|
6.8 Other student mobility and internationalisation at home
The parameters of this study allowed deep investigation of the views and experiences of
non-EU international alumni who had studied in the UK, from which we have described a
range of benefits to the UK and to the alumni, who overwhelmingly hold positive views of
the UK and its higher education experience. However, this particular lens of focus limited
or prevented investigation of certain other potential benefits and, especially, the potential
benefits from other forms of international education or student mobility.
We were able to infer benefits to UK HE of the participation of international students who
bring cultural richness and diversity to the HE community, as well as supporting the
provision of some courses or research that could be unsustainable without international
student participants. The experience of home students here will also be ‘internationalised’
to some degree by the presence of overseas students; through this the benefits of
cosmopolitanism and intercultural sensitivity reported by international alumni will also
extend to some degree to UK students on the same courses and campus.
Our study only investigated graduates who had spent at least an academic year physically
studying in the UK. It was agreed at the outset, largely for the purposes of simplicity, that
other forms of student mobility, transnational education and distance learning, would all be
excluded, such as:
Those undertaking transnational education (TNE), i.e. obtaining a UK HE degree but
with no physical attendance, or very little, in the UK. Since 2010 the number of
students studying for a UK degree outside the UK has been greater than the number of
international HE students in the UK,
6
so this would be an interesting and very
significant sector to explore. What strength of feeling do TNE alumni experience
towards the UK, or to an HE institution that they have never physically visited, or via an
overseas campus where there may be few UK students? New research, as yet
unpublished, suggests economic benefits for participants and host countries
7
, but that
there is little data with which to assess comparative impact.
Students undertaking UK distance learning programmes, potentially a sector of
increasing importance as massive open online course provision (MOOCs) becomes
more viable, again raises questions of the extent to which wider positive benefits might
develop and be retained;
Students taking part in international exchange activities as part of their HE study
programme, which can be of short duration but for some take the form of an
intercalated year, which could offer significant development of UK experiences and
potential long term benefits;
6
Information from HEGlobal:
http://heglobal.international.ac.uk/tne.aspx
7
Preliminary findings from research project on impact of TNE on host countries, British Council, 2013
97
The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK
The approximately 150,000 current EU students enrolled in UK universities, who were
not sampled in this research – logically, it might be expected that these graduates
would provide similar evidence in relation to personal, economic and certain wider
benefits;
The several hundred thousand international students and trainees (totals unknown) in
institutions and practical programmes outside the state HE sector. These could include
professionals such as surgeons, accountants or applied engineers, those in technical
skills training or following programmes in performing arts, and those on English
language courses as well as those enrolled in private sector HE institutions in the UK.
None of these groups were covered in this study yet, again, they comprise another
substantial group of potential 'influencers' on behalf of the UK.
Finally there is scope separately to consider the wider benefits of outward mobility of UK
students, both as impact to the UK (which presumably might to some extent parallel the
benefits we ascribed to ‘home’ countries) and to the graduates themselves. With a new
outward mobility strategy in the UK, this aspect of student mobility must become a growing
issue for UK HE in future. It should be informed by the experiences of international alumni
of the UK, and/or potentially delivered with some linkage to those international alumni.
98
The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
