Government unveils post-pandemic IHE recovery strategy

In attempting to recover international higher education (IHE) exports post-pandemic and post-Brexit, the United Kingdom will prioritise opportunities in India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Nigeria, according to its revised International Education Strategy.

The International Education Champion, Sir Steve Smith, will focus on these countries as an immediate priority, but he will also focus on Brazil, Europe, China and Hong Kong.

Another of his priorities will be to work with the British Council to identify and resolve barriers to recognition of online and blended learning internationally.

Meanwhile the new Turing study abroad scheme will open up opportunities for UK students to study in other countries, with a particular emphasis on broadening participation by students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

And efforts will be made to enhance the international student experience to consolidate the UK’s position as one of the leading destination countries for international students.

Universities Minister Michelle Donelan said: “In these unprecedented times, having a proactive global education agenda is more important than ever so we can build back better from the pandemic.”

Two major developments

The international education strategy has been revised in the light of two major developments affecting international higher education: the COVID-19 pandemic and the signing of the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the European Union.

The summary to the revised strategy acknowledges that the pandemic has “strengthened the case for international co-operation and shown how important it is that we support the recovery and sustainable growth of international education and education exports”, a veiled reference to the fact that international student recruitment and study visits have faced major challenges due to COVID-19, including its impact on face-to-face teaching, international travel, cultural immersion and trust that students will get value for money.

The deal with the EU, meanwhile, ends a hugely damaging period of uncertainty for UK higher education over the future relationship with the EU and allows the UK to “use our newly independent trade policy to establish new trading relationships with global partners”.

But it also leaves a massive hole to fill, since the UK has dropped out of the Erasmus+ programme for student and staff study exchanges and capacity building partnerships.

The revised strategy documents progress since the original version was unveiled in 2019 and outlines what steps need to be taken to recover and grow sustainably.

It reaffirms the two key aims of the original strategy of increasing education exports to £35 billion (US$48 billion) per year, from £23.3 billion in 2018, and increasing the number of international higher education students studying in the UK to 600,000 a year, from 560,000 in 2019-20, by 2030.

Key measures taken towards those aims since 2019 include:

• The appointment of the International Education Champion, Sir Steve Smith, in June 2020.

• The introduction of a new Graduate Route for international students, launching in summer 2021. This will provide a period of two years for undergraduate or masters students (three years if studying at PhD level) to stay in the UK to work, or look for work, after they have completed their degree in the UK.

• The introduction of a new points-based immigration route, with Student and Child Student Routes from summer 2021. These streamline the immigration process and improve the application process for international students.

• The new international education scheme, the Turing scheme, which will start in September 2021. This will provide funding for around 35,000 students in universities, colleges and schools to go on placements overseas, although over what period is not specified.

The revised strategy, in addition to updating which geographical areas will be the focus of efforts to boost international education exports, highlights the need to build sustainable global partnerships and improve student mobility, which it says the new Turing mobility scheme will help to do.

It includes new measures to attract overseas students and plans for a new international teaching qualification to enable teachers around the world to train to domestic standards, supporting the sector to meet “growing international demand for its high-quality teacher training”.

The Turing scheme will be “pioneering”, the strategy says, in the way it will target students from disadvantaged backgrounds and thus help “level up opportunities for more people”.

The strategy says UK education providers can take advantage of schemes such as the UK Export Finance’s General Export Facility, an export guarantee scheme that can be used by firms to help cover the everyday costs linked to exporting.

Further export support includes enhancing the international student experience from application to employment, connecting international demand for chartered body qualifications to UK education suppliers, and identifying specific special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) export opportunities for UK businesses.

Attracting inward investment will also form part of the sector recovery plans, with the government building on its promotion of the UK education technology sector and expanding into new sub-sectors, further stimulating foreign direct investment into all corners of the UK.

Vivienne Stern, director of Universities UK International, said: “I am very supportive of the International Education Strategy, which represents the next step in a joint effort by government and the education sector to build on the international success of our education system and our attractiveness to international students.”

She said the Turing scheme will create new opportunities for students in UK universities to gain valuable international experience.

“We know these opportunities enable graduates to develop the skills employers need, and that the benefits are most pronounced for those from less advantaged backgrounds.”

Colin Riordan, Cardiff University vice-chancellor, said: “The focus on widening participation in Turing is a major positive. The UK has never had its own, government-funded outward mobility scheme. Turing presents a historic opportunity to shape our own destiny, and we should seize it.”

Dr Joanna Newman, chief executive and secretary general of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), told University World News that the ACU welcomes the UK government’s commitment to enabling a larger and more diverse cohort of UK students to access the benefits of an international experience.

“Through our network of over 500 member universities, we look forward to supporting Turing to be a truly global scheme, by brokering relationships between UK universities and partners across the Commonwealth and beyond.”

Vehicle for achieving SDGs

Newman stressed that international collaboration has a fundamental role to play, not only in enhancing the UK’s global influence, but as a vehicle for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Building on our experience delivering global scholarships, and a range of innovative university capacity-building projects, the ACU looks forward to working with the UK government, and partners worldwide, to deliver an international education agenda which goes beyond a narrow focus on exports and unleashes the potential for global academic cooperation to deliver a fairer, more resilient world, post-pandemic.”

Newman said the revised strategy represents a “welcome commitment to the value of international partnerships, two-way mobility and the importance of offering a world-class student experience to international students in the UK”.

But Dr Neil Kemp OBE, an international higher education consultant and board member of the Council for Education in the Commonwealth, speaking to University World News, criticised the “total lack of reciprocity, mutuality and partnerships”.

He said, for example, that the Turing scheme is mentioned, “but it is entirely one-way while Erasmus was very successful and two-way, and the UK benefited greatly from this”.

Also, there is no mention of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are “truly international with education at the heart of many”. He said: “This is to be regretted as it sends out the wrong message internationally. I understood that the UK government had signed up to these.”

He pointed out that if the UK wants to increase international student numbers in an already crowded market, it will have to invest in “product development, marketing and communications” and increase its global market share.

“The first major challenge will be the rapid decline in enrolments of EU students, as their access to UK domestic fees and finance is withdrawn. This could result in a drop of up to 50,000 students within three years. This includes a significant number of all-important research students in bio- and physical sciences,” Kemp warned.

“A major concern has to be the total lack of any form of strategy or funding towards retaining a good proportion of the existing EU students.

“For example, why give top priority to Indonesia for recruitment (with current enrolments in the UK at 3,400) when Germany and France each accounted for over 18,000 students in the UK in 2018-19? We need to do all possible to minimise the inevitable decline in EU student numbers while we can.

“Essentially we must work hard to maintain existing markets while exploring new ones.”

He warned that, much as he loves Indonesia, having worked there for eight years, as a market it requires much time and investment – “think 10 years for delivering any returns”.

Another criticism is that there is no mention of significant numbers of scholarships being made available, he said, with existing numbers being far from generous compared to other destination countries. He said mention of universities offering scholarships glosses over the fact that the large majority of these are small, are fee discounts and are employed for marketing purposes.

In addition, there is no dedicated sum of money allocated for investment to deliver the strategy, he said, a notable shortcoming compared to Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the United States; and no dedicated delivery or management structure. “Who is responsible for delivering, for example, the international student numbers?” he asked.