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4.3.3.2 Implications
Supported and managed well, the highly cosmopolitan nature of student bodies studying
UK taught Masters courses, in particular, can offer a powerful long-term impact to those
international students who embrace it. Many related their personal development towards
‘cosmopolitanism’ – and the ability to engage and interact sensitively with those of other
cultures – to be amongst the most valuable benefits of their UK HE experience. For some
it was the most highly valued aspect. The ability to communicate and work effectively with
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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK
others globally is of high potential value in society and also to many international
employers.
There is of course a second potential benefit inherent in the diverse international student
body, which is the ‘internationalisation at home’ benefit mentioned as context in Chapter 2.
The presence of international students adds to the cultural diversity of UK HE, which can
enhance the experience for home and international students, the institution itself and HE
as a whole. This benefit can be inferred from the evidence of the alumni, although not
uniformly as we have seen, but was not a focus for our primary research as it is relatively
well understood and interviews with alumni are not the best route to investigate it.
There can also be a potential flipside to the influx of international students, particularly
where there are negative societal attitudes to international students and their presence in
large numbers in towns and cities. In Australia there have been cases of violence against
international students, and in some countries there are concerns that international
students could engage in terrorist activities, so they are sometimes closely monitored.
However, course cohorts are not always healthily diverse and a highly international (or
even single-country dominated) composition of course participants can have negative
implications for integration with home students and the overall student experience (ECU,
2012). This can be the case with some 1-year Masters programmes where many students
are international, due partly to UK students’ preference for part-time (2 year) programmes
instead. However, most UK universities now attempt to mix nationalities in campus
accommodation and provide opportunities for social and academic interactions between
both host country students and international students. Some institutions are more
successful at achieving integration than others, and it should be remembered that the
alumni recollections presented here relate to campus life 5-7 years ago; many institutions
may well have improved their support for integration since that time.
There appears little evidence in the literature for the impact of cosmopolitanism and
graduates’ employability in an increasingly globalised employment market, perhaps
surprisingly. What evidence there is suggests that mobile students are somewhat more
likely to be employed abroad and in internationally-orientated jobs (Bracht et al., 2006).
Some student bodies in UK HE are probably uniquely cosmopolitan – although further
research is needed to demonstrate statistically that this is the case – and this may be a
unique selling point for the UK on the basis of the impact described here. However, the
UK’s very success in attracting so many international students requires careful
management so that these intercultural benefits are gained but not at the expense of other
impacts. Not only will international students have a lesser experience if they do not also
interact with UK students, but if they leave the UK with networks of solely overseas
contacts then the potential gain to the UK is also markedly reduced.
Many interviewees stressed the closeness of their friendships with other non-UK nationals
as a key positive element in their living and learning experience, probably more than those
who commented on particularly warm UK friendships, which may indicate the balance of
this tension when they were students. Almost all, however, spoke warmly of the UK culture
both within their institution and in wider society. The opportunity created by the UK
institution to come together in friendship with other non-UK nationalities was seen as a
positive factor, reflecting Storti’s (1989)
‘The Art of Crossing Cultures’:
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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK
“The overseas experience profoundly transforms all who undergo it, whether they
interact successfully with the local culture or not. Such is the impact of the experience
on so many levels – physical, intellectual, emotional – there is no possibility of a
moderate, much less a neutral, reaction. You either open yourself up to the
experience and are greatly enriched by it, or you turn away – and are greatly
diminished”
It is perhaps also noteworthy that ‘limited’ interaction with UK students tended to be
reported somewhat more by Chinese and SE Asian alumni than others, which could also
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