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

4.3.2.2 Implications 
The extent to which greater proficiency in English was related as a motivation and benefit 
of studying in the UK, understandably, varied strongly with the country of origin. It was 
most consistently reported by alumni from South America, China and SE Asia. The alumni 
whose English was least developed were mostly, but not exclusively, from China, but 
those who had tended to have spent relatively little time in the UK other than was strictly 
necessary for their course, and had ‘narrower’ experiences while in the UK.
In a world of increasing mobility and global employability, the facility to communicate 
fluently in a major world language is a considerable advantage. The extent of that benefit 
in relation to the English language has been evidenced both by the success of the English-
speaking HE host countries in recruiting students to their English medium programmes, 
and by the clear motivation of ‘competitor’ countries to teach certain courses at tertiary 
level in English (many EU countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the 
Netherlands and selected courses in Asian countries such as China, Japan and South 
Korea). 
The return to home countries of a large flow of high-achieving alumni, who potentially 
enjoy enhanced career trajectories as well as influence in their home societies, assisted by 
global professional networks of English-speaking contacts they have made, can only add 
further cement to the role of English as the language of business.
Case study: I23 
Chilean alumnus I23 and his wife both came to study at Birmingham University, in his 
case a Masters in construction management, with a loan from Chile. They chose the UK 
over the US on the basis of its European location and their expectation of a more 
international outlook. As a married couple they did not join student societies but he 
played recreational football; they also travelled extensively in the UK and Europe. 
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The Wider Benefits of International Higher Education in the UK