There is a contradiction there, and one that is hard to understand, except that international student movement is subject to political influence and, as the public mood shifts with respect to immigration levels, governments may feel compelled to adopt more restrictive policies.

But lurking behind that ebb and flow of political tides is another contradiction: most study destinations are motivated to build international enrolment, at least in part, to help address skills gaps and shortages in their domestic labour markets. In other words, most destinations are not only competing for international students; they are engaged in a global competition for talent.

The Danish twist

Denmark offers an example of a destination that recently moved to limit inbound student numbers, and is now quickly walking that decision back.

It was only in 2021 that the Danish government decided to dramatically reduce the number of university places available in English-taught programmes. The thinking at the time was that the move would reduce costs and make higher education more accessible for Danish students.

Under pressure from employers and industry groups, such as the Danish Chamber of Commerce, the government signalled a sharp U-turn on that policy a few months ago with Education Minister Christina Egelund saying in October 2023 that, “We should be grateful when foreign young people want to study in Denmark.”

In early 2023, the government agreed that 1,100 new places could be opened for foreign students in English-medium programmes each year from 2024 through 2028, and a further 2,500 places per year from 2029 onward. Minister Egelund feels there should be more still.

“We are seeing a new era,” she said in an interview with Danish newspaper . “When I sat down to examine the numbers [concerning demographic trends, and shrinking cohorts of young people], it was a wake-up call.”

“We are not ruling out the opening up of the higher education sector [for foreign students] in another way compared to what we are doing today,” the minister added. “We are now at a point where we should be thankful every time a younger person from another place in the world looks towards Denmark. Our need is huge, and the competition for the qualified young and qualified workforce is hard.”

The minister’s comments come on the heels of forecasts indicating that Danish economy may need another 130,000 workers to address shortfalls across a variety of fields and economic sectors. A recent report from indicates that Denmark’s strategy for international education will emphasise domestic labour market needs going forward, and that actual enrolment targets are still a matter of negotiation among political parties and other stakeholders.

For additional background, please see:

• “Demand for study abroad in Australia, Canada, UK already affected by new international education policies“
• “Notable government policy shifts affecting international students going into 2024“

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The study finds that stay rates vary depending on the academic programme in question, and bachelor’s degree graduates are less likely to stay on to work in Denmark than are graduates from master’s programmes. Just over 4 in 10 (42%) of those graduating from English-language master’s programmes , while 50% of those graduating from English-language bachelor’s programmes do the same.

A related report from  cites broader Statistics Denmark data to the effect that, “Some 26% of international students leave Denmark within three months of securing their degree, and 38% [leave] within 21 months.”

Most international students subsidised

These latest findings are troubling to the government because, as a Ministry statement observes, “These students’ education is funded by the Danish taxpayer and about half of them receive [] grants during part, or all, of their studies.” While students from outside the EU/EEA pay from between €6,000 to €16,000 per year for full degree studies, most international students come to Denmark from elsewhere in the European Union. The top ten sending countries to Denmark in 2017 were Germany, Romania, Norway, Sweden, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, and Hungary – leaving China as the only non-EU/EEA country in the top ten.

Subsidising the education of international students is premised on a goal of keeping talented international graduates working in the Danish economy for an extended period after graduation. Indeed, a previous study on the economic impact of international students by the Danish think-tank DEA showed that if Danish employers were to hire enough international graduates, the economic benefit for Denmark would be greater than the cost of educating those students.

However, the most recent government analysis concludes that each foreign higher education student contributes, on average, between DKK 100,000 and DKK 350,000 to the Danish economy (this equates to roughly US$16,000–US$55,000 per student). As the Ministry notes, “There is significant variation because approximately half of international students have left Denmark five years after they begin their studies, and it is [only] after nine years (from beginning their studies) that international students on average have earned back their costs.” The net effect of these post-graduation departures, the Ministry concludes, is that, “Only one out of three international students contribute positively to the public finances in their lifetime. Two out of three are estimated to be an expense for Denmark.”

Reducing student spaces

Denmark’s Minister for Higher Education and Science, Tommy Ahlers, has announced that several measures will be taken in response to this accumulated research regarding the stay rates for foreign graduates. These include:

• Intensifying initiatives to increase retention rates of international graduates.
• Reducing the number of places allotted to international students in programmes where retention rates are low. Six of Denmark’s eight Danish universities will see a total reduction of 1,000 to 1,200 in places allocated to foreign students in master and bachelor of engineering programmes.
• Improving the quality of English-language programmes.
• Working with institutions to ensure that any new programmes are relevant to the needs of the Danish labour market.

The coming reductions in places reserved for international students follow the government’s 2017 decision to eliminate 1,700 places in other selected programmes, a decrease of almost 28% compared to the number of seats available in 2015.

“International students bring a lot to Denmark,” said Minister Ahlers. “They expand the horizons of Danish students and introduce an international aspect to the work being done in Danish companies. It is important that many international students also represent a highly qualified workforce for Denmark. But we cannot solve the educational responsibilities of other countries. Therefore, we must do more to ensure that talented international students stay and work here following graduation, and we must adjust the number of places of programmes where we see many graduates return home.”

