University of Surrey along with the University of Birmingham has won funding of £1.2 million from the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK to conduct the first quantitative assessment of air pollution in Delhi.

The project runs for four years and will involve a series of field studies and follow-on analyses to determine the sources and processes responsible for the airborne particulate matter in Delhi. Mark Barlow, the director of student recruitment and admissions at the University of Surrey, spoke about the research project and beyond. Excerpts from an interview:

Q What particularly drove the university to focus on air pollution in Delhi?

The university is actively researching a number of fields ranging from engineering to social sciences and health related areas. However, this particular project was a result of the active initiative of Prashant Kumar, director, Global Centre for Clean Air Research. It is being conducted jointly with IITD, University of Birmingham and NPL in India.

The project aims to develop effective strategies for improvement in air quality. This requires careful consideration of a range of different factors, such as quantitative understanding of the sources, formation processes, regional budgets and chemical and physical nature of airborne particulate matter.

Q What is the current status of the research and what are its intended outcomes?

The project is half way through the funding cycle, and monitoring stations are being established across Delhi to measure levels of air pollution. Once the sources and causes of air pollution are accurately identified, there are a range of actions that can be proposed to help address this issue.

The aim is to develop — and help the government and others implement — an action plan that will remain in place and be used throughout the year, not just seasonally when air pollution is at its worst. Kumar wrote a piece in December 2017 and this identifies many of the possible solutions for this toxic problem.

Q Share some of the programmes of the university that are specially designed for Indian students.

The University of Surrey is incredibly proud of its Indian students, who come to Guildford for a wide range of courses, with the most popular including engineering, business and economics programmes. In recent years we have also witnessed Indian students choosing courses in health related areas, psychology, arts, theatre, performance and our award winning hospitality and tourism department.

Q Which subjects are currently in demand in the UK and how likely are those trends to continue in near future?

Firm favourites include business and engineering but there is also a growing interest in a more diverse set of courses. This is great to see and helps to ensure that a wide range of professionals are being trained for careers both in India and in the global economy.

Q How has Brexit affected the inflow of Indian students into UK universities?

There has been no noticeable change as yet. Indian students choosing the University of Surrey actually rose last year and we expect this to continue in the next two to three years.

Q Why the college fees in Britain are so high compared to the rest of Europe and what is likely to be the scenario post-Brexit?

British universities are providing some of the highest standards across the global higher education system. The facilities and our academics at many British universities, including the University of Surrey, are world-leading, and we pride ourselves on being research-led in our course content.

The UK also offers a shorter duration of study (three years for undergraduate and one year for Master’s) than other countries in Europe which we believe, when couple with the ability to work part time and potentially on a placement during your degree, offers student excellent value for money.

Another major factor is that tuition fees in Britain are not subsidised by the British government in the same way as some EU countries. These countries are trying to attract international students as they are just starting to offer courses in the English language. Therefore, the prices across these courses are expected to rise in the future in line with British tuition fees.