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

Group results 
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Collectively the alumni interviewed had extremely positive memories and perceptions of 
their experiences of HE and study period in the UK. Almost all perceived positive impacts 

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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK 
of their HE experience within their career and wider life, 5-10 years after graduation, and 
would recommend a similar experience to others. To counter fears of positive bias within 
the sample (volunteers might dominantly be those with positive stories to tell), individuals 
known from prior information to have less positive and distinct negative views were 
included. The i-GO survey reported that around 95% of non-EU international graduates 
would recommend others to study in the UK and/or at their HE institution, similar to the 
proportion amongst our interviewees, suggesting that our sample was also broadly 
representative of attitudes and not biased towards positive stories. 
Alumni had embarked on a wide variety of career trajectories and most reported good 
progress, although this was still early in career for most. Crucially, they were very satisfied 
with the contribution that studying HE in the UK had made to their career progression, 
either accelerating them in an established career direction or inspiring or enabling them to 
change direction. There was also strong expectation that further impact would ensue.
Interestingly, their attitudes were generally more positive now than they had been 
immediately after graduation. Some alumni who had previously held negative views, due 
to particular personal experiences in the UK, had subsequently come to view these 
differently and now reflected positively overall. 
Wider benefits and impact 
A wide variety of benefits were identified, which we classified at the highest level by 
beneficiary and then by type. Benefits for the UK as host country were sub-divided into 
‘economic’ (excluding the direct financial benefit of fees and expenditure during study) and 
‘influence’ sub-groups. The ‘internationalisation’ benefit on UK HE institutions and the 
student community from the presence of international students was excluded since this 
would have required wider research, but could be inferred. 
Figure A
Depiction of benefit types identified
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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK 
The benefit typology in Figure A arose from the interview information, although there is 
some resonance with previous understanding of broad types of impact, particularly de 
Wit’s rationales for international HE (de Wit, 2002).
Brief descriptions of the 15 benefit types identified follow. The report illustrates each of 
these types using testimony from the alumni including exemplar case studies of individual 
graduates. The boundaries between some types are somewhat subjective and indistinct, 
with considerable overlap.