Overall enrolment growth

Over the last five years, the total number of international students in Denmark increased by just over 42%, from 23,950 in 2013 to 34,030 in 2017. Ministry figures suggest that much of this growth is from students enrolling in an expanding field English-taught degree programmes in the country.

Denmark is one of the top five countries in Europe in offering English-taught university programmes, and this follows a wider trend of dramatic growth in English-medium degrees across the continent. In 2009 there were virtually no such programmes, while in 2017 there were nearly 3,000 across Europe.

For additional background, please see:

• “Fifty-fold increase in English-taught bachelor’s degrees in Europe”
• “Denmark moving to strengthen international student recruitment”
• “Increasing the “stay rate” of international students”

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“It should be easier for people graduating in the EU to obtain a work permit in the EU,” says the report.

The shape of migration to the EU

While several large Asian markets – among them India, China and the Philippines – drive overall migration to OECD countries, migration to the EU is more diverse, with potential migrants in nearby European and African regions more likely to cite the EU as their desired destination compared to other regions. However, the EU attracts smaller numbers of higher-educated migrants than other OECD destinations.

The EU hosts about 31% of the global pool of higher-eduated migrants distributed across EU and OECD countries, whereas nearly six in ten (57%) are in North America. In fact, the overall pattern is that migrants to the EU tend to be younger and less educated than is the case in non-EU OECD countries. Between 2000 and 2010, the share of all low-educated migrants in OECD countries living in the EU15 rose from 36% to 45%, and in 2014 employment among migrants in the EU15 countries was more than ten percentage points lower than in non-EU OECD countries.

The OECD’s recommendation that the EU reform its work permit policies to retain highly-educated foreign EU graduates therefore represents a plan to reverse this long-term trend. Current migration rules were developed at a time when member-states were in more direct competition. The report’s authors suggest that modern-day factors require a less fragmented approach designed to make the EU more attractive as a whole.

The report notes that variances in policy make for uneven issuance of work permits. As it stands now, Italy, Spain, and the UK issue more than half of all work permits bestowed. Some EU states impose education, occupation, or salary requirements, while others rely upon hard numerical limits. Still others use labour market tests, and some deny entry to less skilled labour migrants entirely while others admit them only for seasonal activities.

This is not to say work permit polices are completely disconnected. The EU developed some common rules with the 1999 Amsterdam Treaty, while the 2009 Lisbon Treaty mandates that certain objectives should be supported and complemented through EU initiatives, and made the European Parliament co-legislator in the area of legal migration. The chart below, from the OECD, gives an idea of the overall alignment of policies in various countries.

Barriers to labour migration in selected EU countries. Source: OECD

The Netherlands, for its part, is out front on the issue of attracting highly skilled migrants. The understanding that the retention of international students bolsters the Dutch economy led to the creation of the Make it in the Netherlands () programme in 2014. Among other areas of focus, MiitN began to promote the learning of Dutch to foreign students, worked toward creating a bridge between study and career, and streamlined bureaucratic procedures.

EU President Jean-Claude Juncker has called for a reset on foreign worker rules as part of a broader agenda of boosting employment rights and setting wage standards, among other goals. Already an EU vote earlier this year harmonised and eased rules for non-EU students, with the goal of attracting not only more students, but also researchers and interns.

The further changes proposed are touted as a way to bring clarity to various grey areas in regulations, and they fall into three broad categories: adapting labour migration channels, simplifying procedures, and promoting the EU labour market.

Proposed Blue Card changes

The EU’s Blue Card programme was designed to attract skilled workers from abroad. However, the programme was not adopted by all member states and has not been widely used.

With an announced on 7 June 2016, the programme is now set for a major restructuring. Less than 14,000 Blue Cards were issued last year, and mostly by Germany. In September 2015, more than three quarters of respondents to a public survey concerning the Blue Card scheme believed more should be done at the EU level to improve the attractiveness of EU member states for highly skilled migrants. The ease of getting a permit was the issue singled out by 63% of respondents. Currently, in order to receive a Blue Card non-EU nationals must earn 1.5 times the average salary of the EU country where they plan to move, and employment contracts must be for at least one year.

Some of the European Commission’s proposed reforms include:

• Faster and more flexible procedures. Applications can be submitted either abroad or in EU territory, and the maximum processing time is brought down from 90 to 60 days.
• Parallel national schemes for similar eligible groups are to be replaced by a single, EU-wide scheme for highly skilled third-country nationals.
• The required minimum duration of initial contracts is brought down from 12 to 6 months to align more with labour market realities and many national schemes.
• The new scheme introduces more facilitation for recent graduates and workers in shortage occupations to increase the retention of foreign talent educated in the EU and facilitate their entry from abroad.
• Member states have the option to introduce fast-track procedures for recognised or trusted employers, with the recognition procedure regulated at the national level.
• Blue Card holders will be able to move to other member states after 12 months of residence in the first member state, compared to 18 months under the existing rules. They would be able to move after six months of residence in second, third, and further member states.
• Professional experience will be recognised as equivalent to possessing higher education credentials.

Certain rules would not change, for example the requirement for Blue Card applicants to prove their highly-skilled status, or to have a job offer or contract in hand before submitting paperwork. Member-states will also still be able to rely upon labour market tests to judge employer needs and create national shortage lists, which would be used to adjust salary thresholds and thus attract the workers each country’s labour markets need most urgently.

