DrEducation: International Higher Education Blog

how is the mobility of international doctoral students likely to shift?

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:35:00 +0000

University World News published a special issue on development and trends with doctoral education and student mobility across the world. I contributed a piece entitled "The future of international doctoral mobility" for this special issue. Here is an edited excerpt of the article.

In ”The Disposable Academic”, The Economist argued that "doing a PhD” was often a waste of time. However, this pessimism does not reflect the experience of all students, as evidenced by increasing numbers of doctoral students from the global South heading to the advanced economies of the North in the past 20 years.

Two primary factors influence mobility and stay rates of international doctoral students: the comparative access to opportunities for doctoral training and professional advancement between their host and home countries.

How is the mobility of international students at doctoral level likely to shift in the next 20 years? It will be shaped by the collision of two counter-trends enabling and limiting mobility.

The expansion of undergraduate-level higher education in developing countries is increasing the supply of students who qualify for and aspire to a doctoral education. This will continue to fuel the mobility of foreign students seeking doctoral education abroad.

Concurrently, as the quality of the higher education system in the source countries improves, outward mobility may become more limited, as the differences in quality between domestic universities and foreign ones narrow.

Likewise, in terms of stay rate, two counter-trends will be at work. Students who go abroad to earn doctoral degrees may not stay to work because of the improving opportunities for economic reward and professional advancement in their home countries.

Simultaneously, the proactive immigration policies of host countries, devised to encourage talent retention, may effectively implore international students to remain.

Overall, this complex interplay of counter-trends will shape the future mobility of international students seeking doctoral education.

Based on the limited success of developing countries in instigating meaningful reforms in their higher education sectors, it is safe to predict that doctoral talent mobility will continue to be strong with high stay rates, especially in STEM-related fields.

Key source countries have to work harder and smarter to retain talent and provide competitive opportunities for developing and engaging talent, as Brazil does with Science Without Borders or Chile does with Becas.

Doctoral talent mobility will continue to reflect the reality of an interconnected, globalised world where individuals and nations try to maximise their growth and competitiveness.

The key is not to frame global talent mobility as a zero-sum game and that applies to doctoral talent too. After all, the academic is not yet disposable, not least the globally mobile ones of tomorrow.

Read full article here.

Impact of Supreme Court ruling on AICTE and MBA programs in India

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:21:00 +0000

In 2004, several colleges in the State of Tamil Nadu affiliated to Bharathidasan University and Manonmaniam Sundaranar University filed a case questioning the role of All Indian Council of Technical Education (AICTE)--Indian regulatory body for technical education including engineering and management.

One of the core question they asked was--"Whether the colleges affiliated to University are obliged to take separate permission/approval from the AICTE to run classes in Technical Courses in which the affiliated university of the colleges is not required to obtain any permission/approval under the AICTE Act itself?" (p.6)

Nine years later, the Supreme Court of India answered "... that the colleges who have opened the courses in question are affiliated to the universities. They are the controlling authorities with regard to their intake capacity for each course, the standards to be followed for each course, the syllabus of the course, the examination process etc.... Thus, for all intents and purposes the courses are being run by the Universities." (p. 7). "Therefore, the control upon the affiliated colleges of the University is vested with the University itself and it cannot be said that for certain type of courses the control will be with the AICTE." (p.11)

Download full judgment of the Supreme Court of India on AICTE's purview of MBA programs in India.

Of course, the judgment has created a sense of euphoria and confusion at the same time with varying range of analysis and interpretations with specific reference to MBA programs.

According to one analysis the recent ruling is limited to MBA programs offered at universities. It "...has taken away MBA (not PGDM) and MCA courses in India away from the purview of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), deeming these courses to not be of 'technical' nature....[The ruling] effectively ends the stronghold of AICTE on government-run MBA courses after 13 years. Not needing approval from AICTE anymore, these universities can now take higher control of their MBA programs. Furthermore, AICTE’s role is now only of advisory nature and the council can only provide recommendations to the UGC."

While another analysis in The New Indian Express extends it implications to all affiliated colleges. It notes "The effect of such a sweeping Supreme Court order is not as simple as it was originally captured by various newspapers. Any of the over 30,000 affiliated colleges can start new courses or programmes that come under the purview of AICTE without seeking its approval. All that the affiliated college must ensure is that it has the approval of the affiliating university and follow or at least appear to follow the norms and standards prescribed by AICTE."

I recently co-presented a webinar "India – The Next Frontier" hosted by American Council on Education's (ACE) Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement in partnership with the Boston College Center for International Higher Education. In accompanying article entitled "Partnerships in India: Navigating the Policy and Legal Maze" I argued that one of the "roots of complexity of Indian higher education policy and law stem from the structure of higher education where hundreds of 'teaching' colleges—private or public— are 'affiliated' with one public university, which in turn could be funded by state or central (national) resources."

The recent case of court judgment on AICTE clarifies and complicates the situation of college affiliation system. My interpretation of the situation is two-fold. On the one hand, role and influence of University Grants Commission (UGC)--regulatory body responsible for promoting and coordinating university education--and universities themselves, in maintaining and enforcing quality assurance for MBA programs will increase at the expense of AICTE. This is positive factor as there had been lot of confusion about role and efficacy of AICTE.

