Universities United

From - http://educationtimes.com/ 

Kolkata: The city students made the most of the UK Education Exhibition 2011: Light Up Your Career, organised by the British Council recently. The day-long affair heralded a perfect opportunity for students interested in studying in the UK to interact with representatives of around 40 universities and attend seminars on IT, engineering, law and business management along with information on scholarship options.

“This exhibition will provide information on studying in the UK, the types of subjects, courses and scholarships available and life in UK. It is a fantastic opportunity for them to meet the university authorities directly,” said Owain Llwyd, international officer of Bangor University and mission leader for the education fair this year.

The exhibition will travel to six cities in India-Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Kochi, Coimbatore and Ahmedabad-and will have more than 100 representatives of over 80 UK institutions participating.

“The response has been overwhelming this year. It has been the busiest exhibition so far and has attracted a lot of interest,” said Devina Sivagurunathan, international officer, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). “We are interested in the scholarships for masters in economics or business administration,” said Diya Choudhury, student, St Xavier’s College.

Marina Gandhi, head of education, British Council East India, said, “Nowadays, you can find most of the information online but here you can talk to international officers and ask specific questions.” Aprajita Kalra, international officer, University of Birmingham concurred, “We encourage students to do background research so that they can interact more knowledgeably with the representatives. Kolkata has an eclectic mix of students, we get a lot of enquiries ranging from biosciences and engineering to English literature.”

The UK Border Agency set up a stall this year where queries on student visas were handled by the UK visa officers in addition to conducting a seminar on applying for a student visa to the UK. The Punjab National Bank set up a kiosk to entertain queries on student loans. “The cost of studying abroad can be prohibitive, so we have set up this desk to entertain queries, and ensure that finance is not a roadblock,” said Vivek Burnwal, marketing manager, Punjab National Bank.