• Patterns of mobility • Recent trends to 3 major host countries • Global Gauge of HE policy

1. International student
mobility trends:
Can national policies support
(or obstruct) mobility?
www.britishcouncil.org/education/IHE

2. OUTLINE
• Patterns of mobility
• Recent trends to 3 major host countries
• Global Gauge of HE policy
www.britishcouncil.org 1

3. Inbound and Outbound flows of students (absolute): 1999
British Council analysis of data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, extracted 30 June 2017
Students flowing IN
Students flowing
OUT

4. Inbound and Outbound flows of students (absolute): 1999
British Council analysis of data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, extracted 30 June 2017

5. Inbound and Outbound flows of students (absolute): 2003
British Council analysis of data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, extracted 30 June 2017

6. Inbound and Outbound flows of students (absolute): 2009
British Council analysis of data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, extracted 30 June 2017

7. Inbound and Outbound flows of students (absolute): 2015
British Council analysis of data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, extracted 30 June 2017

8. • More countries becoming major hosts of
international students
•Students faced with more choice
•Will choose the best ‘package’ on offer
• 2005 – 9 countries hosted >50,000
• 2015 – 20 countries hosted >50,000
• Greater intra-regional mobility
www.britishcouncil.org 7

9. INBOUND & OUTBOUND STUDENT FLOWS (RELATIVE)
www.britishcouncil.org 8
NetSENDERSofstudents
Net
HOSTSof
students

10. INBOUND & OUTBOUND STUDENT FLOWS (RELATIVE)
www.britishcouncil.org 9
NetSENDERSofstudents
Net
HOSTSof
students

11. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT GROWTH
www.britishcouncil.org 10
Source: British Council analysis of data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2017), HESA Student record (2017), IIE
Open Doors (2017)
(281K to 438K)
(543K to 896K)
(188K to 294K)

12. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT GROWTH
www.britishcouncil.org 11
Source: British Council analysis of data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2017), HESA Student record (2017).
(281K to 438K)
(Growth to 60K)
(Growth to 3K)
(Growth to 123K)

13. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT GROWTH
www.britishcouncil.org 12
Source: British Council analysis of data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2017), HESA Student record (2017).
(281K to 438K) (Growth to 60K)
(Growth to 32K)
(Growth to 123K)

14. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT GROWTH
www.britishcouncil.org 13
Source: British Council analysis of data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2017), HESA Student record (2017).
2% growth
(Growth to 32K)
(Growth to 73K)
(>50K additional students
In 5 years)

15. THE CHANGING SHAPE OF MOBILITY
•UK remains the 2nd most popular
destination for international students….
•…but many ‘sending’ countries are
becoming significant ‘hosts’ of mobile
students
www.britishcouncil.org 14

16. Timeline of higher education policies
and student mobility to England 1981 – 2016
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
Introduction
of fees for
international
students
Home students' numbers
controls ("Maximum allowed
student number" policy
(1994 - 2001) and then with
a +-5% tolerance band
(2002 - 2012))
Two Prime Minister’s Initiatives which
aimed at increasing the number of
international students in the UK
(1999 - 2010)
Tightening of
student visas
and post-study
work
Home
students'
cap is fully
abolished
Source: Ilieva, J. (2017), Do political events in a host country affect international education engagement?;
http://aiec.idp.com/aiec2017-past

17. Annual growth in international enrolments
in Australia, the UK and US 2000 – 2016
-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Australia UK US World
Australia
implements
the Knight
review
recommendations
Tighter student visas and
closure of education
providers
in Australia
Tighter
visa rules in the
US following
9/11 events
Education campaigns in
the UK and Australia and
streamlined student visas Start of closures of education
providers in 2010 followed by
tighter student visas in 2012
in the UK.
Source: Ilieva, J. (2017), Do political events in a host country affect international education engagement?;
http://aiec.idp.com/aiec2017-past

18. GLOBAL STUDENT MOBILITY
From 2011/12 to 15/16 Enrolments to UK increased 0.8%.
In the same period global mobility grew 16.6%.
- Global mobility continues…….but the flow can be diverted
to other destinations
Mobile students from India to UK decreased 43% in this
period, but students from India to the rest of the World grew
24%
www.britishcouncil.org/education/IHE 17

19. STUDENT FLOWS AND HE POLICY
www.britishcouncil.org 18
Source: Ilieva, J. (2017), Do political events in a host country affect international education engagement?;
http://aiec.idp.com/aiec2017-past

20. NATIONAL STRATEGIES
www.britishcouncil.org 19
Source: “10 Trends: Transformative changes in higher education”,
British Council Education Intelligence

21. THE SHAPE OF GLOBAL HIGHER
EDUCATION
• More countries now becoming attractive destinations for
mobile students
• TNE/ ‘Programme and provider mobility’ becoming more
prominent in Higher Education
- To what extent do domestic policies facilitate or support
mobility of students, programmes and providers?
www.britishcouncil.org/education/IHE 20

22. COUNTRIES* COVERED
www.britishcouncil.org/education/IHE 21
*This study includes 37 countries plus Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China) . Although the authors
recognise that Hong Kong is not formally a ‘country’, we have used the term ‘country’ to include Hong Kong (SAR).

23. AN INDEX TO BENCHMARK
INTERNATIONALISATION OF HE
www.britishcouncil.org 22

24. SUPPORTING STUDENT MOBILITY
• Student mobility is the area of international HE most
supported by national policies
• Out of 38 countries studied, how many have:
• A National ‘international HE strategy’? (Targets, an outward positive signal)
11 (plus a further 19 have taken some steps)
• Clear, transparent, consistent procedures for obtaining student visas?
22 (but only 18 of these have no restrictions)
• Policies to make it easier to come and live in the country (including PSW)?
7
www.britishcouncil.org/education/IHE 23
Source:
www.britishcouncil.org/education/ihe/knowledge-centre/global-landscape/global-gauge

25. THERE IS A STRONG LINK BETWEEN
STUDENT MOBILITY AND TNE
www.britishcouncil.org/education/IHE 24
Source: “Shape of global higher education (vol. 2)”; Ilieva, J., Peak, M; British Council (2017)
https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/ihe/knowledge-centre/global-landscape/shape-global-higher-education-vol-2

26. SUMMARY
• Mobility is changing
•shorter forms
•more intra-regional,
•relationship with TNE,
•collaborative in nature
• Policy can be influential to global
student flows and to supporting
collaborative HE
www.britishcouncil.org 25

27. SOURCES
Global mobility data: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
UK student data – HESA Student Record; TNE data – HESA Aggregate Offshore
Record
The shape of global higher education:
https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/ihe/knowledge-centre/global-
landscape/shape-global-higher-education-vol-2
Global gauge: interactive higher education policy monitor capturing 38 countries’
policy priorities: www.britishcouncil.org/education/ihe/knowledge-centre/global-
landscape/global-gauge
Ilieva, J. (2017), Do political events in a host country affect international education
engagement?; http://aiec.idp.com/aiec2017-past
Contact: Michael.peak@britishcouncil.org
www.britishcouncil.org 26