Breaking: What does an India-UK trade deal mean for international students?

The Indian and UK governments have today announced a trade deal that is being touted as a “huge economic win”, promising to add a whopping £4.8 billion to the UK economy and £2.2 billion in wages every year “in the long run”.

The “landmark” trade deal – focusing largely on liquor and cars, as well as cosmetics, aerospace and medical devices – will slash Indian tariffs across the board, reducing 90% of tariff lines and making 85% of these fully tariff free over the next 10 years, the Department for Business and Trade said.

There are hopes the deal could increase bilateral trade by £25.5bn, with UK businesses set to gain a “competitive edge” over other countries as ties between the two nations are strengthened.

However, as yet it remains unclear as to what extent students from India hoping to study in the UK could be affected by the deal.

And under the agreement, Indians working temporarily in the UK will not have to pay national insurance contributions for three years, and vice versa for Brits working in India.

This suggests Indian students moving on to the graduate route working legally for two years post-graduation will be positively impacted by this news.

NISAU UK chairperson Sanam Arora told The PIE News said the deal was one that “redefines the future of UK-India relations”.

“For our young people, this is a deal of dreams – unlocking new possibilities for skills, entrepreneurship, knowledge, and cross-border collaboration. It lays the foundations for a future where talent moves freely, ideas flourish, and our institutions lead the world together,” she said.

And while she noted that student visas were not included in the agreement, she said that NISAU hoped that there would be no change to the UK’s Graduate Route.

“Preserving this pathway is essential to realising the full promise of this partnership and to ensuring that the best and brightest can continue to contribute meaningfully to both our societies,” she continued.

And as India continues to prove its might as an emerging economic superpower, the agreement marks a positive step in its relationship with the UK.

Chair of the UK-India Business Council, Richard Heald, said the free trade agreement marked a “significant milestone in the deepening of of economic and strategic ties between our two nations”.

It lays the foundations for a future where talent moves freely, ideas flourish, and our institutions lead the world together

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“It matters when the fifth and sixth largest economies in the world reach a trade agreement,” he remarked. “Such an agreement is illustrative of the positive momentum in the UK-India relationship, the commitment and ambition of both governments, and the opportunities for greater trade, investment and collaboration between our countries.”

India continues to be the dominant sending country of international students to the UK. In the 2022/23 academic year, the UK welcomed 173,190 Indian students to its institutions.

Meanwhile, the UK has set its sights on India as a key location to strike up transnational education (TNE) partnerships.

Most recently, the University of York became the latest in a line of prestigious UK institutions to announce plans to open a branch campus in India, and it set to open the doors of its Mumbai campus in 2026/27.

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