for more people joining the network.
The alumni meet had the participation from 200 former Indian students who graduated from UK universities.
Those who want to register into the network may do so by logging onto www.britishcouncil.org.in/AlumniConnect/alumni-connect.html. The meet will continue on March 20 also.
-Agencies