Daily Times

On April 14, 2013, on the page 07 of one of Pakistan’s most circulated Urdu dailies, a full-page advertisement on an education counselling fair for September 2013 intake was published at the upper-right top of which the four-dot logo of the British Council was also prominent along with the words ‘in cooperation with [the] British Council’. In the advertisement, the names and insignias of 25 universities (three of Scotland and 22 of England) of the United Kingdom (UK) were also printed. The advertisement was clearly indicating that the British Council in Pakistan was cooperating with Pakistani middlemen who arranged education counselling fairs to entice Pakistani students into seeking admissions to the UK’s universities, and not elsewhere.

Therein lies the rub. When a Pakistani student seeks admission to any one of the 25 universities of the UK mentioned in the advertisement, faces academic or research problems (and injustices), and asks the British Council in Pakistan for its response, the latter simply disassociates itself from the whole issue by writing three oft-repeated sentences to any such complainant: first, we are dismayed to learn of your disappointing experience at the university; second, we are unable to take any action on this matter as this is not within our authority; and third, thank you for alerting us to this issue. Every year, the British Council cooperates with Pakistani intermediaries to beguile Pakistani students into visiting the UK for study purposes and every year the British Council issues letters of its inability in any matter happened to Pakistani students in the UK’s universities. Pakistani students are flabbergasted on this contrast practised by the British Council.

On the one hand, Peter Upton, Country Director of the British Council, tries to prove absolute inertness of the Council; on the other hand, Neil Roberts, an official at the British Council Information Centre, Bridgewater House, Manchester, goes one step ahead and asserts that the British Council helps only those overseas Pakistani students who are on a British Council administered programme. The statement of Roberts means that the British Council is not responsible for the fate of those students who are not on its administered programmes. The question is this: if such is a state of disclaimer, what is the meaning of the ‘cooperation’ of the British Council with Pakistani middlemen?
Almost all UK’s universities set a yearly target of about 10 percent increase in their revenue. To meet that target, two kinds of strategies are framed: first, to increase fees (tuition and lodging); and second, to increase the number of overseas students. The former kind of strategy is implemented at the college or university level while the latter kind of strategy cannot be materialised unless the British Council in other countries is not active and cooperative locally. In order to gain credibility, for instance, in the eyes of Pakistani students and their parents, the middlemen have to take the support of the British Council and which is duly provided.

The British Council in any country including Pakistan is facing two challenges: first, how to help the UK’s universities meet their yearly revenue targets; and second, how to prove its inertness (or neutrality). To meet the first challenge, the British Council ‘cooperates’ with the middlemen or does other promotional activities. Nevertheless, to prove its inertness is important in order to avoid accountability for any wrong happened to overseas Pakistani students in the UK’s universities. The emphasis of the British Council on its inertness is indicative of the fact that the Council does know the potential of the UK’s universities to exploit and harm overseas Pakistani students academically and financially. Otherwise, for a proud and confident British Council, inertness is an insult and tantamount to its death.

The inertness of the British Council in Pakistan is a farce also because it writes on behalf of the British High Commission. This is despite the fact that it has been declared on their websites, the British Council is a charity the patron of which is the Queen while the British High Commission is representing the British government through the British Foreign Office.

It is impossible to believe that the British Council is oblivious of the flaws existing in the UK’s Higher Education sector, the flaws which have devastated the careers of dozens of bright overseas students. Secondly, when the UK’s universities view overseas Pakistani students as ‘cash cows’ to be milked to meet their yearly financial targets, it is impossible that the British Council in Pakistan does not see Pakistani students as ‘cash cows’ too to be facilitated to studying in the UK’s universities. The existence of flaws in the UK’s Higher Education sector and the reduction of Pakistani students to be seen as merely ‘cash cows’ are a great insult to the cause of education.

In the UK’s universities, a saying takes rounds: the UK gives financial aid to Pakistan with one hand and takes away with the other. Unfortunately, this cycle is not known to the middle class Pakistani students’ parents who send their children to the UK after selling their valuables and compromising on their savings to get their children foreign qualified. In fact, the middle class is not the recipient of the UK’s aid to be given back in the form of the student visa fee, tuition fee, travelling expenses, living expenses, and what not. Is the politically motivated aid meant for taking back through the education route?
On the issue, those Pakistanis (journalists and bureaucrats) who are relevant observe silence and remain inactive. It is because the British Council has a policy of sending them to the UK’s top ranking universities on scholarships. These scholarships act as a bribe to charm those who can speak or do something for the rights of overseas Pakistani students. The British Council should release the list of the journalists and bureaucrats it provided scholarship with in the past five years.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com