Bis research paper number 128 The wider benefits of international higher education in the uk

Recommendations 
A series of recommendations are made to Government, HE institutions and stakeholders, 
including: 

Clear and positive promotion of the opportunities allowable for post-study employment, 
and work experiences during HE study, would help to alleviate growing perceptions 
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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK 
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that UK international HE provision may be less attractive due to recent changes in visa 
regulations or processes. 

UK HE’s sheer cosmopolitanism can result in sub-optimal integration of international 
and home students. HE institutions should continue to review and continue to improve 
their support for international students so as to strike the right balance and optimise 
integration.

As wider experiences off-campus deliver many benefits to international students, HE 
providers should support and promote these further to students to maximise their 
overall experience, and in turn foster their own positive reputations. 

Digital social network media are dominating communications between alumni 
worldwide, and may provide new opportunities for alumni offices to support their 
graduates in appropriate ways. Consideration of a ‘national’ network for alumni of UK 
HE could be worthwhile to enhance and reinforce positive reflections and memories. 

There is a growing ‘army’ of alumni as informal ambassadors for ‘brand UK’ and UK HE 
in particular, potentially increasing by hundreds of thousands annually, whose influence 
will increase in their home countries with time. HE providers and the wider HE sector 
should consider how this goodwill can best be utilised for optimal benefit, within the 
constraints of effective soft power.

While there is a growing evidence base on international HE impact, future research 
tracking alumni further into their careers would be valuable to understand whether their 
positivity sustains and to what extent there is realisation of some anticipated longer-
term impacts. 

As this study was restricted to the ‘traditional’ model of incoming international student 
mobility, extension to include the wider benefits of other models of international HE 
would provide a more complete picture. This would need to include transnational 
education (TNE) and other models; what is the impact when the student does not 
physically visit the UK? 

Given the unequivocal benefits perceived here from international student mobility, it 
could be useful to consider the extent and range of impacts on the UK of a strategy to 
increase UK student outward mobility, potentially to provide measures of the value of 
implementation of that strategy.
“It changes everything” 
Nigerian alumnus I80, Development Studies, Reading University 

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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK