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

Wider economic benefits 
For host countries, beyond the direct, short-term financial benefits of inward mobility, there 
is also a range of indirect economic impacts of international student mobility. These 
impacts are less straightforward and may be less tangible, but potentially accrue over a 
longer period of time and can reach beyond the host country. Such benefits include:

impact on economic development via skilled migration and skills development for 
specific sectors of the labour market (e.g. STEM); 

increasing the pool of employable graduates for the global knowledge economy;

development of national and global research and development capacity;

establishment of trade and R&D networks between countries and regions (e.g. via 
alumni links); 

meeting local skills and employment needs.
Such impacts may not always be positive for host countries, particularly if there are 
perceptions that international graduates and students are taking local jobs for lower 
salaries, or if there are concerns that national universities are educating graduates for 
competitor countries (as has been reported in some Scandinavian countries, Woodfield, 
2009).
For the source country (i.e. from which the student comes) there are often concerns about 
skills or brain ‘drain’ despite recent evidence which suggests an increasing trend towards 
brain circulation (or a brain ‘train’) where students often return home or live and work in a 
9 

---

The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK 
country different to their place of study, and may become serial travellers over longer 
periods of their career.
For the students themselves, the economic or financial benefits of student mobility are 
largely focused on their employability as graduates. In many cases studying internationally 
for a foreign qualification offers opportunities for labour market advantage (Brooks et al, 
2011), for example in terms of the acquisition of knowledge, personal or ‘soft skills’ 
development, enhanced language proficiency and increased levels of inter-cultural 
understanding. International experience can also provide alumni with significant additional 
credibility when they seek graduate level employment either in their home country or 
elsewhere – an international qualification is often perceived as a unique selling point in a 
crowded local employment market, when compared with a local degree (Sweeney, 2012).
Such future employability capital is particularly important for those students not supported 
via scholarships or grants. For these, a potential return on their investment in overseas 
study is a crucial aspect of their decision-making process when choosing whether, and 
where, to study internationally. If they are not able to earn enough to repay their creditors 
quickly after graduation (or if they are under- or unemployed) then overseas study may not 
appear to be a worthwhile investment. Students’ employment experiences post-study, 
shared via word of mouth and social networks, can have knock-on effects for future 
mobility flows, and can influence future students to select other host countries and/or 
institutions where they perceive they will obtain greater labour market advantage.
There is also limited evidence to the contrary, in that some countries have a tight-knit 
employment system, where networking at a local university may be important. This is 
believed to have been the case at one point in Japan, and may remain to some extent in 
certain other countries.