It has been an exciting week celebrating UK Education in Delhi, which started with the FICCI conference, followed by the arrival and display of the Bloodhound Supersonic Show Car, VIP visits from various UK institutions and Alumni events, concluding with the start of the Education UK exhibitions in Delhi.

The British Council has an exclusive stall at the FICCI Conference area as ‘Partner Country’ where brochures of products and services offered by the British Council were put on display along with brochures of UK institutions. A 1000 words write up on Higher Education in the UK by the British Council was included in the Conference souvenir which was distributed to over 600 delegates along with a one page advertisement, also a part of the Souvenir pack.

Additionally, GREAT was acknowledged as the 'Partner Organisation' and the GREAT logo was displayed on FICCI-HES website, media advertisement, background paper and e brochure.

The Bloodhound SSC was showcased for the first time in India on 11 November 2014 by the British Council at its premises in New Delhi. The launch was attended by 42 media persons which was a mix of education, auto and photo-journalists. Also showcased at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Delhi Technical University (DTU) in the capital, the BLOODHOUND SSC Driver, Wing Commander Andy Green spoke to over 150 students from different streams and academics at IIT Delhi while the BLOODHOUND SSC ambassadors spoke with over 70 students at DTU. The ambassadors promised the DTU students that some of their names would be featured on the final vehicle amongst one lakh others as the ambassadors were very impressed with the questions asked by DTU students.

On the evening of 14 November the BLOODHOUND SSC was at display at the residence of British High Commissioner to India - Sir James Bevan. On 14 November, British Council invited delegates of over 70 UK Institutions at his residence, to launch the Generation UK-India programme and to mark the commencement of the Education UK Exhibitions for November 2014.

The evening started with drinks and networking followed by a talk by Sir James Bevan on the India-UK educational relationship. Rob Lynes (Director, British Council India) spoke shortly about the Generation UK-India Programme which was then followed by an interesting talk by Lord Karan Bilimoria who is endorsing the Generation UK-India programme. Generation UK is a new initiative to support 25,000 UK students to India over the next 5 years supporting the UK’s outward mobility programme.

Over 250 guests from across local institutions in Delhi, corporate houses like McKinsey and Company, senior editors from HT Education and Economic Times along with delegates from UK Universities were a part of this evening.

Finally, an all India briefing was held at The Lalit on 15 November for the exhibition delegates on the morning of day one of the Delhi exhibition.

This was attended by about 40 UK delegates where Richard Everitt (Director, Education and Society, British Council India) gave all delegates an update on the current Education market in India.

Ottolie Wekezer (Regional Director, SIEM South Asia) presented an overview of the South Asia region. She also spoke about Higher education in South Asia and gave an overview of the ranking of the institutions in SA on a global platform. Her presentation consisted of the new offers by SIEM South Asia and the activities planned by all countries in the first quarter of 2015.

Suchita Gokarn, (Head, SIEM India) presented an update on initiatives being taken by the new government including setting up of five new IIT’s and IIM’s and four new Central Universities. On the competition front, there is an increase observed in the number of Indian students to US and Australia. Suchita also spoke about the new offers and initiatives by India team like a survey on role of an agent in the student decision making process, Education UK Alumni awards and State by State research.

Suchita's talk ended with an update to all participating delegates on the upcoming Education UK exhibitions, logistics of the exhibitions and the promotion plan.

The Education UK exhibitions travelled to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Nagpur and Lucknow over the week and were well attended by keen students in each city.

Delhi – 1334

Mumbai - 1073

Kolkata - 720

Lucknow - 513

Nagpur - 360

The detailed report of the exhibition will follow shortly.