‘Big Four’ share of English-taught programmes declines

While 78% of students from non-English speaking countries seeking to study in English still enrol in colleges and universities in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia, since 2021 the Big Four’s share of this market has declined by 4% in relation to the worldwide number of English-taught programmes (ETPs).

According to Mapping English-taught Programmes Worldwide, there are 40,786 ETPs offered by more than 1,700 universities outside the Big Four traditional Anglophone destinations, an increase of 48% (as compared with the worldwide increase of 22% when the Big Four are included).

The report was prepared by Studyportals (a global portal to apply to university and college used by over 55 million prospective students from 240 countries), the British Council and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

The report builds on one Studyportals issued in 2021 and looks at the changing landscape of ETPs, said Karl Baldacchino, a researcher with Studyportals.

“We looked at the post-pandemic landscape, what was happening in higher education, what changes have come, where they were, so we could understand what was happening outside the Big Four study destinations,” he said.

At the beginning of the report, the authors note that irrespective of competition from ETPs in non-Anglophone countries, the percentage of students coming to the Big Four to study in English will likely decline further because of each nation’s internal politics. Three of the four have recently implemented policies that will decrease the number of international students in each country.

Canada cut the number of foreign student visas to be issued this year by 35%, to 360,000 in response to the nation’s housing affordability crisis.

That crisis is partially due to the country hosting more than one million international students among its 40 million population, and the discovery that many of these students were attending private-for-profit colleges that were little more than diploma mills.

Both Australia and Britain have also significantly reduced the number of international student visas they will be issuing. While the United States has not reduced the number of international student visas it will issue, the possibility of the re-election of Donald Trump has, the report notes, “created an atmosphere of uncertainty regarding future policies”.

Growth beyond the Big Four

The growth in the number of ETPs in computer science and IT outside the Big Four countries mirrors the growth in the number of American BA students flocking to computer science and IT; after the last four years that have averaged an increase of 7.4%, some 630,000 undergraduates are enrolled in these programmes. Similarly, the number of undergraduate ETP programmes in computer science and IT has grown by 73% in half a decade.

The growth in undergraduate ETP computer science and IT programmes and the 49% growth in MA programmes indicates that university officials in non-anglophone countries are fashioning their portfolio of courses to help staunch the ‘brain drain’ of both undergraduates interested in computer and IT professions and professors in these fields.

Having more BA students means, for example, there are programmes in their home countries for those who received the PhDs in the United States or Canada, for example, to return to – and a professional-technical infrastructure to take part in that will allow them to use the contacts they made overseas.

“Countries are trying to keep their talents or, at least, bring them back once they’ve studied abroad,” said Cara Sikine, Studyportals’ Head of Communication and Thought Leadership. “So students may study abroad for a shorter time, but then they’re back to their countries of origin with the talents, knowledge and contacts they made abroad.

“We’re seeing a lot of this in MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) countries and in Asia. They’re bringing them back and they’re [the returning scholars and professors] supporting the local economy and infrastructure,” she noted.

Global ETP growth in almost all disciplines

The growth in ETP has occurred in every geographical region and in almost all disciplines. In the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), which is home to approximately half of the ETPs outside the Big Four, the greatest rise in the number of programmes, 33%, was in computer science and IT programmes, which was closely followed by Environmental Studies and Earth Sciences (31%).

The number of ETP programmes in natural science and math grew by 21% and in medicine and health by 15%. Bucking the trend in the Big Four, where business and management programmes grew by 91%, in the EHEA they grew by only 16%. While in the Big Four art, design and architecture programmes grew by 125%, in the EHEA, they grew by only 2%.

In contrast to the Big Four, where many humanities programmes have been shuttered over the past five years, ETP has grown at both the BA and MA levels by 80% or 506 new programmes and 47% or 777, respectively. Across the globe, BA ETP programmes in English language and literature as well as history and liberal arts grew by double digits.

The greatest growth occurred in regions that have seen the strongest economic growth and where higher education as a whole is growing. In the MENA area, for example, ETP programmes in business and management have grown by 118%, while in South Asia these programmes have grown by 318%; they grew too in the Chinese region, though only by 95%. In the Americas, the figure is 59%.

