We also have Graduate Development Services – Sannam S4 just won a UKIERI bid in conjunction with University of Dundee contract to go and find 20 internship placements for British students who want to come to India and undertake internships here. This service was actually developed by us for our existing customers to help their returning Indian students.

And we have just signed an agreement to support a consortium of colleges being brought to India under the aegis of Association of Colleges. These colleges will work to support India meet the challenge of skilling over 500 million people in the next 10 years or so.

The PIE: Ok, so tell me more about your graduate services…

LI: This is a service to help returning Indian graduates to plug back into the job market. We set up interviews for them; find internships. There is no charge for existing customers to promote this service back to their students– but a small charge for students who wants to participate in this service.

Remember, 90% of India is a Masters market. If I was to enrol in this service – it would be valid for the entire duration of my course plus 12 months after I graduate. Students get newsletters about the labour market… access to our resources to help get their cv together and we will keep them posted about internship opportunities we can find. .. just before students come back start we try and find them real job opportunities.

The PIE: You mentioned student preferences changing state by state?

LI: First thing, India is a postgraduate (PG) market, not many parents can afford to fund 3 and 4 years of education in currencies that are several times stronger. Down south, you will find more students keen on engineering and science. In western India, there will be more business and engineering students; east India is a very small market, but if you wanted to find really good quality humanities students, that is where you are likely to find them, for example.

“Some states are quite notorious in terms of reputation for students wanting to leave country somehow by forging documents”

Some states are quite notorious in terms of reputation for students wanting to leave country somehow by forging documents. If you are an institution unaware of these kinds of dynamics, you might get caught in a situation which is totally out of your control, because of lack of knowledge. States such as Punjab, Gujurat and Andhra Pradesh are areas where institutions have traditionally had a rough ride.

The PIE: Do your counselors personally interview all applicants they send through?

LI: Yes many universities expect that staff members should have met an applying student at some agency office. They should have established academic credibility before the institution makes an offer – in the long run this approach is going to help an institution.

The PIE: What are the trends now in terms of country choice?

LI: Every year there is a flavour of the season… When I started 10 years ago, it was just the US, UK and maybe Australia. Now, you are also looking at countries like Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Ireland, Germany: countries you never even thought would have a stake in the evolving recruitment sector. Germany is a classic example – it is seeing year on year growth of around 20%. In  2011, almost 6,000 Indian students went to Germany for higher education through DAAD. They are getting access to some of the best science and engineering minds in our country.

“Today, recruitment has really suffered in the UK because of Post-Study Work rights”

India is quite a migration-focused market too. Today, recruitment has really suffered in the UK because of Post-Study Work rights. Most British unis have seen a drop of 30% from India and from what I understand from talking to institutions, India has been worst in terms of its reaction to PSW.

The PIE: Which countries will be the winners do you think going ahead?

LI: I think the Canadians – they have set up very ambitious goals for themselves for the next 10 years and all government departments seem to be singing from same hymn sheet. If you ask me, that’s a big thing. They are all working towards same goal – all provincial governments which have large stake in how things are done,  each of those provinces seem to be taking consortium approach to marketing what they have to offer. Canada has had some tremendous success in India in last couple of years. And Germany has also been quietly working away in the background.

The PIE: Your plans for the future?

LI: We have very big plans – we just opened our Boston office. Until now, American institutions have been reticent about Indian students but now they are looking to engage with India. It is going to be a big market for us. LaunchPad has proven to be a very attractive platform for customers and we expect to see that continue, providing access to the the right kind of resources on the ground to driving institutions’ agenda forward.

India in the next 10 years is an economy that is going to double in size and no country with a serious international education agenda can afford to ignore India.