On the other hand, business education in India is already in a state of crisis and hitting a slowdown in growth (see latest statistics on number of B-schools in India) and a regulatory vacuum will further aggravate the situation. UGC itself has been struggling in enforcing quality standards. For example, the case of IIPM has been constantly embarrassing powers and purview of UGC. Here is my earlier post "IIPM: Mocking at Quality of Indian Higher Education?"

Overall, next few months will be interesting to see how institutions, regulators and students react to the situation. However, one thing is clear--expect more confusion before clarity emerges.

Share your thoughts or comments about the implications of the judgment on future of MBA programs in India.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha

Global mobility shift and segments of transnational education students

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:35:00 +0000

How are ‘global’ students different from ‘glocal’ students, and how is their mobility likely to take shape in future? In my recent article published in University World News, I argued that primary motivations and needs of students pursuing transnational education are different than globally mobile students.

Given below is the extract from the UWN article where I have adapted the student segmentation framework published in "Not All International Students Are the Same" by World Education Services.

"The research identified four different groups or segments of US-bound international students based on their academic preparedness and financial resources: Strivers, Strugglers, Explorers and Highfliers.

Strivers are primarily driven by career advancement. Despite being academically well prepared, they may lack the financial resources necessary to pursue education abroad without financial aid.

On the other hand, Explorers are driven by the experience of living abroad and they are ready to spend money on additional support services for study-abroad opportunities to overcome their relatively lower academic preparedness.

Highfliers are academically and financially well-endowed and driven by achievement to be the best, and they see studying abroad at a top institution as one of their goals. In contrast, Strugglers are not as sensitive to the quality of educational institutions. Instead they may be seeking education as a pathway to emigration.

Student segments in transnational education

With the growth of transnational education models, including validation of degrees, franchise programmes, online degrees, branch campuses and now MOOCs, these four groups of international students may be further characterised by two primary subgroups: ‘global’ and ‘glocal’.

‘Global’ students comprise Highfliers and Strugglers, who will not forgo the value of studying abroad, due to their strong desire for achievement or emigration, respectively. Thus, traditional destinations like the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia will continue to attract this segment. Alternative pathways to foreign education through transnational education will not be appealing to ‘global’ students.

In contrast, ‘glocal’ students comprise Explorers and Strivers, who have the aspiration to study abroad in traditional destinations like the US, the UK or Australia, but cannot due to their low academic or financial resources respectively. These students are open to other forms of engaging with transnational education.

‘Glocal’ students are different from ‘global’ ones, as they would like to earn the social prestige and career edge offered by foreign education without having to go very far from home.

Both ‘glocal’ and ‘global’ segments will grow in the medium term, but the ‘glocal’ one is expected to grow at a faster pace due to an insatiable appetite for foreign education, an expanding middle-class in emerging economies, and technological innovation.

On the other hand, the ‘global’ segment will grow at a slower pace due to a shift in institutional priority for self-funded students at undergraduate level and the increasing cost and competition for recruiting international students."

Related articles

Book: Cross-border Partnerships in Higher Education by Robin Sakamoto & David Chapman

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:55:00 +0000

Many higher education institutions with global ambitions are becoming increasingly interested, confused and cautious about strategies and approaches to cross-border engagements or transnational education. This is a result of a changing external environment of competition, cost consciousness and complexity. In this context, "Cross-border partnerships in Higher EducationStrategies and Issues" edited by Robin Sakamoto and David Chapman provides an "overview of the purposes and types of cross-border collaborations, an analysis of the benefits, and an examination of issues arising from these efforts."

Robin Sakamoto is Professor in the Faculty of Foreign Studies at Kyorin University in Tokyo, Japan. Her department was recently selected as one of 34 across the nation to receive funding for the Promotion of Global Human Resources by the Japanese government. She serves annually on the staff of the Japan Education Forum, which looks at multi-organizational collaboration in educational development and has worked in development assistance activities in Uganda and the Ukraine. She is currently engaged in a research project examining innovation in education in the Philippines. A former editor of the Journal of Intercultural Communication, she is now on the editorial board of AIEA.

David W. Chapman is Distinguished International Professor and Birkmaier Professor of Educational Leadership in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development at the University of Minnesota. His specialization is international development assistance. He has worked on development assistance activities in over 50 countries, assisting national governments and international organizations in the areas of educational policy and planning, program design and evaluation. His research has examined, among other things, cross-border collaborations in higher education, the role of higher education in national development, the role of information (and information systems) in policy formulation, and corruption in education.

Q. Rahul--One of the goals of the book is "to provide a critical look at the models being employed, the challenges encountered, and the unintended consequences of such [cross-border] collaboration, both positive and negative." What do you think one positive and one negative unintended consequence of growth in cross-border partnership?

