of their ballot she said the possibility of an independent scotland means that over a 300 year old union of the uk will go through a massive sociopoliticaleconomic change the votes will clearly have serious implications and i hope that people are fully aware beyond the initial knee jerk reaction and make informed decisions the referendum clearly points to the strong need of expression of scotlands regional identity the time has come that we move beyond the empty rhetoric and objectively address the future of scotland as a modern nation who knows perhaps there may be more strength in independent entities standing side by side in strength so how will it benefit india if scotland breaks away according to narang it will be a positive move for indoscot relations narang said scotland and india have a longhistory of cultural and trade ties i feel that these will be strengthened further when india and scotland get into agreements and negotiations directly with each other as two independent nations there is a huge potential for economic and trade ties between india and scotland this is one of the priorities and clearly stated agenda in the 670page white paper or commonly known as scotlands mission statement for independence she added with the change in immigration policies of the uk number of students enrolling in scottish universities has gone down scotland government promises reasonable relaxed and mutually beneficial immigration policies which will benefit indian students wanting to study and work in independent scotland currently as well there is a lot of focus on strengthening ties between scotland and indian universities with funding and scholarships for indian students india and scotland both being democratic nations have a lot to learn from each other and can contribute immensely to each others growth when they are in a position to negotiate directly with each without other political and economic forces in between one of the clear benefits of an independent scotland will be for indian students in an exclusive interview with toi scotlands minister for external affairs and international development humza yousaf has said scotland will allow indian students to work at least for two years after they finish their education degree in scotland yousaf told toi that ever since uk changed its immigration policy and ended its poststudy work route for international students scotland has seen a 51 dip in indian students enrolling to scottish universities at present over 2000 indian students study across scotland by 2024 one in every three outbound higher education students across the globe is expected to be from india and china by 2024 it is expected that there will be 385 million outbound mobile higher education students globally india and china will contribute 35 of global growth during this period indian students will be the second highest chunk with 376 lakh of them travelling to enrol in foreign universities yousaf told toi indias relationship with scotland goes back to 1870s and its a friendship we greatly value infact if the referendum