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Nina Varghese

A crowd of visa applicants at the office of the British High Commission in Chennai.

CHENNAI, Sept. 9

IF serpentine queues of those wanting to apply for a passport are a regular feature at the Shastri Bhavan on Haddows Road, the British Deputy High Commission's office, on a road just opposite the Shastri Bhavan, has been attracting larger than usual crowds of visa applicants in the past week or so.

The crowd starts at 6 a.m. outside the office of the British Deputy High Commission on Anderson Road and builds up as the day advances. And, typically tea stalls and telephone kiosk are doing brisk business. A large number of the applicants seem to be students who have gained admission to UK universities.

Mr Simon Dadd, Entry Clearance Officer, British Deputy High Commission, said that the visa section here had seen a growth in applications of almost 50 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

"Unfortunately, we have also seen a growth in the numbers of forged documentation submitted, such as fake bank statements and degree certificates. We take such attempts at fraud most seriously and will not tolerate them," he said.

According to travel trade sources, the rush to the UK for study is because of the more stringent visa norms being put in place by the US.

Another reason for the increase in students going to study in the UK is the serious marketing efforts over the past two to three years by UK universities, sources said.

Study fairs and road shows had been making their rounds at regular intervals and attracted large crowds of interested students in the four Southern States, sources said.

There has been a general perception that the study in the UK is more expensive, but this seems to be no deterrent to students who have borrowed large amounts like Rs15 lakh to study aboard.

According to information available on the Web at "studyukguide.com", the cost of study for science undergraduate in the UK on an average is around £39,390 while a similar course would cost £48,596 in the US and £36,342 in Australia.

The average cost of living for a post-graduate is £6,600 while the cost of living in the US is £8,940 and £7,300 in Australia.

There are also institutes like Campus Aboard which represent almost 30 universities in the UK in India, which make it easy for students to apply. Counsellors at these institutes are also actively promoting the UK universities over the US ones. In most cases the reason for preference given is the easier visa procedures.

The admission for foreign universities in Australia, UK and the US has been growing year on year. The cost of study is levelled out as the cost of study in Indian professional colleges has also skyrocketed in the past few years. Foreign degrees were also seen as better assets in the job market, sources said.

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