Oxford University rates Indian students among the best

23 Jun 2008, 0136 hrs IST,PTI

OXFORD: The Oxford University considers Indian students among the best in the world and would like more of them joining its campus, Chancellor Chris Patten has said.

The university, which produced the likes of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, has presently 257 Indian students on roll. But one-third of its students are from China.

"We want more Indian students because we want the best in the world to come to Oxford," Mr. Patten said. Most of the Indian students are in the Said Business School.

"About a quarter of the students are doing MBAs...but I would like to see more in social sciences and humanities, doing both under-graduate and post-graduate work," he said.

Though Indians are less in number, they have won more scholarships than the Chinese.

Last year, they won 54 different scholarships, including the prestigious Rhodes scholarship, according to an Oxford journal. "They (Indians) probably got more than China," the Chancellor said.

He said the number of scholarships may go up as the university improves its financial position.

"I hope as we develop our endowments we will be able to offer many more (scholarships) to post-graduate students in the next few years," Patten said. The university has developed a Master’s programme in South Asian studies.

For a one-year MBA programme, it could cost as much as Rs. 40 lakh, including the cost of tuition fee, boarding and lodging and the out-of-pocket expenses.

"It is a different world out here...We are gaining immensely," said Karandeep Singh Vohra, pursuing MBA at the Said Business School.