The Hindu Business Line : Scotland courts foreign students and professionals

FACED with a declining population, which is also ageing fast, the Government of Scotland has decided to initiate several steps to attract more foreign students and professionals to live and work in the country.

Included in these initiatives is a decision of the country's Parliament to waive the work permit requirements for foreign students passing out of a Scottish university in 2005 for the next two years.

Also, a separate division has been set up within the Scottish Executive to deal with the infusion of fresh talent into the country from abroad.

The Fresh Talent and Relocation Advisory Service has been set up as one of the arms of the broader Fresh Talent Initiative of the Scottish Executive and will gather together information of interest to anyone considering relocation to Scotland.

While it has no powers to grant visas or help in any other bureaucratic process leading to immigration to Scotland, the Fresh Talent and Relocation Advisory Service will position itself as a one-stop shop for any queries a foreigner might have for moving to Scotland.

In line with measures to promote the country, a Going Global Conference was organised by the British Council at Edinburgh recently, the first major forum of the council on international education.

Speaking at the conference, UK's Education Secretary, Mr Charles Clark, said that education and training products and services are worth £10 billion to the country's economy, of which more than £4 billion come from overseas students being educated in Britain and £1.3 billion from English language teaching.

Chair of the British Council, Mr Neil Kinnock, said, "To retain the UK's leadership in terms of international students and net economic benefit from education services, the British Council firmly believes that the UK needs a well-coordinated approach, which draws together all interested parties — government, public and private sector education providers, representative student bodies and organisations like the United Kingdom Council for Student Affairs and ourselves."

According to a senior British Council official, the council launched the conference for the first time this year to benchmark education issues in the UK to those in other countries and emphasise on getting more international students.