Looking back over the last decade, with the 9/11 attacks, globalisation and the financial crisis all affecting student migration to the US over the last decade, few in international education will be surprised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD’s)’s recent revelation that the country’s share of the international student market dropped between 2000-2009 (despite reports that the market is bouncing back now).
Despite welcoming by far the largest number of international students of any country annually, the US went from educating 23 per cent of the market to 18 per cent over this timeframe; the most significant change in performance of any of the leading exporters of international education in that period. Seen another way, it now caters to roughly a fifth of the market as opposed to a quarter.
Others saw their shares decline but less dramatically so, with Germany falling two percentage points and the UK one per cent. Meanwhile the shares of students who chose Australia and New Zealand grew by almost two per cent in the same period.
The findings are part of the Education at a Glance 2011 report, which compares the education systems of OECD member and non-member countries, and uses data on international students obtained from enrolments in their countries of destination. While the report has already begun to date – Australia has seen a slower performance in the last few years, for example – it does a good job of exposing long-term trends in student migration, most notably the significant realignment the market has undergone in the last decade.
Between 2000 and 2009, the total number of international students ballooned 77 per cent to 3.7 million, driven by global demand for higher education, cheaper transportation costs and the increased internationalisation of universities. This led to a proliferation of study destinations and added competition for leading players such as the US. Different emphases in internationalisation policies, the costs of tuition and the growth of English language education in non-native speaking countries also explains why some countries have performed better than others, according to the report.
The US figures have sparked varied reactions across the sector. Some say the transformed HE landscape is primarily to blame, and that America should not be overly worried. In the period, Russia, Canada, Japan and Spain all established themselves as popular study destinations, while Asian tigers like China and Korea saw sustained growth. “The US continues to host a growing number of globally mobile students – our numbers are not dropping,” says Sharon Witherell, Director of Public Affairs at the Institute of International Education (IIE). “More students are also going to more diverse destinations all over the world. There are a number of factors that influence the “expanding pie” and the trends toward students going to other host countries in addition to, not instead of, going to the United States.”
Dr William Lawton, Director of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, agrees. “There are new currents in geopolitics and HE is not immune. Governments care but it has little to do with how individual universities develop their strategies, other than to take advantage of the fact that there are many more opportunities for international partnerships than before. For individual universities that is a good thing, not a threat,” he says.
It’s not just diversification of destinations, but also of the education on offer that has fuelled competition. Many more countries, such as Norway and Germany, now teach university courses in English, which is seen as essential by international students hoping to enter the global job market. A number of countries have also offered lower fees than the top providers, and sometimes no fees at all in parts of Europe, though this is changing. “Continual price increases on the part of US institutions certainly makes growing the total numbers a challenge,” says Dave Anderson, Senior Director, Recruitment and Partner Support for ELS, one of the largest recruiters of international students for US colleges and universities.
However, according to Lawton, “US education is the most expensive in the world – but that was also the case when US share was not declining. Some nationalities may be more cost-sensitive than others but quality, and perception of quality, is just as important as cost.” That Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Korea all saw robust growth between 2000 and 2009 despite their high fees is further evidence that cost does not preclude growth if education is of a high enough standard.
So what else has prevented the US growing in the way some of its peers have? Some say fault lies with national policy, or a lack thereof. Immigration rules are often singled out, with the 9/11 attacks an obvious turning point. While other countries relaxed their visa laws to aid recruitment, the US ushered in restrictive entry conditions that led to a 28% drop in international graduate applications in 2004 and 5% in 2005, according to the Council of Graduate Schools.
“During this period, US competitors increased their marketing efforts and relaxed their visa regulations to be more competitive. Australia benefited from a national international education plan that had all schools and government agencies working together toward a common goal – increasing international student numbers,” says Bill Colvin, Vice President of International Recruitment and Enrolment Services at MyGlobalEducation, a US-based lead generation site which helps international students find US university programmes.
The OECD report echoes this, contrasting the “pro-active marketing policies” of the Asia-Pacific region, which has treated internationalisation as part of broader trade strategy, with the “local and university-driven approach” pursued by the US, which has not had to rely on internationalisation for revenue thanks to years of strong domestic demand for HE.
Says Anderson: “The USA has never had large, centralised efforts to promote it as a destination for education or travel… There are more of these efforts in the last few years, but they are not as organised, nor are they as large – in relative terms – as what I’ve seen from the UK, Australia and New Zealand.”
Underlining this is the relatively low percentage of international students in US tertiary enrolments – just 3.5% in 2009, 15th highest among OECD countries and laps behind Australia (21.5%) and the UK (15.3%). In addition, just a “handful” of US universities recruit the lion’s share of international students, suggesting a huge amount of potential for growth.
The USA has never had large, centralised efforts to promote it as a destination for education or travel
Colvin blames this on a fragmented approach to internationalisation, with the confusion over the use of education agents – or the ethics regarding commission payments to them, more particularly – a case in point. “In addition, within the government, the Department of Commerce supports the use of agents, but the State Department does not. We have to get on the same page if we are going to regain market share, and that can only be done with a nationally cohesive plan,” he says.
The US does seem to have changed tack in recent years. It has just launched the Study in the States initiative which promises to review current policy in a bid to increase recruitment of the “brightest and best” science students from overseas. In addition, universities are increasingly setting up pathway programmes to boost recruitment, and visa conditions and exchange rates are more favourable than they have been for some time – all of which helped recruitment grow 3% to 690,923 in 2009/10 according to the IIE Open Doors report.
The scope for growth in international recruitment is considerable, and can be best exploited if a more concerted approach to internationalisation continues to be adopted. “The situation has greatly improved…,” claims Anderson, who says ELS as a company has seen record enrolments in three of the last four years. “Overseas the perception of higher education in the USA remains extremely high so if students perceive a good cost-value ratio and there is access via student visas, the USA will continue to be the top destination for international students.”
