Course fees, course duration, career prospects, school ranking are some such factors considered by all. However, choice of the country is a factor which tends to get neglected by many, if not all, in taking one of the most important decisions in their life.

However, once you embark upon your journey, you soon realise that a lot depends on which country you've chosen to study in. And when I say a lot, I do mean a lot.

Working visa
Vis-à-vis countries like US, where getting a work visa is a nightmare, UK has a friendlier route for acquiring a working visa. HSMP (Highly Skilled Migrants Programme), as it is called, opens doors for individuals inclined to work in the UK. If you satisfy certain conditions laid down by the UK home office, you are eligible to apply for the HSMP visa. Needless to say, this visa enables you to find a job for yourself in the UK.

For further details, visit www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/workpermits/

Student Visa
The very first stage of entry in the foreign country. You may have got admissions, procured loans, resigned from your job, and settled everything. And your student visa gets rejected. All dreams and plans shattered. Whether you believe it or not, but is very much possible to get rejected on the student visa even after having a valid institute admit letter in hand. However, an admit letter from a renowned UK institute almost ensures your entry into the UK.

Working Married Partners
Unlike some other countries, where the accompanying married partner has no clue about the future of his/her career, UK turns out to be a boon. One is authorised to work on a student dependant visa. Better still, if you satisfy the conditions of the HSMP, simply get one and catch hold of head-hunters.

London Financial Markets
The hottest financial markets in the world currently. That's how they refer to London. If you are hungry to do the best of financial jobs with the best of people and work in the best of financial products, there is no other destination that will satisfy you.

Socialising
You may have been a globe trotter and an international personality. You may gel well with people of all cultures and backgrounds. But there is no place like home. And what if you find a home away from home? UK offers you just that. With so many Indians settled in the country for years together and so many other professionals flocking the place over the last few years, there is no dearth of Indians in the United Kingdom. You will be surprised to see a good ratio of the Asian community, especially Indians in every workplace. It couldn't get better than this.

Good B-Schools
It is also worthy to note that some of the best business schools in the world hail from London and the rest of UK. London Business School ranks 2* in the global management sphere. London School of Economics, Cass Business School, Said Business School at Oxford University, Judge Business School at University of Cambridge, Imperial College of London are some of the other renowned colleges in United Kingdom.

So what are you waiting for? Pack your bags and head to the Queen's land.

*According to Financial Times 2008 ranking of Full Time MBA programmes across the globe.

Enhanced educational opportunities and transparent visa procedures on one side, education in the United Kingdom has an added advantage now -- a two-year work permit on completion of degree, a scheme which till last year was applicable only in Scotland.

This, in fact, has become one of the factors for increase in the number of students seeking admission to educational institutions in the U.K. The two-year work permit programme, called International Graduate Scheme, allows students to apply for an extension in the U.K. after completing their degree, said L. Dhanasekaran, Head of Education UK, south India, British Council division. "The two-year work permit was available in Scotland till last year. It has been made uniform across the U.K. now. Students who complete their undergraduate course, postgraduate diploma or degree and researches can apply for extension in the U.K. after showing a balance of £800 in their account as this is essential for maintenance until they get placement. Once they apply for extension, they will be switched from student visa to work permit visa," he said.

Mr. Dhanasekaran along with a team from Education UK were on a three-day visit to several educational institutions in Puducherry and also conducted a public seminar for students on `Study Opportunities in the U.K. and IELTS' last week.

Among the undergraduate programmes in the U.K., the most sought-after courses among Indian students were applied sciences, especially biotechnology, bioinformatics and microbiology as only a few colleges in India offer these specialised courses at the undergraduate level, he said. "Many students are going in for business administration, finance and accounts and sports science too," he added.As regards postgraduate courses, the in-demand courses are computer science followed by information technology, biotechnology and other areas of applied sciences.

The U.K. has more than 113 universities and 600 colleges offering undergraduate and higher level programmes. Currently, more than 27,000 Indian students are studying there.
Admission

Students in the final year of school should apply before June 30, 2009. The applications are available from September 15. At the undergraduate level, students should go through a central agency -- UCAS -- and can apply to a maximum of five universities at a time, Mr. Dhanasekaran said.

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is one of the world's most recognised English language competency certifications.

India is among nine other countries which have seen their immigration risk assessment levels upgraded from three to four on a scale of five beginning Sep 1, 2008. This is a result of visa non-compliance by students in recent years.

Assessment Level 1 represents the lowest immigration risk and Assessment Level 5 the highest.

"These changes will not be an impediment for genuine applicants coming here for study. It simply means applicants affected by these changes will need to submit a higher level of evidence of their English language ability, academic qualifications and their financial capacity to support themselves during their studies in Australia," a spokesperson for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship told sources.

For example, Indian students seeking to enrol in the higher education sector will have to demonstrate that they can financially support themselves for 36 months instead of the earlier 24 months.

In 2007-2008, India sent 83,833 students to the US, the most popular destination for Indian students. UK and Australia follow close on its heels with Singapore fast emerging as another desirable destination.

Seeking a better foundation in both critical thinking and practical application of learning, students want better opportunities and a world-class learning environment.

The process of applying and securing an admission to that dream programme could be a daunting one, with multiple eligibility criteria, entrance tests, application formalities and visa procedures. What follows is a comprehensive report.

