National policies ‘massively’ influence mobile student decisions

National policies in areas such as immigration can “massively impact” on the opinions and expectations of international students, a British Council global survey of 153,000 students has found. Students are also concerned about quality and, increasingly, safety.

The key findings of the report from the British Council’s Education Intelligence service, Student Insight Hot Topics: An examination of host destinations from a student perspective, were outlined at the 2012 NAFSA conference held in Houston last week.

The latest in a series of Student Insight reports, it examines, among other things, how students perceive study destination countries, how important university reputations are in student considerations, and how big a concern personal safety is to them.

The series is based on student decision-making data collected since February 2007 through a questionnaire-based survey. More than 153,000 responses had been collected globally by May 2012. Participants were asked their opinions on study in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and emerging host countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore.

Education Intelligence also conducted seven focus groups in Hong Kong comprising school pupils considering overseas study, current international university students, guidance counsellors advising school pupils and education agents.

The research revealed five key findings, outlined in a release ahead of NAFSA 2012.

First, quality is a top priority. “Students want a high-quality, internationally recognised education from highly reputable institutions that are respected by potential employers.” Second is national stereotyping, with destination countries “assigned characteristics based on hearsay and imagined reputation rather than factual or firsthand experience”.

A third finding, the release says, is the influence of policy. “National policies, such as the immigration policy introduced in New Zealand allowing graduates the right to apply for residency post-study, can massively impact prospective student opinion and expectations.”

Fourth, personal safety is increasingly a concern for students considering study abroad. Safety concerns encompass violence, racism and medical issues, regardless of the destination country. “This issue has become one of the five or 10 top influencing factors in their choices.”

Finally, transnational education destinations are a “mixed bag: emerging destinations that act as hubs pulling together both national and international education organisations are not clearly defined enough for students to understand their value”.

Understanding how potential international students make choices is clearly important for destination countries and institutions as they seek to maintain or grow their numbers of international students in an increasingly competitive and global market.

Elizabeth Shepherd, research director for Education Intelligence, said. “We have successfully encapsulated that brief window in a student’s life before the concrete decision to study at a university overseas actually materialises.

“Our data and on-the-ground interviews capture student opinion before it is swayed by actual experience.”

Drawing on the OECD and UNESCO the full report, published last Monday, points out that the number of internationally mobile students more than doubled between 1975 – when around 800,000 people studied outside their own country – and 2005. The number has since doubled again to nearly four million students.

“Growth is exponential and demand is forecast to continue to rise as the number of 18- to 25-year-olds seeking higher education grows in line with their ability to afford it,” it says.

Student mobility has grown globally along with demand for higher education, with the proportion of students seeking higher education abroad relatively stable at around 2% of global tertiary enrolments.

Students look elsewhere when national demand for higher education outstrips the supply of places. Other “non-financial or demographic soft drivers” are the positive experiential value of study abroad, domestic higher education quality, reputational value, social mobility aspirations, language learning and immigration opportunities, the report says.

The report says the “mobility equation” becomes increasingly complex when considering external influences.

When trying to predict what will happen in future, economics and socio-demographics have to be considered but also national policy on education and immigration, trade and investment strategy, growth areas in industry and sovereign relationships on top of individual influences such as friend and family networks, teachers, the media and perceptions in popular culture.

Previously, assumptions could be made about elements of the traditional student mobility equation. It was assumed that developed Western countries were the dominant student destinations – especially the US, UK, France, Germany and Australia – and that students generally flowed from the developing world, predominantly to English-language countries.

“The same assumptions can no longer be made.” Countries that previously supplied students are now hosting students themselves. New destinations are emerging and challenging the traditional destinations, although the US and UK remain the top host nations.

“Some of these emerging destinations, including Singapore, Malaysia and the UAE, are often described as – and strive to be known as – education hubs. Other countries, of which China is a key example, follow a different model of higher education that focuses on the expansion of local provision, reducing reliance on international actors,” says the report.

It looks at the major new trend of education hubs, which Jane Knight has described as “a third generation of cross-border activity” following the first generation of student mobility and a second generation of programmes and providers moving across borders, allowing students to gain foreign qualifications at home.

Knight identified a hub as a national effort to build a critical mass of local and foreign actors – students, institutions, training companies and research centres – and a national strategy to be recognised as a centre of education expertise, excellence and economy.

The report concludes that traditional providers may be able “to use their strong brands to innovate in different regions of the world where operating environments are more favourable for certain customers, and where conditions allow them to blend learning styles, disciplines and their own strengths.

“It is possible that this new wave or ‘third generation’ is simply an opportunity for traditional hosts to prosper beyond their own borders."

However, it was also possible that emerging destinations could present a real challenge to traditional providers.

China, the report argues, “may prove the existence of a truly new movement”, not through becoming an education hub with the enhanced reputation that this brings, “but by expanding its own education provision and capitalising on its own unique selling points”.

* Earlier “Student Insight Hot Topics” looked at international student use of social media and the role of education agents. They can be purchased, for US$200 each, from Education Intelligence.