A. Robin--As we look at cross-border collaboration, one of the most positive consequences of their growth is the freedom to expand beyond an exchange program format. Partnerships today can truly be innovative an the duration of the partnerships can be quite flexible. In our first chapter, we present a model of factors to be considered when establishing a cross-border partnership that is not instruction based and careful consideration of these factors will hopefully lead to a successful creative collaboration. But herein we also find the negative consequence of partnership growth. This freedom to go beyond the structure of credits rewarded for a set number of classroom hours makes cross-border partnerships whatever the participants want them to be. The inherent complexity of this creativity results in projects that may require changes in institutional policies or legal systems, all of which are occurring across different cultures. Thus it is paramount to keep a long-term perspective with constant monitoring and evaluation to reduce this complexity. Despite the challenges, successful creative partnerships are indeed propelling our institutions of higher learning to evolve and serve an ever more important role in contributing to the formation of social policy.

Q. Rahul--Please share how the increasing sophistication and cost-efficiency of technology-enabled learning models is going impact the future of cross-border partnerships in higher education?

A. David--With the expansion of online and web-based instruction, borders make less difference. A substantial number of colleges and universities in nearly every country is experimenting with putting more of their courses online, often with the intention of attracting a wider circle of students and, consequently, tuition revenue. Students in Cambodia can take courses offered by the University of Minnesota, the University of Sydney, or Oxford. Some open universities in Asia already enroll well over 100,000 students each.

At the same time, online courses also pose challenges. It is sometimes hard for students to evaluate the legitimacy and quality of the foreign institutions offering online courses and programs. Governments prone to wanting to control the flow of ideas within their borders have greater trouble doing so. And, while online courses mean more choice and greater convenience for students, they have sometimes posed a headache for conventional universities as those universities have been forced to rethink their business model. Larger numbers of students choose online courses without committing to full degree programs. The introduction of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has some universities offering courses for free, only charging students if they want college credit for the class. Then, too, university administrators worry that online students may not develop the same sense of institutional identification and loyalty that will lead them to be donors to their universities after graduation. Online instruction is shaking up the way universities around the world do business.

Differences in mobility of women international students: Case of China and India

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:48:00 +0000

While women student enrollment is more than men in many countries, proportion of women in international student enrollment still lags behind. According to IIE Open Doors, in 2011/12, women comprised of 44% of international student enrollment. At the same time, there are acute differences by source countries and level of education.

Given the limitation of publicly available data, I took a case of the University of Illinois, which hosted nearly 9,000 international students in 2011/12 and ranks second among top institutions in terms of international student enrollment.

As the chart shows, number of Indian women at undergraduate level is one-twelfth of Chinese (778 vs. 64) While number of Chinese women grew nearly twenty-times in five years (from 38 in fall 2005 to 778 in fall 2010), number of Indian women grew at an anemic pace from 43 to 64 students.

The situation is a bit more positive at the graduate level where number of Chinese women is five-times of number of Indian women. Proportion of international women students for India was 23% was compared to 48% for China. (An earlier analysis, provides comprehensive break-down of data on test-taking patterns of women GMAT test-takers from China and India).

There are several reasons contributing to this low mobility of Indian women in general and at specifically at undergraduate level in specific. This includes a conservative sociocultural environment which sees study abroad experience for young female students as a deterrent to future marriage prospects. In addition, financial barriers makes it difficult to fund undergraduate education.

Are universities doing enough to facilitate mobility of women students? Higher education institutions can not remain passive and need to do more to facilitate and support mobility of women students. This could be a very important contributor to advancement of women in different societies at all levels. Innovative scholarships and campaigns that help engage women should be built in institutional outreach strategies.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha

International student recruitment research: Responding to a changing enviornment

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:55:00 +0000

Robert Diamond wrote that “[s]ignificant change will never occur in any institution until the forces for change are greater in combination than the forces preserving the status quo. And in colleges and universities, the forces for resisting change are extremely powerful”.

The landscape of international student recruitment is changing at a fast pace and achieving recruitment goals will require adapting to this change. In general, institutional strategies and practices for recruiting international students have not kept pace with the external changes in markets, students, and channels.

In this blog post, I am sharing three recent research pieces on international student recruitment published by WES, NAFSA and AIEA highlighting a changing environment and need for proactive and informed institutional strategies.

International Student Mobility Trends: Towards Responsive Recruitment Strategies published by World Education Services (WES), co-authored with Li Chang & Yoko Kono.

This research report compares the undergraduate level international student mobility trends and offers a framework of responsive recruitment strategies. The premise of the study is the there are many external and uncontrollable factors influencing international student mobility and hence institutions need to develop responsive strategies which can help them adapt to an uncertain environment. This is especially important in the context that international undergraduate students are younger, need more support services, are well-funded and well-networked on social media as compared traditional profile of graduate students who expected financial-aid and were highly self-directed.

Preparing to Recruit From Emerging Markets published by NAFSA Trends & Insights

The core argument of the piece is that current growth of international student enrollment is primarily driven by demand from source countries such as China and Saudi Arabia, instead of a result of proactive outreach and engagement by institutions. However, future-ready institutions need to recognize the risk associated with overdependence on limited source countries as it would adversely affect the makeup of the international student body on campuses. At the same time, international student recruitment is a time and resource intensive endeavor. Hence, HEIs need to prepare themselves for a changing context of international student recruitment which requires informed strategies of systematically identifying and cultivating emerging markets. (Based on previous research report "Beyond More of the Same: The Top Four Emerging Markets for International Student Recruitment" published by WES, co-authored with Yoko Kono).

