The recent announcement by the Human Resource Development Ministry on the introduction of a bridge course of six months for those studying one-year postgraduate courses in the UK has elicited mixed responses. While some feel that an effort is at last being made to recognise their degrees here, many feel that they are being made to wait an additional six months.
For such graduates the bridge course is a prerequisite for their academic pursuits in India or if they are to land a job in the government sector. An estimated 26,000 Indian students pursue master’s degrees in the UK.
Many such students are understandably peeved. They feel that this will pose an unnecessary hurdle. Anna Verghese, who studies in London, says that she knows of many Indian classmates who are eager to return home and work for a while before doing a PhD. “Now such persons will have to think twice before choosing to do anything. Six months is too long just to validate your degree,” she says.
On a larger scale, there are those who feel that this could lead to fewer students going to the UK for higher studies. Noted educationist and former vice-chancellor of Anna University Dr E Balaguruswamy is one. “More students will be forced to look for other places to study, as the UK isn’t a particularly good place for education. Save for a few, the universities, are dubious and dependent entirely on Asian, in particular Indian, students.”
Education counsellor Jaiprakash Gandhi agrees. “This will result in an initial reduction of students going to the UK and people will now look for alternative destinations for education,” he says. Saying that many engineering graduates take up clerical entrance examinations in banks and even group-IV postings in the government, he says, “The bridge course is a must for those pursuing management and technical education courses; other courses could be exempted.”
This could mean that problems due to lack of recognition of courses could be a thing of the past. “A section of graduates from the UK aspiring to join agencies such as ISRO or HAL have been asked to do a two-year technical course here as well. To them, this could very well be a godsend,” says Swetha Kumaravel, co-ordinator (South), Education Pathways – a consulting agency for studying abroad.