How can universities remain international post-Brexit?

Universities in the United Kingdom can truly claim ‘we are international’. One in six of our students are from outside the UK – over 436,000 students. More than 25% of staff are from outside the UK – 55,000 people from more than 180 countries. And 710,000 students are registered on UK programmes overseas.

The sector trend towards ever-growing internationalisation shows no sign of slowing. There has been a 13% growth in UK transnational education in the past two years and a 50% increase in Erasmus mobility since 2007-08.

At the same time, we’ve seen a shift in institutional priorities with partnerships, mobility and international student diversification becoming ever-more important for university leaders.

International students enrich our universities with different perspectives and cultures, giving home students opportunities to learn in a global environment without leaving the UK.

They also make a significant financial contribution, not just to our universities but to our wider economy. Recent Universities UK research shows that international students coming to the UK to study now generate more than £25 billion (US$33 billion) a year for the economy and provide a significant boost to regional jobs and local businesses.

Yet despite the benefits, these are challenging times for internationalisation at UK universities. The uncertainties of Brexit, particularly in relation to European research funding, student and staff mobility and our continued involvement in the Erasmus programme, sit alongside stiff competition for international students from countries such as Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Germany.

International enrolments in the UK have been growing at 0-2% a year since 2011. At the same time enrolments in the United States and Australia have been growing much faster, with growth in Canada particularly striking – international student enrolments there grew by 22% between 2015 and 2016.

We know the UK offer to international students is strong. The Competitive Advantage series of reports, published by Universities UK International, shows that the UK consistently ranks first among the competitors for overall satisfaction. This global study has gathered feedback from more than three million students in over 1,400 institutions across 33 countries since its inception.

It shows that, compared to the US, Canada, New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands, the UK outperforms the competition on a wide variety of measures. We are the most recommended higher education destination at both undergraduate and taught masters levels and 91% of international students report that they are satisfied with their experience.

So what can the UK university sector do to make sure we continue to attract the best international students? I’d like to make three suggestions: welcome, diversify and promote.

Welcome

I love the #WeAreInternational campaign. Launched on behalf of the sector by the University of Sheffield and its students’ union in 2013, it aims to celebrate and highlight the importance of UK universities’ diverse international student and staff communities. Now supported by more than 160 universities, the influence of the campaign content, including a range of short films, was recognised last year in research by Hotcourses.

Not to be outdone, the National Union of Students has recently launched its #StudentsOfTheWorld campaign which aims to empower international students across the UK and celebrate international education, as well as to provide evidence of the value of student mobility.

While individual universities continue to offer excellent practice in attracting, engaging and welcoming international students to their campuses, I encourage all higher education institutions to back these campaigns.

Diversify

If you look at international student numbers broken down by country, you can see that we recruit more than half of our international students from just 10 countries. There are many countries where there is significant and growing demand for overseas education, but the UK is not prominent in people's minds. We need to get a wider range of potential students to 'think UK'.

At the same time there are now only 15 countries in the world with no access to UK university transnational education. While the largest host region for UK transnational education remains Asia, it is interesting to note how rapidly UK transnational education provision has been growing in Latin America and Africa. Crucially, we know that many students registered on transnational education programmes subsequently transfer to courses delivered in the UK.

Promote

At Universities UK International we’re delighted to support Study UK: Discover You, a campaign aimed at potential international students co-funded by the GREAT campaign and the British Council.

It encompasses digital advertising, branded events, the British Council alumni awards, a MOOC for agents and numerous other activities. I regularly send out calls for content and other participation in the campaign. If you work for a higher education institution in the UK and aren’t involved, please get in touch and we can add you to our list.

UK universities have been welcoming international scholars since the 1100s. I have every confidence that we, as a sector, will remain outward-looking, welcoming, international institutions.

Miranda Thomas is head of external affairs, Universities UK. She is taking part in an Internationalising Higher Education conference on 13 December, speaking on promoting UK universities abroad post-Brexit.