Social Media in International Student Recruitment published by Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA)

This report highlights that "social media is one of the biggest changes in terms of communication styles and engagement with prospective students." Social media offers immense potential and relevance to deliver cost-effective results in recruiting international students. "Social media offers at least four unique advantages on the dimensions of relevance, speed, cost and personalization, which makes it highly relevant to resource efficiency in the context of international higher education." The report, "deconstructs the complexity of social media, highlights changes in communication patterns of prospective students, and proposes models of engagement to encourage institutions of higher education to prioritize social media as an integral component of their international student recruitment strategies.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha

Foreign universities in India - A reality check, again!

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 13:42:00 +0000

"A revolution is brewing in the higher education sector with foreign universities waiting for India to open its doors to them.", says The Telegraph in August 2009 and Inside Higher Ed echoed the optimism and prospects of finding "a passage to India" for foreign universities.

More than three years later sentiments have reversed with pessimism and frustration overtaking optimism. The Chronicle of Higher Education sums up with a headline "For U.S. colleges in India, great possibilities, thwarted hopes" and Times Higher Ed finds "As India plays hard to get, overseas suitors lose interest." University World News reports challenges at Leeds MET India, one of the "first" foreign campuses in India, which decided to not wait for the approval of the foreign universities bill.

Several big names like Duke Fuqua, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech have all scaled down their ambitions from full-fledged degree campuses to smaller partnerships.

What happened? A case of misplaced optimism.

In March 2010, I blogged --"Foreign Universities in India: A Reality Check" and argued that there is a huge mismatch between understanding of what Indian policymakers believe foreign universities want and what foreign universities want to do in India.

I offered a broad schema to highlight that that there are three segments of foreign universities interested in coming to India with different needs and objectives: 1) Prestige-enhancing (top-50 research universities): 2) Prestige-seeking (next-tier of 100 universities): 3) Revenue/profit maximizing.

Policymakers were interested in attracting top global universities without understanding that there is no need or interest among this segment to build branch campuses or offer degree programs, unless they are funded or financially supported by the host country (e.g. NYU in Abu Dhabi).

At the same time, foreign universities bill proposed upfront barriers like requirement of corpus fund of $10 million and non-repatriation of surplus, which pretty much eliminated all leading universities, especially publically funded ones, which cannot justify with their stakeholders to put an upfront money with no hope of recovery.

Given no financial support from government and at the same time, high financial barriers to start-up, the only way resources could be pulled together was through corporate funding or philanthropy. However, corporate funding means potential for ramping up number, growth and potentially "profit-orientation" and culture of philanthropy is weak in India.

The "for-profit" institutions were proposed to be not allowed to operate in India as the foreign education provider has to be established as a non-profit organization. This is ironical, as many private "non-profit" institutions are cooking books with clear goals of profit maximization.

And of course, the complexity, inertia and confusion of politics and policy-making in India did not help either.

So, what works?

My core recommendation to foreign institutions to "incubate" the partnerships and not to think about grandiose plans of branch campuses. Indian higher education is rich with opportunities but rife with challenges and hence it is important to start now, howsoever small an engagement it is. Higher education institutions need to take calculated risk and "start-up" mentality of working with several institutional partnerships of varying intensity and resources and ramp them up over time. Of course, knowing complexities, context and challenges of working with India is a sure ingredient for success and the other is patience!

I am also co-presenting a webinar entitled "India – The Next Frontier" hosted by American Council on Education.

Related resources:

India and the United States: Cooperating in Education Across Borders, World Education News & Reviews
Emerging Models of Indian-European Higher Education Collaborations, World Education News & Reviews
Foreign Universities Institutions in India, Statement by Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Dr. Shashi Tharoor in Lok Sabha on 19-December, 2012.
3 Lessons in Building Partnerships in India by Cheryl Matherly
Building Partnerships in India, IIE Blog
India's Half-Open Door May Not Entice Foreign Universities by Phil Altbach

Dr. Rahul Choudaha
(c) DrEducation.com. Author's permission required to republish.

Decline in doctoral student enrollment in the US

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 14:50:00 +0000

US universities seems to be absorbing lesser number of international students at the doctoral level. The proportion of doctoral student enrollment has declined from 20% in 2006/07 to 17.3% in 2011/12 (IIE Open Doors). However, total doctoral enrollment grew from 108,033 to 117,564, in the same period.

The decline in proportion of international students at the doctoral level does not necessarily indicate the lack in interest of international students to apply or the US institutions to attract international students, however, it is more of an indicator of the effect of the economy, which made availability of financial assistance for doctoral programs tougher. Of course, related reason is faster growth of enrollment at bachelor's degree level primarily driven by China (proportion of international students at bachelor's degree level grew from 29.2% to 36% between 2006/07 and 2011/12).

At the same time, growth in total enrollment at the doctoral level, perhaps reflects the longer graduation time students were taking due to lack of availability of jobs in the market. In December 2010, The Economist published "The disposable academic" and argued that "doing a PhD is often a waste of time." The Nature asked "What is a PhD really worth?" and argued that doctorates to find careers outside academia and "Few academic programmes fully appreciate the true potential that PhD training can confer, or the breadth and depth of value that someone with a PhD can contribute to the world at large; universities often believe that academia is still the most valuable calling for their graduates."