According to OECD Director for Employment, Labour, and Social Affairs Stefano Scarpetta, employers in most EU member states already report more difficulty attracting and retaining talent than those in competing non-EU countries. Commenting on the need to draw more highly skilled workers, he said, “Skilled migrants can play an important role in addressing labour market shortages, drive innovation, and promote productivity growth.”

Political obstacles loom

Jean-Claude Juncker is now his EU presidency due to the outcome of Britain’s Brexit vote. It is unclear what effect this would have, if any, on the EU’s recent proposals. Likely none, as support is strong among policymakers for common action in making the EU more attractive for highly qualified migrants. But any reforms will take place in an atmosphere of growing anti-immigrant sentiment among EU citizens.

Strong resistance to EU policy in countries like Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Slovakia are already roiling the political waters. Switzerland staged a referendum on immigration caps in 2014 that passed and is legally binding upon Swiss policymakers, and Romania has its own immigration vote upcoming in the autumn. Various European politicians have criticised the EU’s proposals in the most forceful terms. Gisela Stuart of the UK’s Labour Party told , “The plan appears to be to open our borders ever wider – extending access to the European labour market to yet more war zones.”

The authors of Recruiting Immigrant Workers: Europe acknowledge that the issue of legal migration is tied to that of forced and illegal migration. For example, one proposed Blue Card reform expands the programme to encompass people who previously arrived in Europe illegally and are seeking asylum. But the report also points out that legal migration, such as by foreign students seeking university degrees, constitutes the bulk of movement to the EU.

The EU estimates Blue Card reforms will net the single market €1.4 billion to €6.2 billion each year (US$1.6–US$7 billion), derived from retaining or attracting 32,000 to 137,000 additional high-skilled workers. Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs, and Citizenship, said, “If we want to manage migration in the long-term, we have to start making those investments now, in the interest of us all. The revised EU Blue Card scheme will make it easier and more attractive for highly skilled third-country nationals to come and work in the EU and strengthen our economic growth.”

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Our focus today is on its findings with respect to international mobility. Drawing largely on data through the 2012/13 academic year, Education at a Glance 2015 reaffirms many of the key characteristics of international mobility that we have come to understand over the past decade.

Ongoing rise in international student mobility

The number of foreign tertiary students enrolled worldwide increased by 50% between 2005 and 2012. As many as 4.5 million students were enrolled outside of their home countries in 2012 and the total number is estimated to have surpassed five million by this year.

The report notes, “Student mobility has increased dramatically over the recent past, due to a range of factors. The exploding demand for tertiary education worldwide and the perceived value of studying at prestigious post-secondary institutions abroad contribute to an increasing and diversified flow of international students, ranging from those who cannot find a place to study in post-secondary education at home to students of high academic achievement studying at high-quality programmes and institutions. In addition, the educational value associated with a diverse student body, the substantial revenues that can be earned by expanding education for international students, and economic and political considerations prompted some governments and institutions to make major efforts to attract students from outside their national borders.”

Asia is the engine of growth in global student mobility

It was the region of origin for 53% of all international students in 2012/13, and China and India remain the world’s first and second-largest source markets. “Asia is dominating,” said Andreas Schleicher, Director of the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills.

“That is where you can see the hunger for learning. Parents want their children to get a better education and they still quite often choose countries in the Western world, in OECD countries, to obtain those qualifications.

It may change in the future but at the moment that is still by a large margin the most dominant source of international students, followed by Europe, and with a large gap by Africa.”

Distribution of international students in tertiary education by region of origin, 2013. Source: OECD

Shifting market share

The US remains the leading study destination but, while absolute numbers of foreign students in America continue to increase, its market share has fallen. “That share is declining in the United States,” adds Mr Schleicher. “The market is dividing up quite differently with countries like Japan [and some European countries] getting a larger share.”

More broadly, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom together receive more than 50% of all international students worldwide and OECD countries attract 73% of all students enrolled abroad.

Also of note: the number of international students enrolled in tertiary education in OECD countries was, on average, three times the number of students from OECD countries studying abroad.

Level of study variations for international students

Education at a Glance 2015 has some thought-provoking new observations as well. In particular, it highlights the growing importance of post-graduate programmes and the higher proportions of international student enrolment at advanced levels of study.

“The proportion of international students among total higher education enrolments tends to be much larger at the most advanced levels of tertiary education,” notes the report. “On average across OECD countries, 24% of students enrolled in doctoral or equivalent programmes are international students against an average of 9% in all levels of tertiary education.”

The OECD speculates that the following factors may be contributing to greater proportions of internationally mobile students in advanced studies:

• Particularly severe capacity constraints – that is, very limited opportunities for post-graduate or doctoral studies – in the students’ countries of origin;
• The benefits of study abroad, in terms of career opportunities and earning potential, are that much greater at advanced levels of study;
• Doctoral (or comparable level) students may simply be more likely to travel and live abroad, in part because they would be attractive to their host countries for their research contributions during their studies and/or as highly qualified immigrants.

The following chart makes the point quite vividly that while foreign students may represent a relatively small proportion of total undergraduate enrolment in a major destination like the US, their participation rates are much higher at the master’s and doctoral levels.

International student enrolment as a percentage of total tertiary enrolment in OECD countries, by level of study, 2013. Source: OECD

Hit the brakes?

