Liliana Harding, University of East
Anglia

To establish the driving force behind
international student mobility on the basis of a
case study of Romanian students, primarily in the
area of economics and business by:
• Observing patterns of European and international
student mobility
• Questioning the role of fees versus educational
experience
• Analysing the role of European exchange
agreements (Erasmus)
• Studying economics and business students’ mobility
preferences related to costs and quality of education
 UK
higher education: international students
numbers, host institutions and fees
 General structure of student body: 85 home students:
10 Non-EU students: 5 EU students
International Students in the UK, Unesco data
400000
350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
European students in UK
International Students in UK
2007
2008
2009
Romanian Students in the UK, Unesco data
2500
2000
EU entry
1500
1000
500
0
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Total non-UK students
of which
Romanian
The University of Manchester
9915
105
University College London
8285
100
The University of Nottingham
8270
50
The University of Warwick
7995
45
The University of Greenwich
6560
30
The University of Edinburgh
6450
75
The University of Leeds
6415
35
University of the Arts, London
London School of Economics and
Political Science
6350
20
6255
20
The University of Oxford
6215
50
London Metropolitan University
6215
115
UK HE institution
UK EU Non-EU degree students in Social Studies, 2010-2011
EU
students
Non-EU
students
UK
Students
All social
EU % in Non-EU % UK % in
studies
category in categ. category
students
UCAS JACS Subject
Social St any
65
85
380
530
12.26
16.04
71.70
Economics
625
1,595
4,965
7,185
8.70
22.20
69.10
Politics
775
600
4050
5,430
14.27
11.05
74.59
Sociology
140
165
4910
5,215
2.68
3.16
94.15
Social Policy
10
85
810
910
1.10
9.34
89.01
Social Work
80
100
7315
7,495
1.07
1.33
97.60
Anthropology
60
55
625
745
8.05
7.38
83.89
Hum & Soc Geogr
75
75
2700
2,845
2.64
2.64
94.90
Others in Soc St
45
45
545
635
7.09
7.09
85.83
Comb in Social St
270
305
2175
2,750
9.82
11.09
79.09
All areas Social St
2,145
3,150
28475
33740
6.36
9.34
84.40
Source: HEIDI data
Non-EU UG fees*
%Non-EU UG
students of all UG**
University of Oxford
Royal College of Music
Royal Academy of Music
Rose Bruford College of Theatre and
Performance
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music
& Dance
The University of Buckingham
London School of Economics &
Political Science
18620
18600
18100
6.2
17.8
24.2
16000
6.0
15750
15360
7.6
52.1
14592
36.1
Conservatoire for Dance and Drama
University of St Andrews
School of Oriental & African Studies
14330
13500
13230
9.7
24.2
21.7
** Latest Year: 2009,
Source: HEIDI
* Latest Year: 2011, Source: http://www.publicgoods.co.uk
PG fees*
%Non-EU PG students of all
PG**
Royal College of Music
18900
30.2
Royal Academy of Music
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music &
Dance
London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Medicine
18750
19.5
17100
17.0
16500
38.2
Cranfield University
Rose Bruford College of Theatre and
Performance
London School of Economics & Political
Science
16000
24.9
16000
25.0
15888
56.0
University of Oxford
14950
39.2
Edinburgh College of Art
14870
36.2
University College London
14700
25.2
* Latest Year: 2011, Source:
http://www.publicgoods.co.uk
** Latest Year: 2009, Source:
HEIDI
•The
higher education system and economics and business
studies in Romania vs the UK : Significance of Discipline
and Transferability issues
•European
Exchange Agreements and Romanian
institutions
•Analysing
the significance of cost and quality of education
abroad, in Romanian students’ propensity to move
 Total: 117
• Fully accredited: 81
 of which PUBLICLY funded: 46
• PRIVATELY funded total:71
HE
institutions with Economics and
Business Administration (E&B): 63
• of which exclusive in the broader subject
area: 1 state university vs.15 private
institutions

Recent developments
 Lifting cap on numbers in public universities: set number of funded
places (merit based) PLUS extra number of privately funded places
(RATIO cca 1:2)
 Typical yearly fee in UG E&B studies : £500-£600 (UG); only slightly
higher for PG E&B courses; PhD funding opportunities

