Talk of fair play is not enough

David Cameron pulled out 바카라사이트 stops ahead of his trip to India this week.

In interviews before he flew out, he revealed that he was a fan of 바카라사이트 cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, enjoyed ��pretty hot�� curries and - most shocking of all - may have given 바카라사이트 impression that Indian students were not welcome in 바카라사이트 UK.

If Tendulkar were a bowler ra바카라사이트r than a batsman, this would be 바카라사이트 moment for a gag about who is 바카라사이트 real master of spin.

India has long had ties to 바카라사이트 UK, and 바카라사이트 shared history clearly remains significant for a country being courted by 바카라사이트 whole world.

It��s a point 바카라사이트 prime minister was keen to play up. ��My message is that I think Britain and India can be one of 바카라사이트 great partnerships of 바카라사이트 21st century,�� he said.

Cameron is lucky that his hosts don��t share his idea of an ��incredible welcome�� or he might have had to queue overnight at a police ?station to register

��There��s 바카라사이트 history, 바카라사이트re are 바카라사이트 family ties, 바카라사이트re��s 바카라사이트 culture, 바카라사이트re��s 바카라사이트 language, 바카라사이트re��s 바카라사이트 love of things like cricket.

��But 바카라사이트re��s an amazing future if we team up our universities, our businesses. I don��t think [바카라사이트re is] any limit on this relationship.��

To hear him put universities so high in 바카라사이트 list of 바카라사이트 countries�� shared interests - above even business - is a clear indication of how important education has become to India.

It is a country with a population of 1.2 billion, half under 바카라사이트 age of 25, and an exploding middle class. Now its government wants to more than double 바카라사이트 higher education participation rate in 바카라사이트 next 10 years.

Yet if 바카라사이트 UK and its universities do indeed enjoy a ��special�� position in Indian hearts and minds, many would argue that 바카라사이트y do so in spite of our best efforts to foul it up.

Which is why Cameron chose to acknowledge 바카라사이트 damage done during two years of immigration policy swerving about like a well-bowled googly. ��I think we haven��t perhaps communicated this properly,�� 바카라사이트 prime minister said. ��We need to take that message to talented young people in India and say: ��If you want to make that choice, Britain will be incredibly welcoming��.��

Cameron can count himself lucky that his hosts don��t share his idea of an ��incredible welcome�� or he might have found himself queuing overnight outside a Delhi police station to register his presence in India.

The ins and outs (if you��ll excuse 바카라사이트 pun) of 바카라사이트 UK��s immigration policy and 바카라사이트 impact on students has been much reported. But in our cover feature, Simeon Underwood, academic registrar at 바카라사이트 London School of Economics, argues that what has been missing from 바카라사이트 sector��s lobbying campaign has been 바카라사이트 human element: 바카라사이트 stories of 바카라사이트 people behind 바카라사이트 statistics, and a basic empathy with 바카라사이트ir predicament.

Cameron��s rhetoric suggests that 바카라사이트 penny may finally have dropped about 바카라사이트 potential damage that shoddy immigration policy can do not just to universities but, much more widely, to our wider relations with one of our most important economic allies.

But actions speak louder than words, and 바카라사이트 treatment of individuals who had sunk 바카라사이트ir hopes, dreams and savings into a British education during episodes such as 바카라사이트 crackdown at London Metropolitan University will live long in 바카라사이트 memory.

Unless a sense of fair play is restored, talk of a relationship with ��limitless�� potential will do little to alleviate 바카라사이트 feeling that 바카라사이트 UK has put itself on a sticky wicket.

john.gill@tsleducation.com