The report also gives passing attention to a possibility that has begun to play on the minds of international educators in recent years: can the market keep growing as quickly as it has? More to the point, what happens if growth slows significantly?

There are a variety of inter-related demand factors that influence demand patterns for study abroad, including domestic capacity, economics, demographics, labour market requirements, and immigration policies. And on the question of future trends, OECD says only, “In the current economic climate, shrinking support for scholarships and grants, as well as tighter budgets for individuals, may slow the pace of student mobility.”

The report does go on, however, to explore the different elements that drive student decision-making around study abroad and it distills these down to the following decision factors:

• Language of instruction. Languages that are widely spoken and read are attractive and the “progressive adoption of English as a global language” remains a major factor in the prominence of English-speaking destinations. This underlying demand driver has also played an important part in the expansion of English-taught programmes in non-English-speaking destinations, including those in Europe.
• Quality of programmes. Study destination attractiveness correlates strongly to perceptions of quality, as derived from international university rankings but also from a wide range of other indicators of quality for individual institutions and programmes.
• Costs of study. Both tuition and costs of living factor here, and all are filtered through the lens of prevailing currency exchange rates. OECD notes cost as an important consideration but observes as well that higher tuition fees do not necessarily discourage prospective students so long as the quality of education is perceived to be high.
• Immigration policy. There is no question that the destination country’s policies around student immigration are one of the most important determinants of attractiveness for foreign students. This pertains to the ease (and timeliness) with which a student visa can be obtained but also to opportunities for the student to work during or after his or her studies. The prospects for immigration after graduation may also be an important factor for students and host countries alike.

The global classroom

Overall, the OECD’s findings for 2015 reflect a global marketplace for education that continues to expand, but that is also increasingly complex.

“Tertiary education is becoming more international through a number of means,” notes the report. “For example distance education, international education-related internships and training experiences, crossborder delivery of academic programmes, and offshore satellite campuses.”

The global education market is also characterised of late by more varied patterns of mobility. China, for example, remains the world’s leading source of mobile students but is now also an important study destination in its own right. The same is true for Malaysia and a number of other regional destinations around the globe.

Growth rates and other high-level market trends will continue to hold our attention in 2016. But this expanding range of shifting market conditions will also challenge and engage international educators in the years ahead.

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It sets out that “Danish higher education institutions wish to improve and strengthen international cooperation and promote Denmark as an attractive high-quality place of education for international students,” and establishes that Danish institutions must “provide proper, relevant and adequate information on their educational programmes, including on the quality of programmes, their placement in the Danish educational system, services offered to international students, possible tuition fees and living costs.” Institutions are also obliged to provide information on the language of instruction, language requirements and any other admission requirements.

Denmark’s Minister for Higher Education and Science Esben Lunde Larsen explained:

“The education systems of different countries can be difficult to understand. These new common guidelines will encourage students to choose Denmark by providing them with an overview of Danish educational institutions and the quality of the programmes.”

The previous Code of Conduct affecting Denmark’s higher education sector was published in 2010, but it was adopted by only eight universities, and it did not apply to the university-college sector. The new code will cover all higher education institutions.

The code includes guidelines for how educators are to conduct themselves with prospective students, those who apply but fail to gain admission, and admitted students. For example, educational institutions are required to:

• Make selection criteria explicit and easily accessible to prospective students;
• Send out written rejection letters to those who are not admitted, including information on how students can file complaints.

The new code also encourages higher education institutions to help internationals integrate into local environments “academically as well as socially,” recommending that foreign students be placed in student groups with “a different background,” as well as with a “substantial proportion of Danish students.”

Students and agents also addressed

Education institutions are the Code of Conduct’s main focus, but the document also outlines student responsibilities. In a section entitled “Conditions for Staying in Denmark” the code discusses circumstances that might result in the revocation of a residence permit, such as violations of Danish student labour regulations. Schools are required to inform the Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment if a student stops participating in his or her study programme without proper justification.

Lastly, the code addresses agent responsibilities, as well as how educators must conduct themselves when they partner with agents. For example, schools must ensure that agents adhere to the code of conduct, and that agent remuneration is transparent. Danish institutions are also responsible under the code for monitoring both agent experience and student satisfaction with agents.

Stepping up recruitment

The code of conduct coincides with a push by Danish schools to increase their recruitment activity. International students have a significant positive impact on the Danish economy. A recent study by the Danish think-tank DEA shows that in the 12 years leading up to 2008, international students contributed approximately even after deducting educational costs from total student spending.

The same study found that if Danish employers were to hire enough international students after the students have graduated from Danish education institutions, the economic benefit (including significant job creation) would be greater than the cost of educating those students.

Denmark charges fees to foreign students from outside the EU and European Economic Area. Introduced in 2006, these range from between €6,000 to €16,000 per year for full degree students. Inbound mobility initially dropped, but in the last few years the number of foreign students in Denmark has doubled. Much of the influx is from Europe’s southern perimeter – Spain, Greece, and Italy are all sending twice as many students as they were in 2011.

Chinese numbers are up as well. China is by far the non-EU/EEA country with the most students in Denmark, making it a top ten sender. Mobility from the United States is also on the rise, having doubled in recent years, according to the International Institute of Education (IIE). Other non-EU/EEA countries with a strong student presence in Denmark include Nepal, India, Russia, and Iran.

