British universities are challenging their American counterparts as the world’s most popular places to study. According to a survey of more than 11,000 prospective students from 143 countries, 95% of students rated Britain as attractive or very attractive, compared with 93% who rated the US in the same way.

The International Graduate Insight Group (i-graduate), which conducted the StudentPulse study, says the findings do not imply that America’s dominant market share has suddenly evaporated. Instead, it argues in a report the results may indicate that the rising popularity of smaller players – including China, Singapore, and Malaysia – is having the greatest impact on America’s appeal.

Will Archer, i-graduate’s director, said prospective international students now had a “world of choice”. Archer said many traditional sending countries were building the capacity and quality of their higher education systems to offer a cheaper alternative to some of the market leaders, including the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada.

(Australia came third in the attractiveness stakes, with 87% of students rating it as attractive or very attractive while Canada was fourth, being seen as attractive or very attractive by 86% of students.)

“Students’ expectations are changing, and their options are multiplying year on year,” he said.

Singapore occupies a respectable position in the popularity league table with 64% of students in the StudentPulse study rating it as attractive or very attractive. Japan got the thumbs up from 60% of prospective students, while 45% found China attractive or very attractive and 35% felt the same way about Malaysia.

The survey also shows that studying for a foreign qualification at home is now a more popular option than studying overseas for students from some countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan. Archer said that with new options opening up for international students, their decision-making behaviour was beginning to resemble that of customers in the motor industry.

“Both sectors involve ‘big ticket’ discretionary expenditure and both have their aspirational brands. In education, there’s no doubt that the leading aspirational brands are the US and the UK. But how many of us will buy a Cadillac or Jaguar?”

Student choices and the factors affecting their preferences vary according to their academic abilities as well as their financial means, the study found. Respondents who considered themselves among the brightest in their peer group were the most likely to be considering studying abroad, and were most concerned about security and the reputation of a country’s qualifications. The main factors considered by those of lower academic ability were cost, employment opportunities, and ease of obtaining a student visa.

Significantly, the study also shows that two thirds of students choose an institution rather than a country first when deciding where to study.

“The implication for universities is that they can’t rely on national branding to drive up student numbers,” Archer said.

The various factors that most influence students’ choice of where to study offer some possible explanations for the relative attractiveness of different countries. The most important were security and personal safety, the reputation of qualifications from a country or institution, the cost of education, ease of obtaining a student visa, and opportunities to work after graduation.

Britain, Australia, and Canada all scored particularly well on security and safety whereas the US was ranked 9th out of 18 countries and was seen as only slightly more secure than China and South Korea. As well, students also considered the US to be the hardest place to obtain a visa.

On reputation of qualifications, America came out on top, closely followed by the UK. Both Britain and America, however, were considered the most expensive places in the world to study while the UK's biggest weakness was being seen as the hardest place to find employment after graduation.


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