For many doctoral international students, who typically enroll in STEM fields, value of PhD is well-established, however, the bigger constraint for them is availability of doctoral programs with funding opportunities. The pipeline is not expected to see any major reversion in next few years as the availability of fully-funded doctoral programs will limited. With continued expansion of higher education systems in countries like China and India, demand for doctoral programs will continue to increased resulting in doctoral programs becoming even more competitive.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha

Data comparing number of GRE and GMAT test-takers

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:52:00 +0000

GRE released data on number of test-takers for the first time. GMAC had been sharing data and profile trends on GMAT test takers for several years. I have compared the two test-taker volume for 25 countries.

Most of the developing countries outside the US have a pattern of higher number of GRE test-takers as compared to GMAT (yellow cells in the table). These countries have lesser number of GMAT test-takers as business education expects students to be self-funded as schools offers very limited to no financial support, except for doctoral programs. Saudi Arabia is an exception where fully-funded scholarship program has broadened the fields of study options for students.

In contrast, countries where students have higher capacity to pay for their own education and have less dependency on financial aid has larger number of GMAT test-takers. This includes China where number of GMAT test takers is almost double than GRE test-takers. Here is a previous analysis comparing GMAT test takers from China and India.

Of course, GRE test is used for much larger number of fields including business, however, GMAT is used for business programs only. However, this comparison would aid institutions to prioritize and compare markets.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha (copyright)

Global market in transnational education by Nigel Healey

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:58:00 +0000

Transnational education in its various forms had been growing both in quantity and qualitative complexity. I came across Prof. Healey's informative slides on TNE from QS-APPLE conference and asked him to narrate the key conclusions. I especially found slide #10/11 about "Oxford Brookes effect" quite interesting. This is primarily an effect of Oxford Brookes' partnership with ACCA offered in several countries including Pakistan and Sri Lanka. A report by the 1994 Group explains that the "Data on ‘students studying wholly outside the UK’ is skewed by large numbers studying at Oxford Brooks. Oxford Brookes started returning data in 2008/09 for students studying for a BSc in Applied Accounting in partnership with ACCA. This BSc is a partnerships with ACCA where students on the ACCA programme receive a BSc qualifi cation from Oxford Brookes if they submit a satisfactory “Research and Analysis Project” to Oxford Brookes." (p.14).
-Rahul

Nigel Healey
Nottingham Trent University, UK

Professor Nigel Healey is Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) and Head of the College of Business, Law and Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University. He has previously held positions as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) and Dean of the College of Business and Economics at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand), Dean of Manchester Metropolitan University Business School and Jean Monnet
Chair of European Economic Studies at the University of Leicester. His current research focuses on the internationalisation of higher education, with particular reference to the Asia-Pacific region, and developments in higher education policy nationally and internationally.

Overview of the global market in transnational education from nigel_healey

Higher education has become a major global industry. The most striking dimension of this internationalisation has been the rise in the number of students studying at universities outside their own country. The equally rapid increase in the number of students studying for a foreign degree without leaving their home country has,
however, attracted less attention. UNESCO defines this form of transnational education (TNE) as ‘all types of higher education study programmes, sets of study courses, or educational services (including those of distance education) in which the learners are located in a country different from the one where the awarding institution is based’. For some countries, notably the UK, there are now more foreign students
studying for awards offshore than studying on-campus in the UK.

This presentation provides an overview of the types of TNE activity and discusses the broad trends and developments in this rapidly evolving, and largely unregulated, international market. It concludes that the data for TNE are still not reliable and that it is difficult to make meaningful comparisons about the growth of TNE relative to the more conventional export education.

It finds that THE has been mainly focused on Asia, driven by high economic growth, rapid population growth (in 18-22 year old range) and the lack of capacity and quality in domestic higher education sector. Going forward, it seems likely that TNE will experience some slowdown, as demographics reduce demand, the capacity and quality of Asian universities improves and tougher host quality assurance regimes
negatively impact Western providers.

There is already evidence that the traditional principal-agent (university-foreign private college) model may have limited life span in Asia and that some universities are beginning to scale back this form of TNE. It is probable that franchise activity may switch to other emerging markets in Africa and Latin America, especially in some of the newly emerging hubs where government policy seeks to attract foreign providers, notably Dubai and Qatar. Continued TNE in Asia looks likely to be move towards international branch campuses rather than franchising, but this may be a very limited market.

H1 Visa: Facilitating education and employment pathways for economic development

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 00:42:00 +0000

"If anything, we have too many high-tech workers: more than nine million people have degrees in a science, technology, engineering or math field, but only about three million have a job in one", opines Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute in The New York Times.

Mr. Eisenbrey argues against the value of expanding the H1-B temporary visa program in STEM fields and concludes "Bringing over more — there are already 500,000 workers on H-1B visas — would obviously darken job prospects for America’s struggling young scientists and engineers. But it would also hurt our efforts to produce more: if the message to American students is, 'Don’t bother working hard for a high-tech degree, because we can import someone to do the job for less,' we could do significant long-term damage to the high-tech educational system we value so dearly."