With these facts in hand, government officials have proposed various measures for attracting and retaining more international students from outside Europe. These include a 32% tax cap on the earnings of foreign workers, job search help, fast-track arrangements for companies that hire foreigners, and streamlined immigration, banking, and health service procedures for international students.

Budget cuts on the way

However, these plans stand in contrast to recently announced cuts to Danish education spending. Over the next four years, the sector faces 2% reductions each year totalling US$1.2 billion.

Because the government had not addressed the subject during the June election, the cuts came as a surprise to educators. The University of Copenhagen’s Prorector for Education Lykke Friis called the new government’s announcement “a blow to the solar plexus.”

Student union head Yasmin Davali told Denmark’s University Post, “Right now our education programmes are so under-financed that we may no longer be able to define them as quality education programmes.”

It remains to be seen which areas will be most affected by the cuts because the government has directed rectors to “find the savings in the different institutions.”

Education Minister Larsen, speaking to a group gathered at the University of Copenhagen for an event called The Day of Education, apologised for the cuts, but added that educators themselves were responsible for the quality of education students receive. He said:

“In my opinion the quality of education does not improve whether you have class eight times or 28 times. If students feel they are not getting enough classes or feedback, then they have a responsibility to find ways to do something extra.”

The tighter budget comes on the heels of other recent reforms to the higher education sector, such as a push to make students graduate more quickly, and the introduction of quotas designed to limit student enrolment in fields considered to offer low employment prospects.

The government also plans to trim the national research budget by more than US$200 million a year, with the Danish Council for Independent Research slated to lose 30% of its funding, and the Innovation Fund Denmark set to lose 41%. Many business leaders expressed the same surprise as education leaders, with Danish Chamber of Commerce director Jens Klarskov calling the cuts “a step in the wrong direction.”

The current government embraces a free market, and with , international educators planning to work or partner in the country will want to be on the lookout for further budgetary reforms. But it should also be noted that the current administration came out of the last election with only 19.5% of the vote, making for the weakest governing mandate since 1973. As such, any further changes to the education sector may not come easily.

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These are some of the key findings of a recent report from the European University Association (EUA). Trends 2015: Learning and Teaching in European Universities is the latest in a series of survey reports from the EUA, and the first since 2010.

It gathers responses from 451 institutions representing 46 countries and with a combined student body of roughly 10 million. This, notes the report, represents “more than half of the 17 million students studying at EUA member institutions, or about a quarter of the student body enrolled in the institutions of the European Higher Education Area. However, this percentage rises to 38% of the student population if Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation are excluded from the sample due to their low response rates (the institutions that responded represented about 10% of the students in each of these countries).”

Student numbers on the up

Trends 2015 highlights the European Union’s commitment to educate at least 40% of 30-34 year-olds at degree level by 2020 – alongside an earlier research finding that 12 EU members had reached that level of higher education participation as of 2012 (relative to an EU average of 36% by that year). “Many countries in Europe,” the report adds, “have been interested in broadening participation and access to higher education.”

Perhaps it is therefore not surprising that 62% of survey respondents reported an increase in enrolment over the past five years with 42% reporting growth of more than 10% since 2010. In contrast, only 19% reported a decrease in student numbers with 9% indicating a decline of 10% or more.

“The largest enrolment gains are found in Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey; smaller but still significant growth is expected in Austria, France, Germany, the Russian Federation and Ukraine,” adds the report. “The largest decreases are found in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Slovakia.”

This summary reflects a broader pattern of migration fueled in part by the prolonged economic crisis in Europe. The percentage of Europeans residing in another member state has been steadily increasing since 2010, resulting in two particularly notable flows of migrants from the south to the north, and, to an even greater extent, from the east to the west.

This reflects that economies in southern and eastern Europe have been more profoundly affected by the downturn, and this is indicated in the survey responses as well in that institutions in both regions reported greater impacts of economics and demographics on their current and future enrolment prospects.

“The weak economic outlook has been accompanied by an increase in youth unemployment in many parts of Europe,” adds Trends 2015. “It peaked at 50% in Spain and 60% in Greece in 2014 and was estimated to have reached five million across the European Union in August 2014.

This has prompted many governments, the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD) to emphasise the need for closer links between universities and industry, to stress innovation policies and graduate employability.”

It has also, it would appear, contributed to an increasing demand for professional qualifications among European students. Nearly four in ten survey respondents (38%) reported increased demand over the last five years for studies leading to a professional degree in fields such as business, engineering, or law.

Internationalising the student body

Nearly all respondents indicated they have an internationalisation strategy in place: 50% have a specialised international strategy already, 8% intend to develop one, and 35% have incorporated internationalisation as an element of a broader institutional strategy.

Not surprisingly, most European universities cite the EU as the primary geographic target of their international activities, including exchange programmes, international recruitment, joint programmes, and other cross-border links. After the EU, Asia and the Americas are the next most-reported geographic targets.

The following chart provides a little more nuance for the earlier finding of increased enrolment for a majority of responding institutions. It highlights that 69% of European universities reported an increase in non-EU enrolment since 2010. Riding along with this, 64% also indicated an increase in enrolment by EU students. “The growth of international students, both EU and non-EU, is the most frequent change that has occurred,” adds the report, “notably in Austria, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey.”

