UK faces backlash as Indian universities don't feature in new graduate scheme
India Today
The UK government is facing a backlash after none of the Indian Universities featured in a new scheme for graduates.
In a new scheme, the UK government has announced that graduates from the world's top 50 non-UK universities can work in Britain under the new High Potential Individual (HPI) visa. Even though none of the Indian Universities was featured, two universities from Mainland China and two from Hong Kong made it to the list.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong (HKU), Peking University and Tsinghua University were on the list. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a new entrant on the list, the Indian Express reported.
However, no Indian university has made it to the list. The list released for 2020-2021, when the first coronavirus cases were reported across the world, featured three Chinese universities, but no Indian university was added. The number of Chinese universities increased to four in the following year, whereas Indian universities still did not manage to find a spot.
The UK government has been called out over the issue, as not one of the IITs made it to the Top 50 list.
"The HPI route is an uncapped two-year UK work visa (three years for those with a PhD) for early career stage graduates. Graduates must have graduated from an eligible international university in the five years immediately before their application," the Times of India reported.
The eligibility criterion requires an institution to be featured in the top 50 of at least "at least two of the three ranking lists produced annually by QS, Times Higher Education and the Academic Ranking of World Universities."
Even though the scheme is open to everyone, the lists of eligible universities exclude universities in Africa, Latin America and South Asia.
