India’s Deputy High Commissioner and delegation visits MediaCity campus

The visit took place on Thursday 24 March, where Deputy High Commissioner for India, H.E. Sujit Ghosh, visited the University of Salford with a delegation of diplomats from the Ministry of Education and the Indian High Commissions London and Birmingham.  

Together, the delegation toured our MediaCity campus and learnt about the Broadcast Journalism and Digital Media courses, and how the University develops students’ professional and creative skills.

Professor Allan Walker, Dean of the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technologies, said: “As the only university in MediaCity with an unrivalled portfolio of programmes in the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technologies, the University is a strong match for students from India who want to be part of the thriving media and creative industries.

“It was a pleasure to showcase our campus and the work of the School to the Deputy High Commissioner and we look forward to developing our work in India.”

On the tour, the Deputy High Commissioner was very interested the format of our courses, including how students manage their studies in the classroom, studio or on creative placements. The delegation was shown our broadcast suites, where third year students were filming a daytime style show, the newsroom, where students were working in teams reporting on the news in real-time across broadcast and print formats, and the animation studios.

The visit was arranged as part of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s programme of building relationships, trade and investment with the region and India. The University is an active member of the Manchester India Partnership and contributor to the GMCA internationalisation agenda.

India is the largest international recruitment market for the University. Currently over 1,300 students from India are enrolled on programmes across the University, with over 1,000 joining postgraduate taught programmes during the last academic year. The growth in our Indian student community reflects on the popularity of the UK as a study destination and the practical and career-focused postgraduate programmes available at the University.

There are strong opportunities with India across all areas of the University, but the Indian High Commission delegation were very interested in our media offer. India’s media and entertainment industry is expected to reach over 2.4 trillion INR (£24 trillion) by 2023. India is the world’s largest consumer of mobile data and the second largest TV market and has the largest YouTube audience with approximately 467 million users. The University is in a good position to contribute to India’s growing success and need for digital-savvy graduates across all media and creative arts industries.