The news comes as the UAE works to lessen its reliance on the oil and gas sector and to move the country further along its path to .

More branch campuses expected

The UAE has for years been aiming to be an education hub in the region and indeed, it hosts the second-highest number of university branch campuses in the world after only . Mohammad Abdullah, managing director of the Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) and the Dubai Knowledge Park, said that the expectation is for still more branch campuses to set up in the region. He cautions, however, that universities applying to start branches in DIAC will be carefully assessed and that a rigorous selection process will be applied.

Dubai is home to more than 200 nationalities today and 90% of the city’s population comes from abroad, which is one reason that international branch campuses are such a natural fit. Speaking with Gulf News, Dr Warren Fox, chief of higher education for the UAE’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority, noted that over 40% of Dubai’s 30,000 international students are enrolled at branch campuses operated by some of the top universities in the world.

Of the UAE’s new student visa rules, Mr Fox said,

“We are expecting significant growth in the number of students coming to study in UAE. This decision will not just benefit UAE economy, but also help higher education institutions and students. It is a win-win situation for everyone as you can now complete your education and explore future prospects.”

New visa allowances will facilitate employment

The UAE is not alone in extending visa rights and work periods for foreign students. The country joins Canada, Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, and China in introducing policies that make it easier for international students to study, work, and sometimes immigrate.

Such measures are aimed at attracting students who increasingly expect their education to lead directly to desired career outcomes. A British Council report noted that,

“International student mobility patterns are evolving based on increased education provision globally and students’ inclination towards programmes with tangible employability outcomes.”

Mr Abdullah (cited earlier), said the visa extension announcement for international students will inspire new strategies at DIAC to help students progress toward careers: “We are looking to work even more towards tying different industries to academic institutions.”

Already competitive

The UAE is already known for its well-considered international education strategies. Last year, the British Council published its Shape of Global Higher Education report based on an analysis of international higher education policies across 38 countries. #2 for quality assurance and degree recognition, and # 5 for openness and mobility.

Sally Ward, regional manager, higher education for the British Council, said, “It is really impressive, actually, for such a small country. They have made this very conscious decision to be open, to make this an area of focus, to promote the UAE as a destination of choice, to provide a wide variety of universities and courses and to find ways to encourage students to come to a stable community where they know they are going to get a high-quality education.”

For additional background, please see:

• “Dubai strengthens its position as a regional education hub”
• “China now the leading host for international branch campuses”
• “UAE leads the world in English-medium international school enrolments”

The post UAE announces five-year student visas and residency opportunities appeared first on şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

It appears, however, that the tide is changing in recent months. In November, President Joko Widodo expressed his interest in having foreign institutions open new campuses in Indonesia in order to provide an important reference point for strengthening the country’s own universities. And following on from this, Research, Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir held a press conference in January at which he announced Indonesia would indeed welcome foreign providers later this year.

Minister Nasir told the press conference that, “At least five or ten foreign universities are targeted to operate in the middle of this year.” The Minister singled out the University of Cambridge, University of Melbourne, and CQUniversity Australia as institutions that had already expressed interest. The Minister also indicated science, technology, engineering, mathematics, business and management as priority subject areas.

Public pronouncements on this issue tend to be made cautiously in Indonesia, and any discussion of foreign unis setting up shop is always accompanied by two important qualifiers: the foreign institution will be expected to find a local private-sector partner and to prioritise the hiring of local faculty. All education institutions are also required to devote a portion of their curricula to teaching Indonesian culture, including religious and Islamic values.

In addition, the government is generally clear that any invitation to operate in Indonesia will only be extended to top-ranked institutions. “We give the chance for foreign higher learning institutions, especially world-class universities, to operate in Indonesia,” said the Minister.

Arguments for and against

But if Indonesia’s politicians have been cautious on this question, it has perhaps been with good reason as the prospect of opening up the country’s higher education system has provoked a lively debate.

Proponents of the move argue that allowing foreign institutions to operate in Indonesia will not only boost local higher education capacity, but also encourage greater numbers of Indonesian students to study at home. Those in favour anticipate as well that highly ranked foreign providers will be an important spark for strengthening Indonesian institutions.

