India is on a cusp of reforms and its economy is set to grow, with 356 million 10-24 year-olds, India has the world’s largest youth population, however the education system still has to evolve and there is a lot of scope for improvement. To address this need of India, Dr. Sally-Ann Burnett, Director of Programmes, Business School, BPP University visited Mumbai in March, 2015 and to assess how Indian students can be even more involved in the UK education boom and in keeping India’s vision of educating India.

BPP University is one of the most reputed universities in the UK, It is Europe’s largest private University dedicated to business and professions. In 2013, It has won the prestigious Education Investor award for being the “Best Higher Education Provider of the Year” in the UK and has study centers in Abingdon, Birmingham Bristol Cambridge, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Manchester.

It comprises of;

‐ BPP Business School,

‐ BPP Law School,

‐ BPP School of Health

‐ BPP School of Foundation and English Language Studies

Dr Sally-Ann Burnett is keen on tie-up with Indian Universities to offer BPP University courses partly in India and final part in the UK. A two year MBA course, for example, could be done by completing one year in an Indian affiliated university and 8 months in BPP University in UK. This also gives an opportunity to the Indian students to do a 6 month internship in a UK company and partly subsidies the course cost and by doing the course in India for a year, reduces the expenses on the student by way of fees as well as the cost of living which the student would have incurred in case of living in UK for a year.

BPP University is currently offering the following courses for which there could be a direct entry from India

1.  MSc Management

2.  MSc Management with Project Management

3.  MSc Management with Finance

4.  MSc International Marketing

In addition to the academic courses BPP University also helps prepare the students to attain International profile. The preparation starts with training in English and soft skills and goes on to visa preparation and documentation. The University also helps students with accommodation and prepares them for the lifestyle changes that they may experience in UK. The final preparation is for the Job and interview where the students are groomed to work in the international arena and become successful leaders in their domain.

We were fortunate in getting an opportunity to have a candid interview with Dr. Sally-Ann Burnett, Director of Programmes, Business School, BPP University.

Dr Sally please tell us about BPP University courses.

In the academic year 2012‐13 BPP had 7,752 students study across a variety of postgraduate and undergraduate programmes. 96% of BPP graduates are in employment within 6 months of completing their studies. Over 500 companies worldwide sponsor their employees to study with BPP. Their global clients include KPMG, Shell and Vodafone.

Law firms send their trainees exclusively to BPP Law School. BPP is well known in corporate world. Reputation with ACCA for accountancy, law and banking.

Q – What is the criteria for international graduate students.

Graduate students that want to join any of our Masters programmes need to have obtained a first bachelor’s degree with a minimum of second class grade. If a student has studied in an English Medium University, then we would expect them to take a BPP University English test to verify that their level of English is of the standard required by BPP. If a student has studied in their local language at degree level, then we required students to take an IELTS and obtain at least an overall score of 6.5.

When do the applications open ? – BPP has three intakes a year: September, January and May. Due to our three intakes, we have admissions open throughtout the year.

Q – Does your school offer financial aid to international students, particularly Indians? BPP University has a series of scholarships, please visit our website.

All students can benefit from these scholarships. We also have special bursaries for Indian students; these are partial reductions on the total programme fees.

Q – Many foreign students are worried about leaving the country because they do not know whether they will be able to find work to pay off their student debts. Do you guide your students in finding internships and jobs?

BPP University understands that students need to work not just to pay for their student loans but also to gain work experience so that they are more employable. With this in mind, BPP provides all students with a robust career service http://www.bpp.com/university/careers-service   that supports them searching for part time jobs while they are studying. In addition, BPP Business School has added a module called Academic and Career Skills as part of our MSc Management programme. For more details on the Academic and Career Skills programme, please follow the link below:

Source : Lokesh Shastri