The changing composition of the student body of European universities, 2010 to 2015. Source: European University Association

When asked what they felt most contributed to any increase in enrolment since 2010, respondents cited “stronger emphasis on widening access and participation” (41%), “international recruitment” (39%), and “changes in admissions policies” (28%) as the top factors.

Main reasons for increased enrolment since 2010. Source: European University Association

The report highlights a related research finding that expanded international recruitment has become an increasingly common response to the economic crisis for European universities, both as a means to increase revenue and diversify funding sources.

Trends 2015 acknowledges that expanded international recruitment may be linked to the possibility of recovering higher fees from non-EU students but notes as well that recruitment activity is on the rise even in countries without such fee differentials.

“The new economic reality – the economic crisis, youth unemployment, the requirements of the knowledge society, globalisation – has led to renewed and additional emphasis on increasing student participation,” concludes the report.

“The composition of the student body is changing as a result of institutional strategies, particularly due to the major efforts being undertaken to recruit international students from both EU and non-EU countries…Where drops in enrolments occur, they are attributed to demographic change and the students’ financial situation, especially in eastern and southern Europe.”

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A recent study written by Bernd Wächter and Friedhelm Maiworm published by the Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) collected survey data from European education institutions to examine their use of programmes taught in English as a tool to increase mobility.

Data collected by ACA in collaboration with the Gesellschaft für Empirische Studien () and shows that the number of English-taught bachelor and master programmes – referred to in the study as English-Taught Programmes (ETPs) in non-English-speaking European countries has more than tripled over the last seven years.

A massive surge in ETPs

Comparing data from earlier studies shows how widespread the adoption of ETPs has become. The number of English-taught programmes was counted as 725 in 2001, 2,389 in 2007, and according to the present study, 8,089 in 2014. The new data, as well as that from other sources – such as that included in a 2013 şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor article – attests to the accelerated introduction and delivery of ETPs across Europe.

Currently, Germany has the largest number of institutions offering such programmes, at 154, followed by France with 113, and Poland at 59.

In absolute terms, the Netherlands has the most ETPs with 1,078, followed by Germany with 1,030, and Sweden with 822.

The chart below shows the top ten countries for ETPs numerically, and the proportion within the total number of programmes available.

Top ten countries by number of ETPs as of 2014, and the proportion of the total higher education programmes offered (by country) that each represents. Source: ACA

Because the number of higher education institutions per country differs, the percentages offer more revealing data. Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden offer the highest percentage of courses in English, whereas by proportion, France ranks below sixteen other European nations in offering ETPs and Germany ranks below fourteen other countries.

In general, eastern and southern European countries offer the fewest ETPs by both number and percentage, with Greece, Croatia, and Bulgaria offering the least in sheer numbers, and those three countries along with Romania, Italy, and Turkey offering the least by percentage.

The chart above hints that ETPs are strong in the Nordic region, and the ACA’s data bears that out. Almost 61% of institutions in the Nordic countries offer bachelor and/or master programmes completely taught in English – nearly 20% of all programmes there fall into that category – and more than 5% of all students are enrolled in ETPs. The chart below divides Europe into six areas to provide a snapshot of how such courses are distributed regionally.

Regional distribution of ETPs in Europe, 2014. Source: ACA

As the chart suggests, despite remarkable growth in the number of ETPs during the last decade, the percentage of students enrolled in such courses remains small. For Europe as a whole it stands at 1.3%, which amounts to about 290,000 participants across the continent for 2013/14.

A look inside the classroom

ACA tracked the student mix in these courses, and found that 54% of the total were foreign students in the nations in which they are studying. In the 2007 survey that percentage was much higher, at 65%, and in the 2002 survey the percentage was 60%. The reasons behind this 11% drop in foreign enrolment over the seven years is not entirely clear, but could be a reflection of economic factors in Europe.

However, there is still international diversity in the programmes. As few as 5% of the ETPs surveyed reported only domestic students enrolled. At the opposite end, 10% of ETPs stated that all the students were from outside their own country.

Comparatively speaking, ETPs in the Baltics and in Southeast Europe tend to enrol domestic students, while those in the Nordic region and Central West Europe enrol more foreign students.

In terms of classroom make-up, the survey found that students from Europe formed by far the largest cohort in European ETPs. Below is a breakdown of students’ regional origins:

ETP enrolment in Europe by the students’ region of origin. Source: ACA

The 14% Asian grouping is composed of 4% from China, 4% from India, and 6% from the many other countries in the region.

The survey also tracked English language proficiency, and a large majority of ETP directors rated their students as good or very good in this area. Domestic students fared better in these assessments than foreign students, and students in social sciences, business, and law fared better than those in engineering, manufacturing, construction, and hard sciences. On the negative side, heterogeneity – that is, variation in command of English – was viewed as a problem in classrooms.

Problems encountered with English language proficiency of students in ETP programmes (values shown are percentage for each category of respondent). Source: ACA

Some coordinators also reported other problems related to heterogeneity such as the differing expectations of students with regard to teaching methods. For example, expectation for more passive versus more interactive approaches, differing levels of subject area knowledge, and differing student academic practices and ethics.

