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

5.1.8 Inferred academic benefit – internationalisation at home 
The lens through which our primary research investigation took place was exclusively the 
reported perceptions, attitudes and circumstances of alumni. This provided potentially 
unique insights into the benefits and impacts they obtained personally, while other benefits 
for the host or home country could be inferred. 
Almost all the alumni would recommend UK HE study to others and many had actively 
done so, which suggests a future economic benefit to the UK through additional HE 
exports on the basis of the alumni sharing their positive experiences. These will take the 
form of future fee income, which in turn should lead to a greater extent of many of the 
wider benefits described here. However, continued or increased participation of 
international students in UK HE itself brings substantial benefits to the HE institutions too, 
as introduced very briefly earlier as ‘internationalisation at home’. 
The presence of international students within an HE institution, including physically on 
campus, adds to the diversity of the cultural and educational experience of all its students, 
including home students. The alumni’s testimony demonstrated the diverse nationalities 
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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK 
and cultures of their fellow student body, and often within their particular course group, 
from which they felt they gained enormously in terms of intercultural sensitivity. It is only 
logical from this to suggest that UK (and for that matter other EU) students would also gain 
in this way. The issues around any lack of integration between UK and international 
students would also apply in relation to this local benefit. International students are also 
reported to have some effect on their local community, as they may be invited into local 
schools or voluntary groups to demonstrate and explain their own cultures. 
A further benefit for UK HEIs from the presence of international students has been cited as 
their role in achieving critical mass for teaching on some courses, including some which 
may have declined in popularity with home students. In some STEM subjects especially, 
the proportion of international students may be relatively high in some institutions, and 
without the presence of those students the course would become unsustainable, thereby 
reducing the range of courses available to UK students at certain institutions. The make-up 
of some course groups reported by the alumni supported this view. Any such reductions of 
course availability could have potential long-term impact on the UK stock of strategic skills. 
These issues also arise in relation to postgraduate research study.