UK education fair draws crowds

[sajiv]

Hyderabad: The scorching Sunday afternoon was no deterrent for students who lined up at Taj Krishna to attend the Education UK Exhibition. The venue was jam-packed with enthusiastic students enquiring about courses offered by various Universities in U.K.

In all, 61 universities participated in the education fair that saw over 3,000 students on the first day of the two-day fair. Representatives from the universities said that there was an increase in the number of enquiries regarding post- graduate courses with MBA and engineering courses being much sought-after.

"The popular courses among students are MBA, Biotech Computing and IT. Moreover, a number of students have also shown interest towards undergraduate courses as well," says Nick Croft, Senior International Recruitment Officer from University of Lincoln.

Most of the students had already short-listed the courses they were looking to pursue. "I've zeroed in on universities that offer MBA in Science and Technology apart from regular MBA courses. I'm also looking at options where I can get some practical knowledge too," said Rajiv Guha, an engineering student. Even though several parts of the world are reeling in recession, number of students going for higher studies in UK is up by 30 per cent. "We have recorded a 30 per cent increase in number of student applications and most of them are opting for business studies and IT. On an average, we process about 300 student applications per day," said Chris Perry, Visa Processing Officer, British Deputy High Commission Office, Chennai.

Apart from the courses, students were given an overview regarding visa process. "The most common problem that we face during visa process is students submitting vague financial documents and sometimes, fake certificates. Students should apply for visa well before the last date as processing visa applications takes time," added Mr. Perry.