The brand new centre will concentrate on facilitating college and pupil exchanges, joint analysis initiatives, and educational collaborations, in line with Chris Day, vice-chancellor and president, Newcastle College.
Constructing on its collaboration with IIT Delhi in water safety – the place the institute can be a associate within the Newcastle College-led UKRI GCRF Water Safety and Sustainable Growth Hub – the brand new centre will draw inspiration from this partnership.
“We renewed our normal Memorandum of Understanding [with IIT Delhi] in March 2024 on World Water Day and are aiming to determine a brand new joint Centre of Local weather Change and Resilient Infrastructure, constructing upon the legacy of the Water Hub,” Day instructed The PIE Information.
“The launch of the brand new centre will result in college and pupil exchanges, joint analysis, and academic program growth.”
The centre can be a precursor to Newcastle’s potential department campus in India, one thing that the institute is “significantly contemplating”, as reported by The PIE Information.
“We’re within the very early levels of exploring new schooling partnerships in India. This would possibly embody joint diploma program, examine overseas alternatives for Newcastle college students and, doubtlessly, an Indian campus established with a associate,” said Day.
Newcastle’s ambitions to determine a campus in India locations it alongside different famend UK universities with an identical mission.
The College of Southampton is the primary UK college to be formally granted a license by the Indian authorities to determine a campus in India, with plans to open in August 2025.
In the meantime, different establishments, together with Coventry College, Queen’s College Belfast, and the College of Surrey, are additionally following swimsuit.
Apart from College of Southampton, which is establishing the campus in Gurgaon beneath guidelines mandated by the College Grants Fee, different institutes are eyeing the profitable GIFT Metropolis – an under-construction particular financial zone within the western Indian state of Gujarat.
We’re within the very early levels of exploring new schooling partnerships in India
Chris Day, Newcastle College
With the UGC and GIFT Metropolis working beneath totally different rules for worldwide department campuses, Day emphasised that the important thing query now is just not whether or not a campus might be established in India, however moderately “what sort of campus it will likely be, what topics it’ll provide, and the place it will likely be situated.”
Regardless of its plans for rising engagement in transnational schooling throughout India, the nation additionally stays a significant supply vacation spot for Newcastle College.
With over 3,500 Indian alumni and over 600 college students from India at the moment finding out on the college, Newcastle has launched two new alumni associations in New Delhi and Mumbai.
“The alumni chapters are important in serving to to foster a powerful sense of neighborhood and belonging for our graduates in India. They assist engagement between Newcastle College and our alumni neighborhood by occasions and actions. As well as, they play a key position in growing alternatives and sharing data and abilities that will profit the alumni neighborhood,” mentioned Day.
“One other key focus space of the alumni chapters is the promotion of lifelong studying {and professional} growth. The launch of the 2 new alumni chapters will go a great distance in direction of supporting us to recognise and have fun alumni achievements.”
With its rising Indian pupil neighborhood enrolling in over 110 totally different programs, the preferred being enterprise, finance, and information science on the postgraduate stage, Newcastle has expanded its scholarship provide within the South Asian nation.
“For college kids from India who be a part of Newcastle College in September 2025, we’re at the moment providing a £6,000 (per 12 months) scholarship to potential undergraduate college students and a £7,000 scholarship for postgraduate taught college students,” mentioned Day.
“We’re additionally providing aggressive advantage scholarships which have a worth of as much as 50% of the course charge.”
The institute has additionally launched “Newcastle – India Management and Innovation Scholarship awards” which can cowl full tuition charges for candidates from India planning to start full-time, one-year grasp’s research on an eligible program.
However Newcastle’s big-ticket India plans should not with out their challenges.
Whereas examine visa functions to the UK in January 2025 noticed a 12.5% enhance in comparison with January 2024, the general pattern for essential applicant functions within the 12 months ending January 2025 declined by 13%, totalling 411,100 in comparison with the earlier 12 months.
India, one of many largest supply markets for worldwide college students within the UK, has been notably impacted by the decline prior to now few years.
Scholar numbers from India dropped from practically 140,000 in 2022/23 to 111,329 in 2023/24 – a lower of over 20%.
Furthermore, a latest survey of over 2,000 worldwide college students by INTO confirmed that 60% of scholars confronted visa delays whereas making use of for UK and US universities.
This challenge was particularly pronounced in South Asia, the place 28% of scholars recognized visa delays as a significant impediment.
On the query of what Russell Group establishments like Newcastle are doing to deal with challenges round examine visa issuance, Day assured that the 24-member affiliation is dedicated to sustaining the UK’s recognition amongst worldwide college students.
“As a chair of the Russell Group of universities, I’m proud that we’re recognised internationally for our main analysis, inventive instructing strategies, and stimulating studying environments. That is mirrored in the truth that the UK stays one of the crucial standard locations for worldwide college students,” said Day.
Newcastle’s plans for an India campus are additionally going through flack because the college goals to chop its wage invoice by £20 million – the equal of 300 jobs.
In line with UK mainstream media stories, the college has knowledgeable its lecturers that they might want to reduce on some “unfunded analysis” as a part of price range cuts, a transfer the College and School Union has referred to as “reputationally damaging.”
“Rising our analysis revenue stays a key precedence, and this has at all times been an goal of our analysis technique,” Day instructed The PIE.
“We’re not deviating from our elementary dedication to endeavor world-leading analysis for discovery and influence.”
