Britain and India have maintained cordial relations for a few decades now. There have been collaborations in the field for business and education. Many qualified students from India study at world-renowned universities in Britain. The number of investors in both the UK and India have also grown with the emphasis in the renewable energy industry. The United Kingdom is the third largest country that provides foreign development investment (FDI) to India. The first being the United States and second being France. The United Kingdom also imports goods from India.

About the Policy

The education sector is the most important sector at present. Countries all over the globe are focusing on improving their respective education systems. This is taken forward by collaborating with other countries for better educational facilities and reforms. Britain has recognised the importance of India and introduced many initiatives on 9th November 2016 to strengthen the ties between the two countries.

Jo Johnson, Science Minister Britain launched a campaign – ‘Study UK: Discover You’ on Wednesday and was quoted saying that collaborations with other countries would improve the innovations in the field of science in the future. He also said that India was a vital science partner to the United Kingdom and this relationship would continue forward.

Experts suggest that this brand-new campaign launched by the United Kingdom would provide active participants with a platform to take part in the decision-making process by the medium of online research and social media.

Johnson also mentioned about the Newton fund through which they planned to work with other countries to improve the lives of millions of individuals across the globe. They also expressed the desire to expand this partnership to collect funds for humanities and social science programs. To improve the relationship with India, the science minister announced the launch of “the future of design education in India” report.

Alan Gemmell, British Council Director, said that both India and the United Kingdom have a partnership that goes way beyond the educational sector. He also expressed his desire to gather the values and practices from both the countries to further establish this alliance. About the design market, he said there is an increase in the demand for designers from India as there is a large market with a lot of potential abroad.

Will these ties be favourable for the students? Will the United Kingdom ease the visa norms for Indian students? Only time will tell.