In percentage terms, the sectors with the highest growth are the two with the strongest connection to environmental concerns and the United Nations’ Sustainability Goals 2 (Zero Hunger), 6 (Clean water and sanitation), 13 (Climate Action), 14 (Life below water) and 15 (Life on land).

In South Asia, the number of ETP programmes in agriculture and forestry, and environmental studies and earth sciences, grew by 1350% and 820% (although it must be noted that the baseline number of these programmes was low).

Agriculture and forestry programmes increased by 358%, and environmental and earth studies increased by 144% in the Chinese region. In the MENA region, the increases in these programmes were 294% and 288%, respectively. East Asia saw increases of 127% and 144%, respectively in these programmes over the past half decade.

Several sectors showed different trajectories in different regions. In the Americas, two areas saw significant decreases in EPT programmes. As compared with five years ago, there were 17% fewer ETP in hospitality and leisure studies.

By contrast, in South Asia the number of ETPs in hospitality, leisure and sports increased by 820%, no doubt due to the steep rise in tourism to this area over the past decade.

As tourism in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt (which welcomed 14.9 million tourists in 2023) and Morocco (which welcomed 13.2 million tourists in 2023, more than before the Covid Pandemic) has grown, the MENA region has added 500% more ETPs in the last five years.

English language medical programmes have declined by 42% in the Americas while they have increased by 149% in East Asia, 207% in the Chinese region, 146% in South Asia and 211% in the MENA region.

Top ETP countries

Among the 15 countries with the most ETPs, the top three remain Ireland (2,662), Germany (2,392) and the Netherland (2,392), while France (1,402), Switzerland (669), Poland (665) and Finland (473) remain in 5th, 9th, 10th and 12th places, respectively.

Since 2019, Spain (1,101) has fallen from 3rd to 7th place while Turkey (1,620) has risen from 6th to 3rd place. Sweden (1,046) has fallen from 7th to 8th place. Both Italy (1,229) and Portugal (532) have risen to 6th and 11th places respectively. Czechia (458), Belgium (457) and Hungary (452) hold 13th, 14th and 15th places.

Nineteen cities met Studyportals’ threshold to be considered a ‘hub’, having at least 10 higher education institutions with ETPs. The top five hubs are Paris (28), Berlin (26), Barcelona (23), Milan and Vienna (15 each) and Dubai (15). Beijing, Brussels, Shanghai and Moscow each have 14 ETPs taught within their environs. The two hubs with the fewest numbers of programmes are Rome and Bangkok, each of which are home to 10 ETPs.

IELTS score requirements

Since ETPs presuppose English language competency, the study examined the programmes required for IELTS scores at the BA and MA levels.

At the BA level, the highest level is 6.3 (on a 0-9 scale), required by natural sciences and math, humanities, medicine and health, and law ETP programmes. Hospitality, leisure and sports ETP programmes required the lowest score, 6.0. With the exception of natural science and maths programmes, which required an IELTS score of 6.2, all other programmes required a score of 6.1.

At the MA level, the highest score, 6.6, was required by law and the humanities. Engineering and hospitality, leisure and sports had the lowest requirement, 6.3. All other disciplines required a 6.4 to 6.6 IELTS score.

The study also provides aggregate breakdowns of students’ IELTS scores. In the sub-Saharan Africa region, for example, 38% of students had an IELTS of 6, 34% had a score of 6.5 and 28% had a score of 7.

Eighty one percent in the Americas had a score of 6.5 while only 49% of students in the EHEA had the same score. Just over half of students in the Chinese region had a score of 6.

“The surge in English-taught programmes outside traditional Anglophone destinations marks a significant shift in global education,” said Edwin van Rest, co-founder and CEO of Studyportals.

“As universities across the globe rapidly adopt English as a medium of instruction this means more symmetrical talent flows as traditional student origin countries also become compelling study destinations.

“This expansion provides students with more competitive and affordable opportunities, while also intensifying competition for established institutions, particularly in the light of stricter entry requirements and visa uncertainties” in the Big Four, said Van Rest.