Bengaluru: If anyone is cheering the UK’s decision to pull out of the European Union and the resulting fall in the pound, it has to be engineering students from India.
Britain could now become a more popular destination for undergraduate engineering studies, says Dr Radhakrishna Aithal, Director, International Centre for Applied Sciences (ICAS), Manipal University.
Pointing out that Australia and USA are currently more popular destinations for higher education, he believes things could change now. "Brexit may reverse this trend to some extent considering the fall in the British pound, which will make UK a cheaper destination compared to Australia or US, especially for students interested in pursuing a part of their Twinning Engineering Programme in its universities," he said.
Many universities in the state currently have collaborations with UK universities like the City University London, Lancaster University, University of Leicester, Queen Mary University of London, University of Strathclyde, Swansea University, Sheffield Hallam University, Liverpool Hope University and others.
But on the other hand students are afraid the referendum and its verdict could have a downside to it. Those already pursuing higher education in Europe feel Brexit could spell the end to European collaboration, which made British universities so attractive and also unleash Xenophobia and racism in the UK.
Said Mr Pranav Kohli from Bengaluru, who is pursuing his PhD in anthropology in Dublin, Ireland, “The main impact of Brexit will be on Indian travellers and students as there could be more incidents of racism in Britain now. I think there is already a lot of it happening because the Brexit campaign was racist. It was about keeping outsiders out. It has unleashed a kind of Xenophobia and racism that was not seen before in Britain."
“Students might want to reconsider their options especially for research oriented programmes. It might also mean fewer scholarships in British Universities,” he added.