Respondent expectations and motivations

While English language instruction is known to enable greater student mobility, survey respondents were asked to dig deeper and give specific reasons why they had adopted ETPs as a means of boosting internationalisation at their institutions. Essentially, these questions probed expectations, and charted reported effects. Some of the responses were as follows:

1. To do away with language obstacles for foreign students – i.e., to attract those who won’t enrol in a programme taught in the country’s domestic language;
2. To improve international competency of domestic students – i.e., to increase diversity at the institution, foster intercultural understanding, and better prepare students to be globally competitive;
3. To raise the international profile of the institution;
4. To attract top talent at both the student and staff level;
5. To provide high-level education for students from low-income countries as a means of development aid;
6. To compensate for shortages at the institution – i.e., to counterbalance a lack of enrolment by domestic students and/or to generate revenue from tuition paid by foreign students.

The survey notes that in general, revenue as a motive was cited least often, whereas altruistic considerations – for example in the area of development cooperation – played a surprisingly strong role.

The ACA survey also asked institutions their reasons for not adopting ETPs. Typical responses were:

1. Language proficiency issues – low levels of English among teaching staff and/or among domestic students; or, on the other hand, high proficiency of foreign students in the domestic language.
2. Type of higher education institution and/or discipline – English was deemed unnecessary, difficult to introduce, or incompatible with the discipline taught, for example music or the arts. Conversely, some institutions offer programmes with specialised terminology students needed to master in the domestic language, as is the case in teacher training or law.
3. Insufficient international enrolment and/or lack of interest among foreign students.
4. Contractual considerations – some institutions have established bilateral agreements with foreign institutions stipulating that incoming students master the domestic language.
5. Legal obstacles, for example arising from regional autonomy agreements, such as in Spain, which create difficulties designing study programmes; accreditation issues also exist in some countries, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
6. Lack of resources.

Resources often relate to the size of an institution. Larger institutions have the ability to offer more programmes of all kinds than smaller ones, and are statistically more likely to offer programmes taught in English.

The survey showed that in 2013/14, only 14% of institutions with 500 students or fewer offered ETPs, while 52% of institutions with 2,501 to 5,000 students offered them, and 81% of institutions with more than 10,000 students administered such programmes.

Programme effects

The ACA tracked the effects of ETPs upon schools. The most frequently cited effects were as follows:

1. Improved international awareness of the institution (84%);
2. The strengthening of partnerships with foreign institutions (81%);
3. The improvement of assistance/guidance/advice for foreign students (71%), including the provision of information and services in English.

When asked in detail about the benefits to students, programme directors cited career benefits. Improved mastery of English in itself, apart from degrees earned, was believed to be a strong aid to future employment prospects. Respondents also cited as positives such as better networking opportunities thanks to a multinational student body, good preparation for international employment, and more mobility opportunities.

Interestingly, many programme directors also believed that one strong benefit of ETPs was the closer interaction with teachers made possible by the generally smaller class sizes. Under such conditions, they believed students received more personalised guidance, which in turn enhanced the overall quality of their education.

As a result of adopting ETPs, 56% of respondents attributed higher importance to promoting their schools, and to targeted recruitment of students in particular (54%). Institutions used a broad range of marketing measures and communication channels to reach students. The survey asked respondents to break their methods into two categories – those used by degree (i.e., methods used to attract bachelor students, as opposed to masters students), and those used according to target group (i.e., foreign as opposed to domestic students).

Providing information via university websites was the most commonly used method in both cases, followed by distribution of printed material, presentations at domestic student fairs/information events, entries in international portals/databases, distribution of information via existing networks/partnerships of the institution, and presentations at foreign student fairs/information events. In both categories, the use of agents in target countries was among the least-used methods.

The final study published by the ACA is a detailed document running more than 130 pages. It contains important details concerning collection methodology, before offering a large assortment of respondent data, along with the interpretations and conclusions of the authors.

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The report is based on a study of the policy environments in 20 countries as they pertain to their current ability to nurture such skills, and it looks at what is required to enhance their capacity to “ensure training provision matches the needs of the labour market.”

This şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor article will look at the findings of the report that underline the urgency of such training, as well as the challenges that must be overcome to provide students with a high quality of training that can serve them well in the marketplace.

Setting the stage

Right at the outset of Skills beyond schools, the authors note:

• “Nearly two-thirds of overall employment growth in the European Union (EU25) is forecast to be in the ‘technicians and associate professionals’ category.
• A recent US projection is that nearly one-third of job vacancies by 2018 will require some postsecondary qualification, but less than a four-year degree.”

Separately, by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce finds that of the 55 million job openings in the US through the years to 2020 that will require postsecondary education, fully 30% will require some college or an associate degree. Not a bachelor degree or more than that (those qualifications will be required for another 35% of the 55 million jobs). No, the 30% refers to a shorter-term (of at least six months but significantly less than four years), specific kind of training required for particular jobs, with qualifications including certificates, diplomas, and professional bachelor’s degrees.

Even now the pressure is on to fill middle-skills jobs. Earlier this year, we reported Harvard Business Review’s finding that roughly half of the US labour force is engaged in middle skills jobs. HBR noted:

“Many employers still struggle to fill certain types of vacancies – especially for so-called middle skills jobs in computer technology, nursing, high-skill manufacturing, and other fields – that require postsecondary technical education and training.”

