If all goes to plan, I will have my first trip to India, departing on Thursday.

The most important purpose of the trip is to give pre-departure briefings to students who will soon leave to study at the university in the UK. A small team of administrators and academics will be travelling to India for this (with me as the business academic).

These briefings are important to help students set their expectations correctly, work toward being in the right mindset and so on — all so that they can have a productive (and safe) time studying in the UK. Similar activities are occurring here in China.

Its a little bit at short notice, a my colleagues who usually does this trip was, at short notice, unable to go. That has meant a little bit of a rush for visas and flights. Thankfully, the Indian Consulate in Shanghai has been understanding (its quite a hassle I think when people apply for visas from outside their home country).

Even though it will be very busy (six cities in two weeks) and the weather will be quite a trial, I’m very much looking forward to the trip. India is an extraordinarily dynamic place, developing with a similar vigour to China, though in different sectors, and coming from a different history. India has good education system, influenced by British traditions (with many of the elite universities teaching in English) which can prepare Indian students very well for UK style masters degrees education.

I am looking forward to talking to students, potential students and the agents to learn more about preferences, expectations and employability needs and to incorporate them in my thinking about education.

So, hopefully, in addition to being a valuable trip for our students, it will be a valuable learning experience for me. Before then, however, much work to be done.