For many universities around the world, internationalization means the recruitment of fee-paying international students (so-called “export education”) for primarily commercial reasons. For many UK and Australian universities, the market leaders in export education, international students account for over 25% of their annual revenues, making them highly dependent on international student recruitment. This presentation sets out an attempt by one UK university, Nottingham Trent University, to change direction and develop a new approach to internationalization which puts an international learning experience for all students at the heart of its new strategic plan. It discusses the obstacles to changing direction in this way and shares some of the lessons learned about how and how not to roll out a radically new university-wide internationalization strategy.

1. Beyond “export education”: putting
students at the heart of a university’s
internationalization strategy
Professor Nigel Healey
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International)
Nottingham Trent University
12 May 2016

2. Overview
• What is “export education”?
• Competing motives for export education
• Getting back to basics
• Redefining the place of export education in a university’s
internationalization strategy
• Reflections on trying to put students at the heart of
internationalization: five lessons from five years
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3. What is “export education”?
• Exported goods must be shipped to the consumer’s country
• Exported services can be:
– Delivered in-country by shipping the service: eg, movies, music
– Delivered in-country by providing the service: eg, banks, hotels, airlines
– Or consumed abroad by the consumer travelling: eg, tourism
• Educational export services:
– In-country shipping: distance-learning
– In-country delivery: branch campuses
– Consumption abroad: export education
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4. Export education: how many students?
4
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2011 2012
Source: OECD Education at a Glance 2014

5. Export education: where do they study?
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Source: OECD Education at a Glance 2015
United States 19%
United Kingdom 10%
Australia 6%
France 6%
Germany 5%
Russian Federation² 3%
Japan 3%
Canada¹ 3%
China² 2%
Italy² 2%
Austria 2%
Netherlands 2%
Saudi Arabia² 2%
Spain 1%
Korea² 1%
Turkey² 1%
Other OECD countries 10%
Other non-OECD countries
20%

6. Export education: who are the market leaders?
6
Source: OECD Education at a Glance 2015
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
50.0
% of total enrolments

7. Competing motives for export education
• Economic development – Colombo Plan
• Soft power - China
• Talent acquisition – Imperial College (vs Chelsea FC)
• Global positioning – Russia
• Revenue generation – Australia, UK, New Zealand
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8. Getting back to basics: what is the core
mission of a university?
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9. …and where does export education fit in?
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10. Redefining the place of export education in a
university’s internationalization strategy
• Proposition: to succeed in a globalized labour market,
graduates need to comprehend that there are multiple,
equally legitimate ontologies - and navigate between them
• Question: How can universities best prepare their
graduates?
• Answer: Organize their students’ learning experience to
maximize the opportunities for ontological shock
• Export education plays a role - but a changed role - in a
student-centered internationalization strategy
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11. Reflections on trying to put students at the
heart of internationalization
At Nottingham Trent University, we reset the goals of our
internationalization strategy in 2012:
– To prepare (all) our students to become highly employable global
citizens
– To enhance the quality and relevance of our research
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12. NTU will prepare its students to become highly
employable global citizens by:
1. Internationalization of the curriculum
2. International student mobility
3. International student recruitment (export education)
4. International student support and integration
5. Internationalization of the faculty
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Internationalisation

13. Internationalization: how it fits together
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An international
learning experience
= highly employable
global citizens
Globally-
connected
research
Internationalized
curriculum
International
student
recruitment
International
student
mobility
International
student support
and integration
Internationally-
oriented staff

14. Reflections on the journey: Lesson 1
• Some “international” activities do not serve the goal of
internationalization (as redefined)
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15. Reflections on the journey: Lesson 2
• Internationalization means greater international student
diversity, not (necessarily) increased international student
recruitment
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16. Reflections on the journey: Lesson 3
• Humans are naturally tribal: bringing tribes together to reap
the benefits of internationalization requires hard work (and
food)
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17. Reflections on the journey: Lesson 4
• The students that will be most transformed by
internationalization are those most threatened by difference
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18. Reflections on the journey: Lesson 5
• Universities are conservative: embracing internationalization
is uncomfortable
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19. Conclusions
• Although inspired by different motivations, export education has
internationalized universities
• To serve the interests of students, the place of export education in
internationalization needs to be redefined
• Experience at NTU suggests that there are obstacles to
implementing a broad-based internationalization strategy – it is a
bumpy but worthwhile journey
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20. For more information:
• E-mail: nigel.healey@ntu.ac.uk
• Website: http://nottinghamtrent.academia.edu/NigelHealey
• Website includes conference presentations, papers and
resources on the internationalization of higher education
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