kolkata twentyeight uk universities and dozens of young eager faces that is how the uk education fair started in the city on mondayfrom robert gordon university in aberdeen scotland and cardiff university in wales to the university of central england in birmingham and the university of bath they were all there the target was the evergrowing lucrative deal called overseas or international students in the uk organised by the british council the fair will have universities exhibiting their courses till tuesdaymost queries were about mba courses some university representatives said the university of lancaster and cardiff university premier universities for management studies were already filled with eager faces only half an hour after the exhibitions kicked off sixteenyearold rima nandi had dropped in with her friends out of curiositywe would like to pursue our higher studies abroad although it is quite some time away we want to be prepared when the time comesbut the key element missing in this years fair is scholarships a quick scan reveals that most courses are selffunded rolf jesperson international project officer for the university of east london points out apologetically that their university does not offer many scholarships for international studentsthus it was hardly surprising to see an hsbc student loans stall at the exhibition a first in the fair we dont demand any security for a loan of up to rs 4 lakh however beyond that we need some property or asset mortgage said an hsbc representativehsbc is the first to start student loans in the private and foreign banks sectorgetting bymost uk universities want an ielts point between 6 and 7for scholarships apply a year in advancetuition fees for pg courses cost 7000 a year excluding living costs mba courses are costlieralmost all uk universities have sixweek orientation courses to help international students settle down