Those opposed argue that local institutions, public and private, will struggle to compete with foreign providers and that the end result will be a hollowing out of the domestic system.

With these questions still very much in play it seems likely that the government has set an overly ambitious schedule for the country’s first partnerships with foreign providers. This is especially so as observers outside of Indonesia wonder over the details about such partnerships, including the need for top foreign institutions to form up with local private-sector partnerships, the legislated restrictions on for-profit operations in the country’s education sector, and the requirements around Islamic cultural content.

As of today, Minister Nasir has not yet followed up on his January press conference with a formal decree concerning foreign university operations in Indonesia. But the timing of any further announcements may also be influenced by the progress of ongoing Australia-Indonesia free trade negotiation, which are ongoing at the moment and in which foreign educator operations in Indonesia have figured to date.

For additional background, please see:

• “Study finds that young Indonesians are highly motivated to study abroad”
• “Southeast Asia trading and mobility bloc continues to take shape”
• “Indonesia’s growing middle class expected to drive outbound mobility”

The post Indonesia prepared to welcome foreign universities appeared first on şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

“Many students from around the world study Australian higher education courses without coming to Australia,” notes DET. “For an example, an Australian university may have campuses in one or more countries outside Australia, or deliver courses in partnership with foreign institutions, or offer courses online.”

Taking these different modes of onshore and offshore delivery into account, DET calculates that there were just under 400,000 foreign students (391,136) enrolled in Australian higher education in 2016. Nearly a third of that total, or just about 112,500 students, were enrolled offshore with the balance studying on campus in Australia.

Overall, the volume of offshore enrolments grew by nearly 3% between 2015 and 2016. This compares to just under 10% growth in onshore student numbers in Australian higher education over the same period, and the nearly 11% growth in total international enrolment within Australia for 2016.

The DET numbers also provide an important reference point for some of the very ambitious goals set out in Australia’s National Strategy for International Education 2025. The national strategy was released in 2016 and it imagines very dramatic growth in Australian TNE through 2025, and across all modes of delivery.

One of the pillars of the Australian strategy is an allied national plan called the . It imagines a high-level target whereby Australia might earn a 10% share of what the AIE2025 analysts calculated to be a one-billion-student market for TNE learning.

The new DET numbers, meanwhile, put some detail to the 2016 baseline for enrolment in Australian TNE. The department tracks student numbers across three modes of delivery: those studying at Australian branch campuses abroad, those enrolled in programmes delivered in partnership between Australian and foreign institutions, and those following Australian higher education programmes online. The 2015 and 2016 numbers for each delivery mode are summarised in the following table.

Enrolment of foreign students in Australian higher education, by mode of delivery, 2015 and 2016. Source: DET

As the table illustrates, there was a slight decline in the total enrolment at the 14 international branch campuses operated by Australian institutions in 2016. Student numbers in joint programmes abroad showed steadier growth at just over 5% whereas online enrolment grew 3% year-over-year.

More about the students

DET highlights as well that nearly two-thirds (65%) of offshore students are enrolled in bachelor degree programmes, with another 21% following masters-level courses.

Offshore students in Australian higher education by level of study, 2016. Source: DET

More than six in ten (62%) were enrolled in business studies, and 16% in engineering, information technology, or other technology programmes. Further, nearly three in four offshore students are enrolled on a full-time basis.

In terms of country of origin, the following chart tracks student numbers for five countries with the largest enrolments in Australian higher education delivered offshore. DET cautions, however, that these figures reflect the location of the students during their studies and not necessarily their nationality. For example, as of 2016, about one quarter of students in Singapore enrolled in Australian TNE were third-country nationals.

Offshore students in Australian higher education by country, 2011–2016. Source: DET

The five countries reflected in the chart accounted for just over 70% of all offshore enrolment in Australian higher education in 2016. And so the longer-term trends indicated there are interesting in that they describe a five-year trend of softening enrolment offshore among these leading markets (the exception being China which has shown steady growth over the period in question).

