19/10/2012
Straight Thinking about International Education (1) | HESA
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Straight Thinking about International Education
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Posted on October 1, 2012 by Alex Usher
Over the past summer, we at HESA have been thinking a lot about international enrolment, and speaking to international
student recruiters and advisers, and international students themselves. You’ll get to see some of the results of this in the
coming months as we publish some of this research, but I wanted to share a couple of thoughts with you all now, while
the federal task force report is still fresh in everyone’s minds.
My main thought is this: we’re not ready to double international student enrolment in this country. Not by a long shot.
Institutions don’t have the capacity, and provincial governments aren’t prepared to create the right incentives to make them
do so.
Let’s take an example. Institution A is a big, research-intensive school in the GTA while institution B is a regional school in
northern Ontario. They both get about $12,500 per student per year in tuition and government grants for a domestic
student, and both can charge about $16,000 per year in tuition for international undergraduates (net of stuff like health
insurance and other fees that haven’t much to do with running a university).
For the regional school, the decision to go after foreign students is a no-brainer. These schools have declining enrolment
and capacity to spare. Any dollar they get on the margin is a dollar they wouldn’t get otherwise – as long as they cover their
recruitment costs, any income they earn from international students is a net gain.
But for Institution A, which doesn’t have any problems picking up domestic students, it’s a different equation. They have a
choice between an international student and a domestic student, and so the decision will simply come down to: “is the
margin between revenue from an international student and a domestic student large enough to cover all the costs
associated with recruitment”? You lose ten to fifteen percent of the first year’s tuition right off the top in agent’s fees – that
wipes out half your margin in year one right there. Then there’s paying for the international admission staff, the
international recruitment staff (and presidents and VPs) and all their trips overseas. Throw in international student advisors
and the cost of any head-taxes that a deeply confused provincial government may have thrown at you in the last budget,
and it’s not clear why you’d go for foreign recruitment.
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And there’s the central problem. Big research-intensive universities – the ones great foreign students would probably most
like to attend (prestige matters in this market, folks) – have no financial incentive to accept them. Any plan to double
enrolment that doesn’t address that simple issue isn’t going to work.
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Straight Thinking about International Education (2) | HESA
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Straight Thinking about International Education
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Posted on October 2, 2012 by Alex Usher
Yesterday, we looked at one of the big mismatches in Canadian international education; namely, that big-names schools
simply don’t have the financial incentive to take many more international students than they do already. Today, we’ll look at
another pervasive mismatch: the one between program demand and program capacity.
Bluntly, international students tend to be less interested than domestic ones in programs like philosophy, women’s
studies, fine arts, education, social work, etc. What they’re really interested in learning about is business, science and
engineering/technology. It’s a cultural thing; most of our international students come from countries which view higher
education in a fairly pragmatic light. If we had more students from America and Western Europe, it might be different, but
we don’t and it isn’t; our customers want science, engineering and business.
Most schools offering undergraduate programs to international students would prefer to have them take business courses
than science or engineering, simply on grounds of cost. The average international student fee doesn’t cover the cost of an
undergraduate engineering degree, so it’s actually a financial burden to let them into that field (though of course
international students may bring some other benefits which make it worthwhile). But what happens when the business
courses fill up, or when an institution hits capacity in science or engineering?
One of the hot memes in campus international offices these days is the need to “spread the international student
experience around,” by which people mean that they would like to get more students into faculties other than business,
science and engineering. Usually, it’s clothed in language about making sure domestic students get the benefit of contact
with these exotic foreigners (a lingering relic of the days when the argument for international students emphasized how
they were here for our benefit, rather than vice-versa). Rhetoric aside, though, an increasing number of schools have a
substantive problem: they genuinely can’t accommodate more international students in the fields which are in demand.
And their solution, apparently, is to try to shift demand.
This Canute-like response is doomed to fail. Success in international education depends on meeting and satisfying
demand, not on trying to divert it into areas to suit our own preferences. If we’re going to be an international education
powerhouse, meeting demand is something we need to learn how to do.
Bottom line: doubling international enrolment means vastly expanding programs in business and to a lesser degree
science, even as other parts of the university shrink. No one says this out loud, because in our ultra-collegial universities,
the political implications of such a policy change are brutal. But if we’re serious about doubling international enrolment, we
need to face up to this imperative and plan accordingly.
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Todd Worsham says:
October 3, 2012 at 2:34 pm
This analysis is DEAD on, especially the part about what subject international students are looking for and why. In
developing countries education is viewed as a tool for modernization, a means to pull oneself up, a way to get the job
you want and that your country needs you to do. For many western countries education is a time to explore yourself,
get to know what you like, and most importantly to party as much as possible. All of this is well and good (well mostly)
but the fact is for many they pay 100k+ much of it in loans and are left with a degree with questionable market value
and hazy memories of the last 4-6 years
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Straight Thinking about International Education
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Posted on October 3, 2012 by Alex Usher
If we’re going to get into this international education business seriously, then we need to drop a lot of the pretense and
mythologizing that goes on in the field and take a really hard-headed look at what our strengths and weaknesses are.
