President Alice Gast has used a visit to India to emphasise the UK's openness to smart and entrepreneurial Indian students.

In an interview with PTI, the country’s main news agency, Professor Gast said she wants to send out a message that Indian students would be "warmly welcome" in the UK.

She said that Indian students should consider the UK’s entrepreneur visa, alongside other visa options. 

The Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visa can be accessed by graduates from outside the EU who have been officially endorsed as having a genuine and credible business idea.

"It is something that has benefited the US greatly, with the entire story of the Silicon Valley based on such a visa. The UK could benefit similarly. A post-study work visa can still be obtained with a salary above a certain threshold, which many of our Indian science and engineering students would have," Professor Gast told PTI in an interview that has been published by the Economic Times, India Today, DNA India, NDTV, Business Standard and other leading outlets.

Imperial friends and alumni in Delhi

"What I do not want to miss out on are those entrepreneurial students, who would not have that salaried job but would be adding greatly in a smaller, medium-sized enterprise or even in trying to set up a start-up," she added. 

"That is where the numbers for the entrepreneurial visa could be expanded. And we can provide the UK government with figures from our own alumni to highlight the need to expand that. I do find our Indian students are very innovative, very eager to try entrepreneurial things. Interesting and clever things that will help large communities," Professor Gast said.

Exciting energy

Professor Gast took the chance to highlight the great contributions of Indian and other international students to the Imperial community. 
These students include Malav Sanghavi, a design engineer who pioneered a cheap baby incubator for use in the developing world, winning commendation from the Duke of York. 

President Gast meeting alumni and friends in Delhi

She said: "We greatly value our international students, in particular our Indian students. I want to make sure my visit carries a message of how important we think they are and how we are very much open and welcoming." 

"There is a wonderful and exciting energy and we have always got great students in science, engineering and business from India, disciplines at which Imperial excels. We have very wonderful alumni who look back very fondly on their time at Imperial and are also very eager to further the relationship - through companies, research, or exchange students," she added. 

In November 2015, Professor Gast wrote a letter to the Times urging the UK to give a clearer welcome to Indian students. In February 2016, she wrote to the Economist about why Britain should “roll out the red carpet for the best and brightest foreign students”. 

Professor Gast and colleagues are currently in India, holding receptions for alumni and friends of Imperial in Delhi and Mumbai.