In 2014-15, there were 2,195 academic staff of Indian nationality in UK universities. The number has progressively increased over the years to reach 2,620 in 2017-18, reflecting their talent as well as dwindling talent in some disciplines in the UK and Europe.
LONDON – Over 400 Indian experts in various disciplines – such as engineering, medicine, mathematics – have been recruited by British universities since 2014 to teach and conduct research, latest figures show.
These are academics with Indian citizenship, according to figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) released on Friday. They include several who came to the UK as postgraduate students and went on to join faculties.
In 2014-15, there were 2,195 academic staff of Indian nationality in UK universities. The number has progressively increased over the years to reach 2,620 in 2017-18, reflecting their talent as well as dwindling talent in some disciplines in the UK and Europe.
To recruit a non-EU expert or professional, employers have to carry out a ‘resident labour market test’ to demonstrate that there are no suitable candidates in the UK and Europe for the position advertised in at least two notices.
In 2017-18, the disciplines with the largest number of staff with Indian nationality were engineering and technology (675), biological, mathematical and physical sciences (665), medicine, dentistry and health (565) and social studies (265).
The increase in the recruitment of Indian experts has been the highest in the biological, mathematical and physical sciences disciplines: from 530 in 2014-15 to 665 in 2017-18, the figures show.
The experts with Indian citizenship are part of a larger group categorised as ‘British India’, who include British citizens of Indian origin. In 2017-18, the category included 5,600 academic staff employed in almost every university in the UK.
Universities with the highest number of Indian-origin academics include Oxford, Cambridge, University College London, King’s College London, Manchester, and the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, the figures show.
The HESA figures complement findings of a 2015 study that said Indian academics in research-intensive universities are preferred due to their “single-mindedness, competitiveness, resilience and work centrality”, as well as their links with Indian institutions and knowledge of India.
The study by experts at the Warwick Business School and Nottingham University Business School found that Indian academics are “singled out for jobs over other candidates” partly due to their willingness to “play the game” of prioritising research over teaching.