From 2017 on, we might imagine that the coordinated efforts and action plans arising from Australia’s national strategy for international education may begin to bear on offshore enrolment numbers. It will be interesting to see how these longer-term trends develop, and if Australia’s offshore enrolment can establish a stronger growth trend that is more in line with the country’s substantial, continuing growth in onshore student numbers.

For additional background, please see:

• “Australia takes its double-digit growth into final quarter of 2017”
• “Growing openness to online programmes among parents”
• “More than 700,000 foreign students now pursuing British degrees outside of the UK”
• “Australia releases 10-year blueprint for expansion of its international education sector”

The post Australia: Offshore delivery growing but more slowly than in-country enrolments appeared first on şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

And no wonder. Dubai is home to more than 200 nationalities today, and 90% of the city’s population comes from abroad. Roughly two-thirds of the world’s population is within an eight-hour flight, and the city is widely recognised for its outstanding transportation and communications infrastructure. US News & World Report recently ranked the UAE as one of the best countries in the world in which to begin a career, as “one of the Gulf’s most liberal countries”, and as the safest Arab-majority country.

Booming school population

As we reported last year, the UAE is the leading country in the world in terms of the number of students attending English-medium K-12 international schools. Recent International School Consultancy (ISC) research indicates that there are more than 550 English-medium K-12 international schools across the UAE, with nearly half of those in Dubai. There are roughly 550,000 students aged between 3 and 18 in English-medium international schools in the UAE – the highest enrolment of any country in the world by a significant margin.

A new report from the UAE’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) offers a more detailed look at . It counts 185 private schools in Dubai with a combined enrolment of just under 274,000 students.

As of the 2016/17 school year, the sector is close to capacity (about 90% utilisation currently), and total spending on private school tuition fees amounts to 6.8 billion AED (US$1.85 billion) annually.

Only about 12% of the students in private schools in Dubai are native Emiratis. In contrast, Indian students, the largest single nationality in Dubai schools, make up just over a third (34%) of the total enrolment. Pakistan, Egypt, and the UK are also well represented.

Leading nationalities in private K-12 schools in Dubai, 2016/17. Source: KHDA

Overall, the number of private schools in Dubai has nearly doubled in the past decade, and enrolment has kept pace with overall growth of 89% over the last ten years. Looking ahead, KHDA forecasts another 120 schools will open their doors in the coming decade, and projects that total enrolment in the city’s private schools will reach 470,000 over the same period.

Bright outlook for higher education

The burgeoning population of non-Emirati students in Dubai schools means the city is also growing in importance as a recruiting ground for third-country nationals planning to go on further education abroad.

But Dubai is also aggressively , both by expanding the footprint of domestic institutions and by welcoming branch campuses operated by foreign institutions. Universities from 12 different exporting markets currently operate campuses in designated higher education “free zones” in Dubai, including those from the UK, US, Australia, India, Austria, and Russia.

Considering both international branch campuses and local institutions, there are now 62 higher education providers in Dubai. Those institutions had a combined enrolment of 60,300 students in 2016, including 33,600 foreign nationals.

The number of higher education institutions operating in the city began to expand rapidly around 2003, the year in which the first of Dubai’s free zones for education were established. Also setting the stage for more rapid enrolment growth within the past decade, the KHDA and University Quality Assurance International Board (UQAID) were established – in 2007 and 2008 respectively – in order to provide greater oversight and quality assurance for higher education in the Emirates.

As the following chart reflects, 39 of Dubai’s 62 HEIs are now located within the free zones, including 24 international branch campuses.

Higher education provider growth in Dubai, 1986–2017. Source: KHDA

Keeping pace with this significant increase in the number of university seats, total higher education enrolment in Dubai has grown by nearly 65% since 2008, with overall foreign enrolment across the UAE growing even more quickly. UNESCO reports that the number of foreign students in the Emirates grew from about 48,600 in 2011 to nearly 74,000 in 2015 – a total increase of 51% in just five years.

Speaking at the recent International and Private Schools Education Forum () in Dubai, Dr Warren Fox, the KHDA’s chief of higher education, said, “Dubai has shown to the world it can become a leading global business hub, and is leveraging this success to attract international students to come to the Emirate to pursue higher education studies here. This reputation as a world-class commercial and trading centre is one of the top reasons why international students are coming to Dubai.”

