ABSTRACT
India and the UK, despite their long-standing historical relationship, have had a turbulent past regarding the mobility of students. In 2013, the Liberal-Democratic government in the UK adopted a policy withdrawing post-study work (PSW) visas to all international students. This saw a remarkable decrease in the number of Tier 4 visas issued to Indian nationals, who were portrayed as not “genuine” students who “abused” the UK education sector and immigration system (Pathak & Umarji, 2013). However, this narrative changed with the 2016 Brexit referendum after which students from the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) were seen as the cause of unemployment among British people. The UK approached a “clean Brexit” (Leave Means Leave, 2016) and withdrew from all EU-funded projects including the Erasmus+ Programme. Thus, to make up for the decline in EU students who come to study in the UK, it turned to its former colonies, including India. This approach was backed by an increasing number of Indian students who enrolled in UK HEIs in 2019. From 2018 to 2021, the UK has sequentially allowed a greater PSW period for Indian students in particular under several schemes launched post-Brexit. In 2021, the UK-India Virtual Summit was held. Among 7 MoUs signed at this Summit, this chapter will look at 3 MoUs; the MoU on Migration and Mobility Partnership, the MoU in the field of medical products regulation between the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), and the MoU on Pharmacopoeial Cooperation between the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) and the British Pharmacopoeia (BP) (Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, 2021), to highlight how economic motivations have 196 surpassed academic interests in the governance of higher education. The borders to Indian students who wish to study in the UK have been lifted since 2019, but the challenges remain the same. The chapter poses two questions, first, if such bilateral collaborations promote the pursuance of economic interests over academic motivations. Second, if the former is the case, are we digressing from the conventional notion of Internationalization of Higher Education?