However, Mr. Eisenbrey's opinion misses important facts related to innovation and economic development that far outweigh the perceived costs. Here are two related reports providing several facts about the demand and usage of H1-B especially related to STEM fields:

- The Search for Skills: Demand for H-1B Immigrant Workers in U.S. Metropolitan Areas by the Brookings Institute
- Help Wanted: The Role of Foreign Workers in the Innovation Economy by Partnership for a New American Economy, Information Technology Industry Council and U.S. Chamber of Commerce

According to the Brookings Institute report, "In 92 of the 106 high demand metropolitan areas, STEM occupations accounted for more than half of all requests. Computer occupations were the most highly requested occupation group in all but 11 metros of the 106 high-demand metros, where engineering, healthcare practitioners, and postsecondary teachers were more requested." This indicates that demand for H1-B visas had been majorly coming from high-tech industries.

The H1-B visa program is an important policy tool which continues to make U.S. a very attractive destination for international students. This is partly because 2005 onwards, U.S. had allowed for 20,000 additional visas for international students graduating with advanced degree from U.S. universities. This also connects with another enabling policy of 17 months OPT extension for STEM graduates.

I also mapped GDP of top 10 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) along with the demand for H1-B visas in top 10 MSAs. As the table indicates, eight of the top-10 MSAs by GDP overlap with H1-B demand, confirming an intuitive correlation between economic activity and demand for skills. To sum up, an efficient and swift process of attracting skilled immigrants is integral to the economic vitality in the U.S. and H1-visa had been facilitating this need.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha

How 17-month STEM OPT extension influenced international student enrollment trends?

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:51:00 +0000

USCIS defines Optional Practical Training (OPT) as temporary employment that is directly related to major area of study of international students on F-1 visa. It is a valuable experiential opportunity for 12 months at each education level--bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral. Beginning April 2008, USCIS took a progressive step by allowing students enrolled in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related fields to get additional 17 months of OPT. This not only helped U.S. become more attractive for international students seeking to gain some work experience but more importantly it became a talent attraction and retention tool. Employers also found to be of value as they can have a longer working relationship before deciding on H-1 visa sponsorship.

Given that OPT extension is applicable to STEM related fields, it influenced some countries more than the others. For example, over 70% of Indian students are enrolled in STEM related fields (Engineering, Math, Computer Science or Physical/Life Sciences). Likewise, nearly half of all Nepalese students and 44% of Turkish students are enrolled in STEM related fields. This is one explanatory factor for high growth is OPT enrollment for Indian, Nepalese and Turkish students.

Recent momentum about the immigration reform and allocation of green card to STEM graduates is going to make the U.S. even more attractive for international students and provides logical pathways for retaining talent. Here is an excellent report on the state of STEM education in the U.S.

(copyright) Dr. Rahul Choudaha

SAGE Handbook of International Higher Education

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 16:10:00 +0000

The SAGE Handbook of International Higher Education, edited by Darla K. Deardorff, Hans de Wit, John D. Heyl and Tony Adams is the most comprehensive collection of articles on internationalization of higher education. It brings together leading experts on the topic to take deep into issues, developments and trends related to international higher education. It is available for sale on amazon. Here is sample chapter entitled "Bridges to the Future The Global Landscape of International Higher Education" available for free download and a blog on the Handbook.

The handbook comprises five sections, covering key areas: internationalization of higher education in a conceptual and historic context; different thematic approaches to internationalization; internationalization of the curriculum, teaching and learning process, and intercultural competencies; the abroad dimension of internationalization and the mobility of students, scholars, institutions, and projects; and a concluding section on regional trends in international education and direction for the future of internationalization in the 21st century.

Given below are a couple of questions I asked editors--Darla and Hans--about the handbook.

Darla K. Deardorff is currently executive director of the Association of International Education Administrators (AIEA), a national professional organization based at Duke University, where she is a Research Scholar in the Program in Education. Dr. Deardorff has published widely on topics in international education, global leadership and intercultural learning/assessment and is editor of The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence (Sage, 2009) as well as co-editor of The SAGE Handbook of International Education (Sage, 2012) with Hans de Wit, John Heyl and Tony Adams, Building Cultural Competence (Stylus, 2012) with Kate Berardo and author of Beneath the Tip of the Iceberg: Improving English and Understanding US American Cultural Patterns (University of Michigan Press, 2011). Dr. Deardorff holds a master’s and doctorate from North Carolina State University where she focused on international education.

Rahul- Please provide the background on how this handbook idea was conceived and what is the biggest change in content from its first edition 20 year ago?

Darla- The idea for this handbook originally came about through the Association of International Education Administrators' desire to update a seminal book in the international field: Bridges to the Future, edited by Charles Klasek and originally published in 1992 by AIEA. Given how much the field had evolved since that time, it was felt that a more fully developed handbook was necessary to document the dramatic changes over this period, as well as the issues, trends, and conceptualizations of the current field. The biggest change in content from the its first iteration 20 years ago is its decidely global context and focus. In 1992, the contributors and editor of Bridges were all US-based; the Handbook builds on the legacy of that first publication but expands the content and perspectives through not only an editorial team that spans three continents but through contributions from leaders and experts around the world. As we write in the preface, "This Handbook serves as an ambitious guide to international education in this millennium and offers global perspectives... for the further creation, development, and enhancement of the internationalization of higher education in the years to come" (p. x).