For additional background, please see:

• “UAE leads the world in English-medium international school enrolments”
• “Using social media to reach students in the Middle East and North Africa”
• “English skills a key for mobility and employment in the Middle East and North Africa”

The post Dubai strengthens its position as a regional education hub appeared first on şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

We first observed this last year when a British Council/UK HE International Unit report noted 13% growth in British TNE enrolment between 2013/14 and 2014/15. Moreover, a survey of UK higher education institutions at the time found that four in five planned to further expand their TNE provision over the next three years.

The latest figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) indicate a further increase in 2015/16 with 673,000 foreign students studying toward a British higher education qualifications in TNE programmes during the year.

Transnational students studying wholly overseas for a UK higher education qualification, 2015/16. Source: HESA

In his remarks at the recent International Higher Education Forum in London, Mark Garnier, Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International Trade (DIT), placed a further emphasis on programming abroad.

“Mr Garnier’s focus was almost exclusively on transnational education – the provision of courses outside an institution’s home country,” reported . “That approach sidestepped any mention of the Home Office’s policy of toughening the UK’s student visa regime and of continuing to include students within targets to reduce net migration – policies criticised by universities and some in the Conservative Party.”

Mark Garnier, Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International Trade, at the International Higher Education Forum in London.

Looking forward to the government’s stated intention to , which will mark the beginning of the process of the UK’s departure from the European Union, the Minister said, “Leaving the EU does not mean we are turning our back on the world.”

“Britain may be a small country, but our universities stand tall in the world,” Mr Garnier added. “Many countries with a large school-leaver population are without sufficient higher education in the country to meet demand. This presents a huge export opportunity for our top-class educational institutions…and we look to fill this demand.”

The Minister noted as well that DIT has recently appointed a new higher education specialist to better support British institutions in expanding their programmes abroad.

Survey says “yes, please”

It appears the government’s growing interest in the field, combined with the stated ambitions of UK institutions to further expand TNE programming, may find a ready audience. Early findings released this month from Hobsons’ International Student Survey 2017 point to a strong interest in British branch campuses among prospective students abroad.

Interestingly, the survey focused exclusively on international students who were already considering studying in the UK. It gathered nearly 1,000 responses from prospective students, EU and non-EU alike, over a 24-hour period in March 2017. Among the key findings:

• Three in four EU students (76%) said that they would be “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to study in a branch campus of a UK university in an EU country other than their own

• 58% of EU students said that “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to study in a branch campus of a UK university in their home country; however, 36% said that they would not be likely to study at a branch campus in their home country, preferring instead to pursue an international experience

• Seven in ten non-EU students (69%) said that they would be “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to study in a branch campus of a UK university in an EU country

Hobsons comments on the early survey results: “The findings suggest that many international students who are considering studying in the UK would welcome the option of studying at a UK institution’s branch campus in an EU country, but away from their home country, so that they still benefit from the full experience of international study. However, the research also suggests that a significant number of international students considering studying in the UK would not choose to study at a new branch campus in the EU, suggesting that they would still prefer to learn in the UK.”

“Our findings are an early indication of how EU and international students could react if UK universities open branch campuses in the EU,” adds Hobsons Marketing Director Paul Raybould. “The strategies that universities take to attract international students to the UK, or to new branch campuses overseas, should take into account the different perceptions and motivations of these different groups of students…There is more research to do to uncover the opportunities and challenges presented by Brexit, as the negotiations develop and the UK’s departure is finalised.”

For additional background, please see:

• “UK: Projecting Brexit fallout as non-EU enrolment stays flat”
• “UK providers increasing focus on transnational education”
• “The uncertainty of Brexit”

The post UK government signals increasing emphasis on transnational education appeared first on şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

With that burgeoning college-aged population, it is no surprise that tertiary enrolment in the country has also been booming. More than three million Bangladeshis are now enrolled in higher education, and the country’s University Grants Commission projects that that total will climb to 4.6 million by 2026. Even so, tertiary participation rates have lagged behind regional leaders, such as India and China, and the domestic system has struggled to keep pace with demand, in terms of the number of available spaces, the quality of education, and employment outcomes for graduates.