Emphasis on the training

The report notes that vocational and professional training programmes should be “driven by fast-changing industry requirements,” and that their linkages to industry be serious and strong. This appears to be a challenge – to varying degrees – across all the 20 countries studied, and that “work-based learning is too often weak and unsystematic.”

The report emphasised how crucial it is that industry stakeholders be substantially included in the development of vocational and professional qualifications to:

• Help ensure the job-readiness of graduates;
• Promote the ability of industry to identify and recognise the skills possessed by graduates.

Regarding its assessment that work-based learning is often inadequate in the vocational and professional programmes of today, the report recommended:

“All professional education and training programmes should involve some work-based learning as a condition of receiving government funding. The work-based learning should be systematic, quality assured, and credit-bearing.”

The report’s underlining of the centrality of work-based learning and integrated industry linkages is timely given the proliferation of vocational training schools and initiatives across so many countries of late. In our earlier post on middle-skills training, we reported on the significant expansion of and funding allocations to vocational and professional programmes in China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia, as well as the UK’s dawning recognition that traditional educational pathways should no longer be the only option promoted to secondary students. The leader of the UK’s opposition Labour Party, Ed Miliband, said in a speech earlier this year:

“We know that the conventional academic route doesn’t work for everyone. Our research has shown that in other European countries, particularly in Germany and Switzerland, three-year, good-quality apprenticeships are a serious option for all young people. Despite some recent improvements, we still have a mountain to climb to match ambitions in England.”

Challenging old belief systems

Chief among the challenges facing the development of high quality, industry-recognised, adequately funded middle-skills programmes is changing the still-prevalent belief that three to four years of university education is the way to go to achieve success in one’s career.

The report pointed to a discrepancy between the real skills demanded by today’s labour markets and the outdated convictions of many teachers and parents that university education is the prestigious – and thus only – option.

Speaking to University World News, Stefan Wolter, chair of the OECD’s group of experts on technical education, said:

“ according to their own aptitudes and skills and less in terms of parents’ and teachers’ concerns about status.”

Such competing trends – i.e., the needs of current economies versus old notions of what constitutes “an education” – might be part of the reason that vocational and professional education sectors in many countries are developing unevenly and in some cases sluggishly. Such sectors frequently remain sidelined, the poor cousins of the university sector.

This points to a real danger in the development of professional education and training programmes: countries are now aware of their urgency yet not according them the respect, funding, profile, and systematic naming and branding of levels and qualifications they require to be viable alternatives to other forms of tertiary education.

The report sums up the problems it identified across the 20 countries studied like this:

“Often the sector is highly fragmented, with programmes uncomfortably poised between schools and universities, with qualifications that may not be well understood within the country – and certainly not internationally. Nomenclature is variable, and the institutional basis for the sector sometimes uncertain.

Qualification systems and frameworks do not always help transparency. The needs of adults for more flexible modes of study are sometimes unmet. Effective transitions and articulation with other sectors of education and training are often elusive. The potential benefits of competence-based approaches are not always fully realised.”

The OECD calls for “a clearly recognised international nomenclature” to improve the status of middle-skills training institutes and allow them to compete on equal terms with other educational options. As part of this, it recommends the adoption of the term “professional education and training” to brand the sector and to contribute to international recognition of its qualifications.

Structuring and funding the sector

Another factor that has hampered the profile of professional education and training, according to the report, has been its murky and all-over-the-place positioning – sometimes integrated into universities, sometimes out on its own and integrated neither with universities nor with industry. The report advises that professional education and training sectors be separate from universities, both in terms of their definition and their funding. It recommends the following:

“Professional education and training needs an institutional base that:

a) offers short-cycle professional programmes in a tier of institutions separate from universities;
b) makes use, where relevant, of the successful model of universities of applied science;
c) consolidates training providers into institutions of adequate size; and
d) provides a consistent framework of public funding for professional education and training, avoiding distortions, and backed by quality assurance.”

Strengthening and legitimisation of the sector

The report goes on to identify many other challenges to the professional education and training sector as well as recommendations. Many of these recommendations can be understood to have one theme – namely, a drive to further professionalise, standardise, and by default, legitimise the sector – with the following results:

• Its profile and image improves;
• More students see it as a worthy educational option;
• More employers understand its qualifications;
• The labour market receives more graduates with job-ready skills;
• There can be more structured and productive pathways between it and other educational pathways;
• World economies benefit from a greater diversity of graduates to serve its more multifaceted requirements for growth and prosperity.

As much as there are challenges, there are opportunities

As much as the report identifies room for improvement across OECD countries in terms of how they develop and treat their vocational and professional training sectors, it does so because of a very exciting fact:

There is a proliferation of jobs and skills demanded by economies across the world, and these allow for a wider range of educational options than ever before.

This opening up of educational possibilities also opens up room for more students to find satisfaction – and fulfilling careers. Not every student fits comfortably into the traditional model of education that culminates in a four-year university degree or graduate school.

It also opens up new opportunities for education providers and marketers as the growing emphasis on vocational and professional training that is reflected in the recent OECD report points to increasing prospects for the sector, in terms of both delivery in markets around the world as well as recruitment for study abroad.

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