Hans de Wit is Professor (lector) of Internationalisation of Higher Education at the School of Economics and Management of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, University of Applied Sciences, and as of 2012 also a professor of Internationalisation of Higher Education and Academic Director at the International Education Research Centre (IERC) of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC) in Milan. He is the Co-Editor of the Journal of Studies in International Education (Association for Studies in International Education/SAGE publishers). His latest books are Hans de Wit (2011), Trends, Issues and Challenges in Internationalisation of Higher Education, CAREM HvA, and Hans de Wit (2009). (Ed.), Measuring Success in Internationalisation of Higher Education, EAIE Occasional Paper, Amsterdam. He is also a founding member and past president of the European Association for International Education (EAIE).

Rahul- In the preface, co-editors mentioned that the handbook takes a"strategic approach to internationalization...which aims at changing quality of higher education itself." Could you please elaborate how the handbook helps in achieving this goals?

Hans- Internationalization has become a key and rather broad concept in higher education, including many different activities, strategies, rationales and approaches, with different traditions, positions and prospects by type of institution and country/region. Its contribution to enhance the overall quality of higher education should be driving the internationalization agenda, even where sometimes more commercial, political or social rationales appear to be dominant. The Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of all these drivers and approaches, and provides views and tools to combine these with the main objective: its quality enhancement by improving the quality of what we do under the umbrella of internationalization, and the contribution of internationalization to the quality of education and research.

What are the study abroad enrollment trends of Indian students?

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 22:57:00 +0000

Four year enrollment trends of leading destinations indicate a stagnancy or decline, except with Canada. What explains this trend? What are the future enrollment trends expected for 2013?

Note: above data includes all levels of enrollment. For example, VET level enrollment in Australia and OPT in the US.

The post-recession scenario hit the mobility of Indian students quite hard and uncovered two primary segment of students--immigration-driven and career-driven. Each destination has a mix of these two segments. It ranged from majority career-driven Indian students going to the US at master's degree level, to majority of immigration-driven students going to Australia and enrolling at vocational and technical colleges.

Due to recession, the US as a destination lost some of its attractiveness due to a lesser availability of financial assistance from universities and poorer prospects of finding jobs after completion of education. This is the time when one-year master's programs in the UK became quite attractive for Indian students who were ready to pay for shorter duration master's programs and a higher potential for immigration as compared to the US. At the same time, Australia hit its peak with Indian students in 2009, with a large wave of Indian students using education as a pathway for immigration through vocational program.

This large wave of Indian students with immigration intentions also unearthed several cases of visa abuses and prompting both Australian and British government to tighten regulations. As a result, the enrollment of Indian students in the UK and Australia plummeted, however, Canada became a beneficiary because of its immigration friendly policies and attracted larger number of Indian students with immigration-intentions.

In 2013, I expect to see slight recovery for the US due to demand side factor of larger pool of students willing and able to pay for their education and at the same time increasing optimism about the US economy will increase the application pipeline for fall'2013 enrollment. The UK is facing high negative perception among Indian students and is unlikely to start recovering until next year. At the same time, Canada may face some challenges similar to what Australia faced a couple of years back. In 2013, I expect Australia to start recovering from its bottom primarily due to negative perceptions in the UK and reversal of some immigration policies including new post study work visa arrangements.

Any other thoughts/explanations? What could be near term trends of mobility of Indian students?

Dr. Rahul Choudaha
(copyright)

Growth of Engineering and Management Institutions in India Stalls

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 22:55:00 +0000

Growth of engineering and management institutions in Indian have come to a screeching halt, confirming the trend predicted in my earlier posts--Engineering Pipeline: Disproportionate and Disconnected in August'09 and Indian B-School Bubble? in July'11.

The percentage growth in number of engineering institutions in India have came down from high of 43% in 2008-09 (academic year) to 3% in 2012-13. This translates into slowdown in starting of new institutions from 720 in 2008-09 to 105 in 2012-13. Likewise, for business schools, growth declined from 33% in 2008-09 to 3% 2012-13. In terms of absolute numbers, the number of new B-schools declined from 417 in 2009-10 to 82 in 2012-13.

This decline is a combination of two primary factors--weak regulatory mechanisms and profit motives of some private players. During the years of high growth in engineering and management institutions corruption in regulatory authorities was also riding high and many institutions were approved by overlooking qualitative deficiencies for bribes. At the same time, many private players were rushing into education "business" as a low-risk, high cash-flow business with an opportunity to leverage on real-estate (another sector plagued with tax-evaded "black" money") and tax-free status of pseudo-non-profits. This opened the floodgates of many private institutions which compromised quality to save money on soft and hard infrastructure. And, hence students graduating from these institutions were unemployable (of course, the recession did not help either) which in turn created negative word of mouth for institutions to get future student enrollment. Given that private institutions rely solely on tuition for revenue, lack of enrollment means financial instability. As a result, a large number of engineering and management institutions are now facing problems of vacant seats and are even available for sale. This in turn has slowed the growth of new institutions.