As we noted in an earlier report, private providers have come to play an increasingly important role in expanding domestic access to higher education. New legislation, first brought forward in May 2014, has also opened the door to foreign universities setting up joint ventures in Bangladesh with local partners. Nearly three years on, however, there has been little progress in this respect and recent reports indicate that Bangladesh’s Education Ministry has moved to block University Grant Commission-backed branch campus applications from British and Australian universities.

“Private university owners have routinely opposed government moves to allow foreign universities to open branches in Bangladesh, and have been influential,” reports . “Sources suggested lobbying by these groups may have been behind the refusal by the ministry to grant approval to foreign branch campuses.”

A big bump in outbound

As domestic capacity continues to lag behind demand, growing numbers of Bangladeshi students are pursuing post-secondary education abroad. The latest data from UNESCO indicates that nearly 31,000 Bangladeshis were enrolled abroad in 2015, a 33% increase over the two years from 2013.

The leading destination, Malaysia, received about 20% of those students in 2015, with other major receiving countries, including the US, the UK, Australia, and Germany rounding out the top five destinations for Bangladeshi students.

A surging middle class

A recent report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) describes Bangladesh as “.” On the strength of steady economic growth, stable inflation, low public debt levels, and growing remittance inflows, the population of “middle and affluent consumers” (or MACs) has grown to about 12 million people, or about 7% of the population.

This is still small compared to more advanced economies in the region, such as Vietnam (21% MACs) or Indonesia (38%). But, as the following chart reflects, that middle class base is growing quickly in Bangladesh, at around 10% or 11% per year, and at a pace that outstrips many other Asian markets. “If Bangladesh can maintain this pace, its MAC population will grow by 65% over the next five years,” says BCG. “By 2025, it is expected to nearly triple, to about 34 million.”

The current and project proportion of middle-class and affluent consumers in Bangladesh and other selected markets. Source: Boston Consulting Group

The other notable characteristic of Bangladesh’s middle class is just how concentrated it is geographically. While this will change over the next decade, as reflected in the illustrations below, Bangladeshi MACs are heavily concentrated in two urban areas today.

The geographic concentration of MAC consumers in Bangladesh, 2015-2015. Source: Boston Consulting Group

“Currently, around 80% of Bangladesh’s MAC population is concentrated in two cities: Dhaka and the eastern port city of Chittagong,” adds BCG. “We see the dispersion of wealth unfolding in two waves. In the first wave, most of the MAC population growth will occur in Dhaka and Chittagong and will begin to take off in smaller cities in the eastern half of Bangladesh.”

The BCG report concludes that, “Very few global companies saw this market coming, so market leadership is very much up for grabs.” It cautions that the market is very value-conscious and that any marketing effort should stress both quality and value-for-money, or ROI. It notes as well that mobile technologies are being widely and rapidly adopted by Bangladeshi consumers and that digital marketing programmes must be well-optimised for mobile.

For additional background on this important emerging marketing, please see:

• “Bangladesh struggling to keep up with demand for higher education”
• “Survey reveals motivations of postgraduate students in emerging markets”

The post Bangladesh: Middle class growth helping to drive demand for study abroad appeared first on şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

China opens its first overseas campus

A special charter flight from Mainland China, with 440 eager first-year students on board, recently touched down in Kuala Lumpur to mark the opening of Xiamen University in Malaysia – .

What went wrong with the global schoolhouse?

In 2002, Singapore set out a bold vision for the future of international education in the country. Under the so-called “” initiative, Singapore announced plans to increase its enrolment of foreign students to 150,000 by 2015. But things didn’t go exactly to plan, and international enrolment has actually declined in recent years.

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 in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory earlier this month. Do those cancellations just reflect an emotional pushback in the wake of an unexpected result, or do they foreshadow a longer-term trend?

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Along with Mr Trump’s surprising win in the US, international educators are watching closely to see how the Brexit process unfolds in the UK. And new data from HESA shows which UK institutions recruit the most international students.

