Speakers welcomed the UK’s planned extension of post-study work rights, expected to be launched in the summer of 2021, and celebrated the 11% increase in sponsored student visa applications in the higher education sector in 2019.

“Much of our future growth strategy is… based on attracting international students through virtual courses”

According to government statistics, there were 201,919 sponsored HE applications in the year ending June 2019.

Philip Hao, CEO of Learning without Borders, stated the importance of work possibilities for students – particularly coming from China.

They must be offered “the whole package,” he said, which, along with gaining a highly regarded UK degree, means students must be given opportunities for valuable work experience – best reached through internships.

“To have the basic workplace skills, one internship experience has to be the basic configuration for international students,” he said.

The MyOffer platform is currently working on an international internship search engine, Hao explained.

“I call it the ‘two legs’ – in order to walk faster you need two strong legs. We suggest that our students not only do a UK degree but also try to obtain an internship.

“MyOffer is building the other leg.”

The platform has also recently established a joint venture with the largest cross-accrediting online learning portal in China to provide a variety of transnational education programs.

Likewise, Queen Mary University of London considers TNE an important part of its future growth strategy, its chair of council, Lord Clement-Jones, explained.

“Much of our future growth strategy is now based on expansion, not so much on our home campuses, but on attracting international students through virtual courses and by joint programs overseas.”

Around 4,500 of the university’s 26,000 students are studying on joint programs delivered in collaboration with universities in China, Clement-Jones said.

“In delivering these TNE programs our ethos is inclusivity and celebrating diversity and it guides the way we establish these partnerships,” he added.

“We aim to break down barriers to education by teaching in-country, reducing costs, and delivering teaching in more flexible models, always whilst maintaining rigorous quality standards and attention to the student experience.”

Careers consultant at the University of Bristol, Sarah Cooper, called for the introduction of an external benchmark on international graduate outcomes to “ensure that all universities properly invest and resource in the employability and wider support that our students need”.

Those charged with recruiting international students to UK campuses must keep this top of mind as they carry out their work, Cooper said.

“How is the careers service resourced to meet the particular needs that students have? How are wellbeing services resourced? Do you have counsellors that speak the native languages of these students? How are we ensuring that the students that we are bringing do have a really rich and positive experience here?”

Cooper also called for more student voice in discussions about provisions.

“[It] is so important for university leaders to hear what students are valuing about their experience, and in terms of employability, what provision is meeting their needs but also about what is lacking,” she added.