London, October 19
The High Commission of India hosted a welcome reception at India House in London to greet and support newly arrived Indian students pursuing studies across UK universities. The event drew a large crowd of students from diverse academic institutions, offering them a platform to connect and network with each other as they begin their journey in a new country.
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High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami led the event, personally interacting with the students and delivering a warm, encouraging address. He spoke about the importance of making the most of their educational opportunities, while also offering advice on adapting to life in the UK. Doraiswami emphasized the role of Indian students as ambassadors of Indian culture and talent, encouraging them to stay connected with their roots while embracing their new environment.
The event also served to familiarize students with the High Commission's services, reassuring them that support is readily available for any issues they might face during their stay. The reception helped build a sense of community and provided students with a welcoming space to share experiences, ask questions, and gain insights from the High Commission as they embark on their academic journey in the UK.
"It was a great pleasure to be able to do this big welcome event for our student community. There are limits to the number of people you can fit into any one place, but we were lucky with the weather and I think my colleagues put on a lot of effort to get a really nice event going. We had about 600 young people here from a number of colleges across the UK and we live casted this to another 46 places. So all told we've reached out to about a hundred colleges in the UK," Vikram Doraiswami, High Commissioner of India told ANI.
Doraiswami added that they had also invited a stand-up comedian Rohan Joshi, who taught them how to look for internships, and mental health issues, et al.
"We thought we'd make it interesting and fun by having some serious content to talk about mental health issues, to talk about concerns that young people might have, but also to talk about opportunities to show them how they can look at internships, how they can look at getting their career ready by getting people to come and talk about that. And for me, of course, the highlight of the event was to be able to have a great stand-up comic come and give them ideas about living in the UK but to do it in a way that was fun rather than to make it sound like a lecture. So I hope it works, as long as the students are happy we are happy," he said.