The post Five for Friday appeared first on şÚÁĎąŮÍř Monitor - Market intelligence for international student recruitment.

Co-authored with the Cross-Border Education Research Team (C-BERT), International Branch Campuses, Trends and Developments, 2016 reveals that there are now 249 IBCs located in more than 70 countries. These offshore campuses are “owned, at least in part, by a foreign education provider; operated in the name of the foreign education provider; and [provide] an entire academic programme, substantially on site, leading to a degree awarded by the foreign education provider.” OBHE Senior Researcher Rachael Merola describes IBCs as “the most ambitious kind of cross-border higher education,” and as initiatives that redefine “institutional identities and national systems”.

OBHE estimates that there are at least 180,000 student enrolled in IBCs today, but the report adds some important context as well in noting, “This is a significant number in absolute terms but is equivalent to less than 4% of the five million international students in the world…and a tiny fraction of the 150 million+ higher education students globally. In a few countries, such as UAE, IBCs constitute a significant proportion of total higher education enrolment; but in most they are niche players.”

“The relative ease of student and programme mobility, compared to the institutional mobility inherent in a branch campus, suggests IBCs will remain substantially niche operations. The open question is whether over time IBCs of a certain type or within certain countries will achieve a stronger reputation for capacity and quality at scale, influencing national policies and institutional brands. IBCs, in all their diversity, have much room for growth.”

On that note, OBHE reports that 66 new IBCs were established between 2011 and 2015. On the heels of a roughly equivalent number of new IBCs launched from 2006-2010, the absolute growth in IBC numbers has been quite stable over the decade. In addition to the new IBCs opened over the last five years, the final tally for 2015 also reflects the 15 campuses that closed or changed status during that same period.

Total number of IBCs worldwide, 2000-2015. Source: OBHE

Importers and exporters

The number of countries hosting IBCs has increased somewhat since 2011: 76 countries host IBCs today, which represents a 10% increase over the 69 host countries that were active as of early 2011. The top five hosts are now home to nearly four in ten IBCs (39%): China (32 IBCs), the United Arab Emirates (31), Singapore (12), Malaysia (12), and Qatar (11).

Number of IBCs by host country, 2015. Source: OBHE

As this tally suggests, China has now edged out the UAE as the top host country, reflecting both a slight decline in IBCs in the Emirates (from 32 campuses at the end of 2010 to 31 by end of 2015) as well as a dramatic increase in IBC operations within China (from 13 in 2010 to 32 today). OBHE attributes the softening global share of the UAE to “market saturation, changing strategies of local governments, and concern over instability in other parts of the region.” China, in contrast, is home to more than one in four new IBCs (26%) started since 2011, and continues to attract new IBC ventures today.

OBHE puts the continued growth of international campuses in China down to local demand for higher education and also to host government support. The report notes generally that governments are motivated to attract IBCs by a drive to greater economic competitiveness, by an interest in boosting the political or cultural influence, and/or in the hopes of boosting the profile of national higher education systems.

On the export side of the equation, the top “home” countries for IBCs are the US, the UK, Russia, France, and Australia. US institutions operate 78 IBCs currently, accounting for nearly a third of all offshore campuses worldwide and including 17 of the 66 new IBCs opened since 2011. The UK is the next-leading exporter after the US with British institutions operating 39 IBCs (16% of the global total) as of 2015.

As these values illustrate, IBC activity is fairly concentrated both in terms of import markets where we see IBCs clustered in China and other selected Asian markets as well as in the MENA region. But this activity is also focused within a relatively small of exporting countries, with the US and UK as the clear leaders.

“Future growth is being driven by institutions from the United States and Europe, particularly the UK. Nearly half of the known IBCs under development will be overseas campuses of institutions based in the US and UK. There are at least seven campuses under development in Asia and four in the Middle East, highlighting the geographic shift in activity [from the Middle East to Asia],” concludes the report.

For additional background on IBCs, please see:

• Ěý“A more cautious outlook for international branch campuses”
• “Managing growth and maintaining standards in international branch campuses”

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