WORLD WIDE: International students at the School of Oriental and African Studies

G uess what?s creeping up in the list of the most wanted courses in the UK. It?s neither fashion design nor accountancy, neither hospitality nor finance. After business management and engineering ? the perennial favourites ? media and communication courses in the UK now attract the largest number of students from India. It may still not be huge in terms of percentage but the numbers are rising fast.

While management accounts for 25 per cent and engineering 15 per cent of the total number of Indian students in UK, the share of media now stands at 10 per cent. At last week?s UK education fair in Calcutta, hundreds of youngsters made a beeline for the universities offering media courses.

The University of Westminster, Staffordshire University, Middlesex University and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) received loads of enquiries on the subject. According to officials from the UK universities and the British Council, this is just the beginning and media could soon move a notch higher.

?The media boom here in India has created an interest. Young people now look at media, communication and films as a serious career option,? says Marina Gandhi, head, Education UK, eastern region at the British Council.

Representatives of British universities have been pleasantly surprised by the new interest. ?Traditionally, Indian students have stuck to management and technical courses. Now, it?s nice to see a growing demand for journalism despite the fact that there are few scholarships available,? says Dr Hamish Main, international links executive of Staffordshire University.

The cost at Staffordshire comes to around ?7,500 a year. Among media courses, the university offers an MA in broadcast journalism, undergraduate courses in broadcasting, film, television and radio studies, joint honours in media studies, film studies and journalism.

The courses involve a combination of lectures, seminars and workshops with regular newsdays in which you must report, edit and present news programmes for radio and television. This is what distinguishes UK media courses from the local ones. ?Our accent is on practical training and the strength of the programme lies in our links with large media houses like the BBC,? claims Dr Main.

At Westminster, which is rated to be the best among UK media schools, there is a range of courses, from journalism, photojournalism and media management to music business management and entertainment law. The university has 218 Indians out of whom around 25 are studying media.

The growing interest is partly due to the glamour of the profession, believes Colin Matheson, international student respresentative of Westminster. ?Indian media has become more diverse. There?s also a growing realisation that you need a good academic background to do well. We receive thousands of applications from India for just 70 openings,? Matheson says.

The other premier institute that offers media courses is the SOAS. It has three MAs, a doctoral research programme, post-doctoral research and also a joint research centre ? The World Media Project.

But are there job opportunities for young media professionals in the UK? Yes, but it could be tough. Almost every course gives the chance to intern with leading newspapers and channels.

Even if you can?t, you get two years at the end of your course to land a job, provided you can fund yourself during the period. You would also need a recommendation from your university. But youngsters are now willing to take a chance. Take Girish Sharma, second year, Nopany Institute of Management Studies, who says, ?Their media courses are futuristic. It?s worth going for one, whatever the risks.?