These come into two categories: things we say all the time that aren’t really true, and things which are true but which we
are reluctant to say.
The alleged “truth” that bothers me the most is the one about how international students love us Canadians because we
are “friendly.” This pleasant and cozy self-image is, unfortunately, not necessarily how international students actually see
us.
“Friendly” has a number of shades of meaning. It can mean “welcoming”, which we are, up to a point. But it can also mean
“easy to be friends with,” which frankly doesn’t describe Canadians at all. Most international students report that it’s difficult
to form close friendships with Canadians. Though pleasant and helpful, we aren’t actually all that open to new friendships.
It takes a very long time for Canadians to get to the point with someone where we say “please, come to our house for
dinner” – an act which in many cultures signals the beginning of a real friendship. Lots of international students never have
that moment with a Canadian. Thus, in addition to “friendly,” international students also use words like “distant” and
“superficial” to describe us.
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That’s not fatal; nothing says we have to be friendly to be a great education destination. But we shouldn’t try to build a brand
around a promise we can’t deliver on. That’s just bad business.
On the other side of the ledger are promises we can deliver upon but never make. And number one on that list is our status
as an English-speaking country.
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A very high proportion of international students are looking specifically for an education in English. We can and do deliver
that. But for political reasons, the federal government feels it cannot say that out loud. And so English-language education,
which is one of our obvious value point, is not only unmentioned in our national education branding efforts, it’s actively
undermined with the frankly bizarre “Education au/in Canada” brand strategy.
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(Seriously – did no one focus test this slogan on foreign students before launching? It only works if you’re already bilingual.
If, on the other hand, you have only a moderate capacity in one language and none in the other, it’s just downright
confusing).
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These examples are symptoms of a common problem: too often our approach to international education is based on
comfy pre-conceptions rather than honest, rigorous analysis. If we’re going to double our numbers, that needs to change.
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Measuring Academic Research in
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University Rankings 2012
Making the Most of It: Canadian
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Making Research Count: Analyzing
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Jobs Don’t Come to Those Who
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The 2012 Federal Budget: A
Canadian Education Project
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Straight Thinking about International Education
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Posted on October 4, 2012 by Alex Usher
As the recent Task Force on International Education earnestly said, international education is about more than attracting
fee-paying foreigners; it’s also about sending our own students abroad to gain international experience, learn new
languages and cultures, etc., etc.
As we wrap up our international education series, there’s only one problem with this argument: neither institutions not
students actually seem to want to commit to the idea.
There’s not a school in the country that won’t tell you how much more international they could be or how many more
international opportunities they could create if only they had more money. In fact, they are so committed to this view that
they got the AUCC to make government investment in study-abroad for Canadian students one of the five priorities in their
pre-budget submission.
Now, I’m all in favour of international education, and generally pro-government investment in higher education, but this
seems to me to be one of those “hold on to your wallet” situations. If study-abroad is such a great idea, why do institutions
need someone else to pay for it? Surely if it really mattered they could stump up a few million for this, the way they can for,
say, sports scholarships, or any one of a hundred other things that have been funded with the extra two billion or so dollars
that have gone their way in the last decade.
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(To be fair, some have tried to put the squeeze on donors for this, without much luck. Turns out donors – many of whom
are business people – don’t put the premium on international experience one might expect.)
AUCC implicitly pushes the idea that study abroad is about gaining knowledge of foreign languages and cultures, and that
this is the kind of thing that can help Canada by forging relationships that eventually become trade links. But this – to put it
mildly – is wishful thinking. No one keeps statistics on this, but pretty much anyone in study-abroad will tell you that the
three most common destinations for study-abroad are the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. HESA’s 2011study of students on
internationalization found more or less the same thing: the top two preferred destinations of Canadian students by a long
shot were the U.K. and Australia. China and India? They came eleventh and sixteenth on the list, with less than three
percent of all mentions between them.
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To sum up: study abroad is one of those things Canadian universities like as long as they can get someone else to pay for
it, and students agree that it’s an important way to learn about new cultures provided they don’t actually have to learn a new
language or go anywhere that feels more foreign than Leeds.
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A few doubts on internationalization
Posted on 2 October 2012 by Léo Charbonneau
In its 2011 budget, the federal government announced funding for the development
of a new Canadian international education strategy, and in October of that same
year it named an expert panel led by Western University President Amit Chakma
“to provide guidance and direction” for the development of such a strategy. The
expert panel released its report this past August, and it can fairly be described as
a whole-hearted endorsement of the need to increase the number of international
students at Canadian campuses (among other recommendations, including
increasing the opportunities for Canadian students to study abroad).
The advisory panel’s vision for Canada is to “become the 21st-century leader in
international education.” Specifically, the panel recommends doubling the number
of “quality international students” coming to Canada within 10 years (from the
current number of 239,000 today, of which about 100,000 are enrolled at Canada’s
universities).