Entry based on Baccalaureate pass
 Results ranking MOST relevant for publicly funded
places
 June 2011 Baccalaureate exam registered
unprecedented drop in pass rates to 44.47% (from
consistent over 75%)
 0%-100% by individual school
 25%-65% by regional authority
 Strong performance of ‘theoretical colleges’ versus weak
performance of ‘technical colleges’
 Romanian
Institutions running Erasmus
programs: 53
• Of which with programs in the UK: 20
 of which 13 have Faculty of Economics and
Business Administration (FEBA)
 5 institutions have more than 5 exchange
agreements with UK HE institutions
 Of which 2 specialised in civil engineering or arts
 Of which 3 comprehensive coverage, including FEBA
(Univ. ‘A.I.Cuza’ Iasi (12 partners); Univ.’B.-Bolyai’Cluj (9
partners); Univ. ‘L. Blaga’ Sibiu (6 partners) )
Number of students in Social Science*, Business and Law, Eurostat data
700000
600000
500000
Romania
400000
300000
United
Kingdom
200000
100000
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
*includes
economics
Concentration of Romanians in total international students
Canterbury Christ Church University
The University of Worcester
Coventry University*
University College Birmingham
Royal Academy of Music
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
The University of Essex
UHI Millennium Institute*
The Arts University College at Bournemouth
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
21.15
7.83
6.19
3.52
3.51
2.27
2.24
2.22
2.08
1.92
Note: highly specialised, art/music HE institutions in 4 out of 10 top host
institutions; TWO* have Erasmus exchange in Romania!
UK prevalence of Economics students in Social
Science, Bus, Law
PT
Numbers of students
in ECONOMICS
FT
UK Hesa data
2009_2010
All
3115
31780
34895
-as% of Soc Sc Bus Law
1.6
6.9
5.3
-as % of Social Science
4.9
21.2
16.3
Note on Romanian prevalence of Economics students:
- ALL economics AND business students graduate with ECONOMIST
title; essentially a degree in ‘business and (some) economics’ and no
distinction in statistics to date
- since cca 2004 old ‘Faculties of Economics’ have been widely renamed
Faculty of Econ. and Business Admin., reflecting Europeanisation drive
Home and Abroad
Total
arts &
social science* ,
humanities business, law science technical medical numbers
Percent of ALL
enrolment in RO
Percent of ALL
enrolments in UK
% of students in
sample in: Romania*
% of students in
sample in: Abroad
7.8
57.3
4.9
17
10 1098188
17
27
13
8.3
18 2415217
3.7
86.7
1.9
7.8
0.0
270
16.7
46.1
16.7
18.6
2.0
102
(of which)
% of students in
sample in UK
17.5
38.6
22.8
17.5
3.5
57
* Survey referred to social sciences as broad area; with ‘economics and business’
students prevailing in this category for Romania
Motivation/Study area
Arts
Humanities
Econ
&Bus.
Science Technical Medical ALL
not suitable
0
0
9.77
0
2.56
0
7.76
living abroad
0
5.56
9.4
5
17.95
0
9.77
institutional reputation
0
27.78
15.79
20
23.08
0 17.24
new educational system
0
0
22.56
30
20.51
100 21.55
quality of education
0
22.22
6.02
30
12.82
50
11.11
10.9
10
5.13
0 10.63
new cultural experience
0
11.11
4.89
0
7.69
0
labour market advantage
50
16.67
20.3
5
10.26
0
5.56
0.38
0
0
0
0.57
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
work abroad
other
0
8.91
5.17
0 18.39
Barrier/Study
Area
Language
Arts
Humanities Econ &Bus.
Science
Technical
Medical
ALL
0
0
16.79
16.67
5.13
0
14.24
Cost abroad
75
68.42
46.95
50
64.1
50
50.58
Fam/Friends
0
5.26
10.69
5.56
2.56
0
9.01
Lack info
0
5.26
5.73
11.11
2.56
50
5.81
Degree tr
25
0
6.11
11.11
7.69
0
6.4
Admiss Pr
0
0
6.87
5.56
5.13
0
6.1
Fear of new
Distance f.
home
0
10.53
4.96
0
10.26
0
5.52
0
5.26
1.53
0
0
0
1.45
Other
0
5.26
0.38
0
2.56
0
0.87
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
Marginal effects on
mobility – logistic
regression results (SE
in parenthesis)
Interest to Move
Moved Abroad
Interest in UK
Moved to UK
-0.2035*
(0.0892)
Econ& Bus.
student
Theoretical
school leaver
0.1542**
(0.0389)
0.2261**
(0.0635)
-0.1605**
(0.0635)
-0.1614
(0.2345)
Educ. Quality
abroad
0.1397*
(0.0620)
0.1388**
(0.0432)
0.1651**
(0.0432)
0.2059*
(0.0942)
Cost abroad
0.1198**
(0.0403)
-0.0007
(0.0424)
0.1101*
(0.0424)
-0.0481
0.0969
335
33.4
335
70.37
335
15.92
95
7.68
-141.6
-154.234
-192.8
-61.03
*significant at 5%, **significant at 1%
Number of observ.
Wald chi2
Log pseudolikelihood
Survey based
It
appears that students consider the
opportunity to study in a different
education system as the most
appealing reason for studying abroad
 This is particularly true for
economics/business students
 Other categories of students (though less
representative in sample) prioritise degree
quality and institutional reputation, with few
being driven by work opportunities abroad
Survey based
 The
principal constraint to mobility is the
cost of studying/living abroad for those
interested to move
 Where
respondents have moved, cost
concerns have a lower significance
Survey based
 Having
expressed educational quality
/reputation of education abroad as being the
strongest motivational factor to move is the
single most influential indicator of:




Interest in studies abroad
Having moved abroad for studies
Considering the UK as a destination
Studying in the UK, if already abroad
 However, there
is some suggestion that being
an economics and business student decreases
the propensity to study in the UK over other
destinations for Romanian students abroad
 Internal
UK student mobility analysis (e.g.
Davies et al, 2008) also indicates that cost of
education is not determining the choice of study
place, but studying or not studying
 Gonzalez, Mesanza, Mariel (2010) find
significant role of cost of living and university
quality in Erasmus mobility
 New EU member states’ nationals noted as
particularly driven by quality of education
abroad when seeking Erasmus opportunities (Di
Pietro and Page, 2008)
 Further
research question: How does
studying abroad link with labour market
choices and what are European
economics and business students’
specific expectations from mobility?