Choosing the right college

• Top programmes in Management
  
• Top programmes in Science
  
• Top programmes in Humanities

Phoren Bug: For most of those who don't make it to the top institutions, migration presents the opportunity of prosperity

"Now that's a long-term goal."

There, I've said it. I am (if only in a manner of aspiration) a part of the growing tribe of middle- and upper-middle class Indians who are using education as a vehicle to march away from India. Education has become the first sign of secession. From the gnawing desperation to get children admitted into the right "public" schools and the ease with which terms like "International Baccalaureate"
now roll off the tongue to the relentless wooing of students in international education fairs and the boom in coaching institutes that "prepare" students to take the SAT or GRE, the bubble is complete. If you have the will (and the means), there's a gilded exit ramp to eject out of the country.

It is no longer "need" that pushes students to go abroad for higher education--fattened by the fruits of liberalisation, the new mantra for the middle class is "can do, will do". A small segment of students are now even going abroad at the senior secondary school level. Then, of course, many more students are paying their way to do undergraduate courses abroad. Manju Bharat Ram, the chairperson of Delhi's Shri Ram School, says 35 per cent of the latest school-leaving batch of 180 students ended up going abroad. That doesn't include another 35 students in the IB programme, most of whom went abroad. "There are just not enough quality schools and colleges in India. There is hurt among people, who then look to the menu available abroad," says she. And further up the chain, a higher number of students from smaller colleges are joining the bandwagon.

All told, there are anywhere between 1,00,000 and 1,60,000 students who expend about $4 billion in forex to go abroad every year. But what begins as mental secession ends up as physical migration. That's how it's always been, says Santosh Desai of the Future Group, who points out the Indian view on higher education is almost adversarial: "Education is a transportation device and not a learning device. The clear motivation is that it is located internationally," he adds.

Vaibhav Jain, 21, and Ashish Arora, 22, both from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT-R), have just completed a research project at the La Trobe University here under the Endeavour Student Exchange Programme.

"It was chance that I stumbled upon this programme while surfing the Internet and was elated when I was told that I had qualified for the scholarship", says Jain, a fourth year student of electrical engineering, who has just spent 10 weeks in the Business Systems and Knowledge Modelling laboratory at the La Trobe University's Bundoora campus, researching "Emotive profiling of student in e-learning and face to face lecture".

"In this application we profile a student's emotional responses to teaching content being delivered in an e-learning situation. Among other aspects, the emotional responses can be used to change the pace of content delivery. In future this work will be extended for delivery of emotionally intelligent lecturers," explains Jain, who has enjoyed the experience of interacting with students from a dozen other nationalities.

During 2008, 73 Indian students from a wide range of disciplines came to study in Australian institutions and 35 Australian students went to study in India under the Endeavour programme, which offers eligible overseas students tuition fee waiver and a grant of about A$5,000 towards personal expenses.

The Government of India has revised the guidelines concerning the granting of study visas for visiting foreign research scholars and professors to India.

The new rules will see overseas research scholars in Indian educational institutions being able to apply to the country's missions abroad, instead of waiting for the HRD ministry's clearance.

As greater numbers of people choose India as their further educational destination of choice, the government has delegated the power to issue such applicants visas to the missions abroad.

Prior to the recent rule amendment, scholars heading for Indian educational institutes have had to obtain a research visa by applying to the union ministry of human resources development. These visas were then granted by the missions concerned on advice from the union ministry.

Official sources said the new system, known as Tier 4, will be more transparent and easily understood and will simplify the existing immigration rules for genuine students and education providers.

The new student visa system under the Points Based System (PBS) will require colleges and universities to report about the international students who fail to attend courses after gaining student visas, they said.

Licensed To Invite
   * A new immigration proposal says a person abroad can be invited by a British citizen only if he has the licence to do so.

• It will be the responsibility of the licensed host to ensure his guests return before their visa expires
  
• If the guests don't return, the host will have to pay a hefty fine and even face imprisonment
  
• The new law will mostly impact those who aren't rich enough to stay in hotels.
  
• Group visas for tourists will continue.

As the Home Office put it, "People will have to become licensed to sponsor family members to
visit from abroad under the proposed changes to the visa system." A proposal so far, but who will oppose it? Not the Conservative party, for which immigration rules can never be strong enough. Not perhaps the Liberal Democrats either, ahead of an election where every party's nightmare is to be seen as 'soft on immigration'.

The proposal will have to go through Parliament, and that may happen quietly. Under the law, the secretary of state has authority to make rules on immigration. These rules will not require amendments to primary legislation unless, theoretically, the opposition were to demand it. Changes in basic law are usually such that they draw long debates, unlike those in rules, because they come in the nature of nuts and bolts of a law in place. So, Britain looks set to have now an upper strata of licensed hosts.

Valid for outbound travel before October 31 this year, the Jet Airways' promotional offer can be availed by both existing and new students travelling to destinations in the US, UK, Canada, Europe and Asia.

"Students availing this offer will be allowed to carry an extra piece of baggage, with each piece not exceeding 23-kg weight on flights to destinations in US, UK, Canada and Europe, apart from an additional 10 kgs on flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok in Asia on Jet Airways' online destinations," Jet Airways' chief commercial officer Sudheer Raghavan said here today.

The exclusive 'Students Kit' offered to students would contain a Matrix mobile connection with free talk-time worth Rs 4,000 in US, UK, Singapore and Australia.