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The panel lists the many benefits of internationalization that have been cited
frequently over the years by university leaders: international students bring an
“international dimension” to campus activities and give other students a “global
perspective.” Moreover, if international students choose to remain in Canada after
their studies, notes the report, they constitute “a desirable source of qualified
immigrants who are capable of integrating well into Canadian economy and
society.” Even if they don’t stay, international students who return to their home
country “become allies with Canada by fostering successful commercial and
political relations, given their understanding of Canadian values and society.”
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There is also a financial dimension: a 2011 report commissioned by the
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade indicated that in 2010,
international students in Canada spent in excess of $7.7 billion on tuition,
accommodation and discretionary spending.
Great read: ‘social mobility’ is now the guiding
(and misguided) principle of #highered policy
(in U.K.) http://t.co/XSuyMGDB
Doubling the number of foreign students to Canada, however, will have its
challenges. Two separate Canadian higher education consultants recently outlined
some of the issues.
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about 45 minutes ago from TweetDeck
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Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, in a recent blog
post, opined that Canada is not ready – “not by a long shot” – to double
international student recruitment. For regional universities, Mr. Usher explains,
going after more foreign students is a no-brainer: they have the spare capacity,
and the money they earn from international students is a net gain. But, for big
research-intensive universities in the large population centres, there’s a different
calculation. His conclusion: these latter universities, which are the ones most
foreign students wish to attend, have no financial incentive to accept them. “Any
plan to double enrolment that doesn’t address that simple issue isn’t going to
work,” he says.
about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck
In a follow-up post, Mr. Usher points to another “pervasive mismatch”: the one
between program demand and program capacity. In a nutshell, he says that the
programs that international students are most interested in, like business,
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Canada were born outside of Canada science is truly international.
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Peter Eglin on The Globe and Mail’s reLearning is more than a lecture - some
excellent points by Julia Christensen Hughes
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science and engineering, are not the ones the universities would most like them to
take, such as those within the humanities and social sciences. That’s because
universities have more capacity to offer the latter programs, which also are
cheaper to deliver, than they do the former high-demand, high-cost programs.
education: Surely the need of over 50% of
students to spend 10-15 hours or more per
week in paid employment to keep afloat
financially goes a long way in explaining low
participation rates in extra-classroom...
Some universities, says Mr. Usher, are trying to shift the demand of international
students, but such a strategy is doomed to fail: “Success in international
education depends on meeting and satisfying demand, not on trying to divert it
into areas to suit our own preferences.”
Paul Brant on A few doubts on
internationalization: I am confused by the
argument here – because the key theme
seems to be that there is no incentive to recruit
and enroll international students. Really? I
thought that the key incentives...
A related article in Times Higher Education reports on a presentation by Rod
Skinkle, chief executive of Academica Group, at the OECD’s Institutional
Management in Higher Education General Conference held in Paris in September.
Based on a survey of senior institutional administrative staff in Canada, Mr.
Skinkle reported that nearly three-quarters of respondents say that their
institutions plan to increase international student numbers. However, almost half
expressed concern with their institution’s ability to maintain on-campus social and
community integration, and a third foresaw challenges ahead in understanding and
providing for students’ cultural and religious needs.
Mr. Skinkle added that although respondents predicted positive effects from
increased international student enrolments, such as more income, there was little
evidence to prove it. The inability to keep pace with student service levels meant
that the real costs and therefore the benefits to institutions were unknown, says
the article. “If we don’t know what the costs are and we’re not measuring the
impact and outcomes, it’s … possible for [students] to have a negative experience
and this to have a negative outcome for the institution and its reputation,” Mr.
Skinkle cautioned.
We don’t often read about some of the negative implications to the institutions
themselves of trying to recruit more international students, so these pieces
provide food for thought.
Update, Oct. 3, 9:00 a.m.: Alex Usher added a third instalment this morning to
his “straight thinking on international educaton” series of blogs.
(1) Leave a comment | Permalink | E-mail post | Share
Comments
Leo Charbonneau on The fight goes on for
free tuition: To Reuben Kaufman and Dr.
Craigen, I try generally to give commenters the
last word, so to speak, on my blog and so I
don’t usually respond directly to comments. But
you have invited me to do...
Reuben Kaufman on The fight goes on for
free tuition: Some interesting ideas, Dr.
Craigen …. Leo, do you have some comment
on this? Cheers, Reuben
R. Craigen on The fight goes on for free
tuition: Hi Leo. While I am more or less in
accord with your stated position I find your
analysis pretty thin and where it has substance
that misses the point. Several points, actually.
Obviously they...
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Paul Brant says:
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6 October 2012 at 12:04 am
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I am confused by the argument here – because the key theme seems to be
that there is no incentive to recruit and enroll international students. Really? I
thought that the key incentives were the high international student tuition fees
(for undergraduate students) and prestige (for graduate students). Isn’t that
why we currently have over 200,000 international students in Canada? Isn’t
that why the advisory panel recommends a huge investment in new
scholarship programs to attract the best international graduate students? If I
understand the strategy document, the objective is simply to maintain
Canada’s market share, based on the assumption that the total market will
double. Why not interview Dr. Chakma on the recommendations of his
committee rather than focus on a views of a private consultant? I thought that
the advisory report addressed the exact issues raised by Skinkle.
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