The IU is going to work closely with the British Council to build on the success of the Education UK brand under PMI 1 and 2, but we need the government to help by investing some serious cash in marketing the UK internationally. Universities all do this on their own account, but since PMI 1 and 2 we haven’t had a sustained, co-ordinated national marketing campaign of the type which Australia, Germany, the US and Canada operate. GREAT is great – but as far as I can see it is not quite doing that job.

“We need the government to help by investing some serious cash in marketing the UK internationally”

The PIE: Tell me about the recent MoU in Peru?

VS: We have just signed an agreement with the government of Peru to administer a scheme to bring postgraduate students from modest financial backgrounds to study in the UK. We hope to welcome the first students in September, if the details are finalised in time. The aspiration is to bring up to 200 students a year to the UK through this scheme – but we have our work cut out to promote the opportunity to Peruvian students because the UK is not yet a favoured destination in Peru. We’re hoping that the scheme will raise our profile there – which is important because I believe the UK needs to diversify in terms of recruitment of international students.

The PIE: Can we expect to see more MoUs in the future and if so, which countries are high on the list for collaboration?

VS: Yes. We see a real appetite, particularly for postgraduate schemes. We’re providing a new service to make it easier for postgraduate scholars in 15 countries to find their way through the UK system as part of our role in the delivery of the Newton Fund.

The aim is purely and simply to increase the number of excellent postgraduate students who choose to study in the UK. I think it is something that the International Unit is uniquely well placed to do, with the support and involvement of UK universities themselves so it fits very well with my idea that we should make a clear and distinct contribution in the jigsaw of bodies I mentioned. We’re focusing particularly on Newton-funded countries because it makes sense to concentrate our limited resources on countries which are high on everyone’s priority list. The challenge is not to spread ourselves too thinly.