Passage from India

Eat your heart out Bernard Matthews

The last nut roast and turkey have long since been despatched to the back of the freezer and Christmas and New Year are distant memories. We’ve already passed UCAS’s January admission deadline (don’t worry; there’s still plenty of time to join either Bedfordshire or another university next year) and we – that is the wider Marketing, Admissions, Recruitment and Communications team - are furiously signing off prospectuses and talking to potential students about how we can help them onto their dream course.

I’ve been trying to balance helping Marketing colleagues and those elsewhere across the University and not getting in their way, while setting up applicant surveys, both for those who have accepted an offer from us, and for those who have chosen a different institution. It happens.

No, not the new LRC in Luton....this is Hampi

And I’ve also just got back from an indulgent holiday in India (Mumbai, Hampi, Mysore and Cochin). As I booked all the transport and hotels myself, I spent a huge chunk of time on arrangements, fending off auto rickshaws and staying healthy, and being overawed by some of the things I saw and places I visited. India, for those who haven’t been or haven’t heard, is an incredibly intense country. I wonder if the first time UKvisitor can ever really be prepared to take on the heat, the poverty, the dust, the traffic, the tendency for things to ‘work’ ‘differently’, the bureaucracy, the careful arrangements around securing drinking water, the local customs, airport customs, the veg vs non-veg, A/C vs non A/C and the cavalier approach to health and safety. I managed to stay in tip top physical condition, although at times, was mentally exhausted. From what I saw, however, India is a truly great, beautiful and incredibly friendly country. And chaotic. Thoroughly recommended.

One thing that being in India did reinforce was the desire of people across the world to widen their experience, typically through learning and/or travelling. I’d be exaggerating if I said I ‘roughed it’ at any point in my journey, but in Mumbai, Mysore and Cochin, there were numerous and often very prominent adverts and offices extolling the virtues and wisdom of studying abroad. And it wasn’t just the locals, backpackers, too, never seem that shy of recounting their own tall tales and shaggy dog stories about the dangerous and obscure places they’ve struggled through.

Blah blah blah "caught in a monsoon"
blah blah "no electricity", blah blah "dirty pants"

What does this mean for the University of Bedfordshire and similar institutions? Because of the UK’s excellent higher education reputation, it means more students. In recent years, there have been political pressures which have deterred the flow of overseas students, despite the well-known, well reported benefits to the UK of doing so. But those students who do come - whether it’s from India, or China, or Nigeria, or Europe - bring experiences and knowledge which can only enrich university life. Universities are and will hopefully continue to be cultural melting pots, where differences in cultural views and experiences are aired and welcomed. And it’s quite humbling to think of the lengths and sacrifices some make to follow their dreams of studying in the UK.

The likelihood of international students (i.e. those from outside the European Union) coming to study in the UK may have been slightly – and hopefully temporarily – dampened. A healthy curiosity to explore other cultures is still evident, however. Only this week, the European Commission reported on increasing numbers studying or training abroad, with the UK one of the main recipients of more than 250,000 Erasmus students in 2013-14. Which is fantastic news; the fact that, in brutal economic terms, higher education is a major UK money spinner is one thing – the chance to see the world in microcosm and immerse yourself with people from across the world in a cosmopolitan environment at Bedfordshire is a fantastic additional benefit.