International higher education has traditionally involved recruiting wealthy students from the South to the North, charging high fees to cross-subsidise the world’s leading universities. Often perceived as a form of neo-colonialism, export education has come at a heavy environmental cost, with student mobility flows adding to the sector’s global carbon footprint. This presentation considers how international higher education can be reimagined and re-engineered to contribute positively, rather than negatively, to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It highlights the scale of the challenges involved in rethinking the business model of exporting universities in the North and suggests possible solutions aimed at making higher education more accessible, equitable and environmentally sustainable.

1. Reinventing international higher education for
a socially just, sustainable world
Professor Nigel Healey
Vice President Global and Community Engagement
APAIE
15 March 2023

2. Céad míle fáilte

3. Overview
The current business model of international higher education
Why the current business model needs to change
In defence of internationalisation
Reinventing higher education for a socially just, sustainable world

4. The current business model: international higher
education
% international enrolments
% market share of
global market
2010 2014 2019 2019
Australia 21% 18% 28% 8%
Canada n/a 10% 16% 5%
Ireland n/a 7% 11% 0%
New Zealand 14% 19% 21% 1%
United Kingdom 16% 18% 19% 8%
United States 3% 4% 5% 16%
Source: Education at a glance 2021 (OECD)

5. The current business model: the virtuous circle
WUR Institution
% international
enrolments
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 32.8%
2 University of Cambridge 37.7%
3 Stanford University 22.8%
4 University of Oxford 41.1%
5 Harvard University 24.6%
6= California Institute of Technology 30.5%
6= Imperial College London 61.1%
8 University College London 60.9%
9 ETH Zurich 40.3%
10 University of Chicago 27.2%
Source: https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2023

6. The current business model: risks exposed by Covid-19
WUR Institution
Fixed-term/permanent job
losses March 2020-March 2021
% international enrolments
45 UNSW -728 -10.0% 46.8%
57 Monash -628 -7.4% 55.0%
190= RMIT -583 -12.4% 31.3%
137 UTS -489 -12.6% 40.8%
30 ANU -470 -9.8% 35.6%
Source: Department of Education

7. Why the current business model needs to change:
environmental cost (1)
Source:
Accelerating
the
UK
Tertiary
Education
Sector
towards
Net
Zero

8. Why the current business model needs to change:
environmental cost (2)
Student flights (12%) + business travel (3%) = 15% of total
22% of UK universities’ direct carbon emissions (excl. supply chain)
De Jonge Akademie (2020) estimated academic business travel in the
range of 12-27% of direct emissions for NL universities
Return economy class flight PEK-LHR = 2.4t of CO2
Return business class flight PEK-LHR = 9.4t of CO2
Compares with mean pc CO2 emissions of 5.2t in 2021 in UK
Source: https://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx

9. Why the current
business model
needs to
change:
negative impact
on source
countries
• Drain on foreign exchange
• Inflated cost of educating wealthy elites:
“In which moral universe can
you…charge [African students] three
times the fees that you would charge
middle-class students in the UK?”
• Brain drain – exacerbated by the use of
post-study immigration regimes as a tool
of national competitive advantage
• Brain drain is worse the more highly
skilled the graduates: eg, 68%
international students on US doctoral
programmes still working in US five
years after graduation

10. Why the current
business model
needs to change:
neo-colonialism
“UK universities treat Africa’s youth
explosion as just another resource to
be exploited”
Export education perpetuates
structural inequality, reinforcing the
dominance of Northern higher
education
Accreditation bodies and World
University Rankings force institutional
isomorphism in the South on Northern
models and values

11. In defence of internationalisation
• Internationalisation is more than export education
• European Union: Erasmus+ (€26bn 2021-27): 10m mobilities
• Colombo Plan 1951-83
• Global citizenship
• Graduate employability
• Critical thinking: ontological shock
• Role for virtual / blended mobility…
• …but deep ontological shock requires physical mobility and
immersion in another culture

12. Reinventing
higher
education
for
a
socially
just,
sustainable
world
(1)
Maximise the return on the unavoidable carbon
footprint
• Does the outcome of the mobility warrant the
environmental cost?
Approach at the University of Limerick:
• Maximise the ontological shock of mobility per
tonne of CO2 – emphasis on foreign languages
and outbound mobility (40% of undergraduates)
• Proactively build inter-cultural engagement into
the curriculum
• Promote mixing of international and domestic
students – UL Global Lounge
• Diversify the international student body by
country/language and programme
• Strong investment in the promotion of equity,
diversity and inclusion (EDI)

13. Reinventing higher
education for a
socially just,
sustainable world (2)
Make access a global, not a national
objective
• Inclusion typically a national policy objective
but absent from commercial export education
• International scholarships usually merit-based
schemes to signal quality
Approach at the University of Limerick:
• While means-tested scholarships hard to
operationalise, UL is looking at differential
international fees
• University of Sanctuary – full fee waivers and
scholarships for asylum-seekers
• Irish government provides full support for
Ukrainian refugees

14. Reinventing higher education for a socially just,
sustainable world (3)
• Seek parity of esteem / benefit in global partnerships
• Many North-South partnerships amount to academic ‘complete
knock-down’ kits (CKDs)
• Approach at the University of Limerick:
• Seek global justice in partnerships by a) building capacity in
partner countries b) sharing the academic benefits
• Major focus on 1+1 master’s degrees leading to joint capstone
research projects and co-tutelle PhDs
• Use Erasmus+ to build joint teaching programmes with sub-
Saharan Africa

15. ‘Muintir’: Exhibition celebrates diversity in
Limerick’s higher education institutions

16. Go raibh maith agat
(Gur ruh mah a-gut)
For more details:
• nigel.healey@ul.ie
For more information and research on
international higher education:
• https://limerick.academia.edu/NigelHealey