International Student Mobility: the UK perspective Dr Janet Ilieva International Education Intelligence Unit www.britishcouncil.org 1 Incentives to internationalise 1. Rapid expansion of tertiary education systems in OECD, and most recently in emerging economies, has added financial pressure on education systems and led to increased interest in overseas recruitment; 2. Increased competition for skills has provided new driver for international student recruitment, which has become part of the strategy for the recruitment of highly skilled; 3. Filling in employment areas in demand with recruitment of the highly skilled migrants; 4. The trend towards furthering the internationalisation of education has seen increased impact on the balance of payments coming from tuition fees and domestic consumption of overseas students; 5. Tackling domestic issues related to aging population; 6. Increased research competitiveness for talent; 7. Increasingly governments are relying on the tertiary education sector to deliver on national priorities www.britishcouncil.org 2 1
Number (thousands) China India Korea, Rep. of Germany Japan France USA Malaysia Canada Russian Fed. Morocco Turkey Italy Poland Hong Kong SAR of China Share of world total 10/25/2010 Overview of International Student Recruitment The overall number of international students in the UK reached 415,585 closing gap between onshore and offshore provision; There has been a continuous growth of international student enrolment in 2008/09, marking 7% increase, which lower than the world average of 10.7% and higher than the OECD average of 4.9% (OECD 2010): 5% growth in the EU enrolments to the UK 8% growth in the non-eu enrolments to the UK The growth at PG level of study was 8%, whereas the UG enrolments grew by 6%. Most pronounced was the growth at Postgraduate Taught level 9% Highest growth was observed in India (29%); Nigeria (19%),Saudi Arabia (45%), Bangladesh (23%), Iran (18%). www.britishcouncil.org 3 Major Sending Countries market share 450 400 350 421 15% 16% 1 12% 300 10% 250 200 150 100 50 153 5% 106 78 3% 8% 6% 55 54 50 47 2% 2% 44 43 42 2% 37 2% 35 2% 33 33 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 0 0% Source: UOE and UNESCO Institute for Statistics. www.britishcouncil.org 4 2
Major sending countries market share in the UK 12% 9% 5% 3% 3% 3% 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% www.britishcouncil.org 5 1 st Year Enrolments of International Higher Education First year enrolments are one of the most reliable indicators for the future direction of student enrolments. 1 st year students account for 55% of the international student population. The first year enrolments grew by 10% in 2008/09: Non-EU enrolments grew by 13% EU enrolments increased by In terms of level of study, the respective growth rates were: Level of Study 2007/08 2008/09 Growth (%) Postgraduate Research 13350 13495 1 Postgraduate Taught 86635 100280 16 First Degree 62045 67475 9 Other Undergraduate 47020 49065 4 Total 209055 230310 10 HESA Student Record 2010 www.britishcouncil.org 6 3
Subjects in Demand Add slide www.britishcouncil.org 7 UG Subject Demand in Bangladesh HESA 2008-09 Student Decision Making 2010 www.britishcouncil.org 8 4
Narrowing gap between undergraduate and postgraduate enrolments Level of Study for International student enrolments in UK 250000 200000 Postgraduate Undergraduate 150000 ``` 100000 50000 0 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 Source: HESA Student Record 2010 www.britishcouncil.org 9 Students Level of Study Level of study: Globally and in the UK Local students World Mobile Students Mobile students in the UK 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Postgraduate Research (PhD) Postgraduate Taught First Degree Other Undergraduate www.britishcouncil.org 10 5
Subjects at PGT level with greatest pressure to recruit from overseas Ration non-uk/uk full time PGT students Software engineering Polymers & textiles General engineering Computer science Management studies Production & manufacturing engineering Marketing Pharmacology, toxicology & pharmacy Food & beverage studies Business studies Hospitality, leisure, tourism and transport Accounting Mechanical engineering Metallurgy Finance Combined Electronic & electrical engineering Others in engineering Biotechnology The chart shows subjects where full time postgraduate taught students represent more than 80% of the overall student population (UK and non-uk students). www.britishcouncil.org 72% 7 76% 78% 80% 82% 8 86% 88% 90% 92% 9 11 Challenges Increased effort and cost of recruitment: currently 55% of the total students have to be recruited on annual basis (230,310+ students each year) in order to maintain 0% growth Students studying in the UK for shorter period, adding pressure on recruitment: more often and bigger numbers Visas: applying is more transparent and but much harder. However the current trend requires more student visa applications and more often (increase in the issue rate in China and India, decline in Japan; reduction in the issue rate in Pakistan, however, much more applications hence visas issued). Weak pound has meant UK education is more attractive to overseas students, however it makes the actual recruitment abroad much more expensive Relationships with agents many institutions now have changing relationship with agents and opting to set up their own office in certain markets (e.g. India the number of offices increased from 13 to 24 over the past 2 years; Agents who used to send students to the UK only now have diversified and send students to wider range of countries. www.britishcouncil.org 12 6