Although the growth of engineering and management institutions has slowed down, with 3,500 engineering colleges and 2,500 B-schools, India has disproportionately large number of institutions, indicating high value Indians place of job-oriented, professional programs with social prestige.

Copyright

Dr. Rahul Choudaha

2012: The Year of Technology, Innovation and Regulations in Higher Education

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 18:32:00 +0000

Wish you a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year!

2012 was a year when higher education sector faced increasing regulation but gained energy from technology and innovation.

In the US, rising debt-level and default rates, continued to increase the scrutiny of the for-profit sector and more recently there are still reports of emerging malpractices in the sector. One clear indicator of the pessimism around the sector is the stock prices of two leading for-profit companies--Apollo Group and DeVry--which are hovering close to their 52-week low. Earlier this year, both Apollo and DeVry announced job cuts and Apollo is shutting down some campuses to manage cost and switch students to online education.

The most “buzzing” technology-enabled educational innovation of the year was the concept free online education or MOOCs. It is putting pressure not only on traditional universities but also on for-profit institutions to assess their value offering and how to respond to MOOCs. As the Economist states "MOOCs clearly mean upheaval for the cosseted and incompetent. But for those who most want it, education will be transformed." Coursera which started only in April 2012, has crossed 2 million student signed up for its courses. Most recent entrant in this frenzy is Future Learn--a partnership of 12 UK universities led by the Open University (OU).

Likewise, in the world of international higher education, leading destinations became more vigilant about the student visa abuses have been putting different regulatory measures in place. For example, in The UK 100,000 prospective students will be interviewed as a a part of the plan to stop "bogus students" from entering the country. Likewise, for Australia, the visa refusal rate of 50% for India also indicates not just the issue of higher degree of fraud but also the rate at which not the fraud is being caught due to higher scrutiny. In the US, earlier announcement about accreditation of Intensive English Programs and subsequent announcement about conditional admissions requirements, also indicated tightening of the student visa related polices in the US.

Overall, increasing competition in times of economic uncertainties is toughening regulatory environment and at the same time technological innovations are offering more value within the constraints.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha

Book on Indian Higher Education: Essays by Altbach, Edited by Agarwal

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:40:00 +0000

A Half-Century of Indian Higher Education: Essays by Philip G Altbach is edited by Pawan Agarwal Adviser, Higher Education, Planning Commission of India. This is a compendium of 34 writings of Altbach on Indian higher education.

Altbach is synonymous with high impact, scholarly work in international higher education. However, what many may not know is that his scholarly connections started with his dissertation on student political activism in India. Specifically, his dissertation was entitled "Students, Politics, and Higher Education in a Developing
Society, The Case of Bombay, India."

This book brings together scholarly contributions of Altbach in shaping the future directions of Indian higher education.With more than 600 pages and seven sections, the book is a comprehensive collection of writings and even includes a section on "India and China-Comparative Analysis" which ends with an afterword: by Altbach highlighting "India's Higher Education Challenges." He notes that "Given the realities of contemporary Indian higher education, it is not possible to be optimistic about a breakthrough in quality."

The editor, Pawan Agarwal, is the architect of India's twelfth five year plan (2012-2017) which is aiming for "equity, excellence and expansion through aspiration, achievement and alignment" (Here is the twelfth plan on higher education from pg. 89-123). Pawan is also the author of a definitive book Indian Higher Education: Envisioning the Future (Sage, 2009). I interviewed him on his previous book. Here is the interview with Pawan.

In the Epilogue of this book entitled "Higher Education in India-The Twelfth Plan and Beyond", Pawan concludes that "Policy is created in the context of the larger public discourse" and this book certainly enables "a process of integrative thinking and applied creativity to be addressed to the issues of the country's higher education sot hat it can reach its full potential."

I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to take a deep dive into the evolution and development of Indian higher education.

Foreign Students Becoming Integral to Budgets of Universities

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 02:57:00 +0000

International students and their dependents contributed $21.81 billion in 2011-12 to the U.S. economy, according to a NAFSA report. This contribution increased by 40% from pre-recession time contribution of $15.5 billion in 2007-08, indicating that international student mobility is recession-proof.

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, a private university, enrolled largest number of foreign students in the US and received $289 million in tuition and fees from 9,269 students.

Contribution of foreign students to the US economy is growing due to two primary factors--1) larger number of students coming to the US and more importantly 2) more students enrolling at undergraduate level, where students are self-funded and hence financial aid outflow is limited.

As I mention in my previous blog, growth was led by just 108 "Research Universities" which enrolled nearly two-fifth of all international students in the US. In addition, 2/3rd of these research universities are public institutions.

The growth in foreign student enrollment becomes most obvious in the case of some of the most reputed public research institutions in California as shown in the table. For example, at UC-Berkeley, tuition and fees from foreign student grew by double the rate as compared to number of foreign student enrollment, indicating higher rate of enrollment of self-funded students. Foreign students contributed $154 million and $176 million to UC-Berkeley and UCLA respectively in the form of tuition and fees in 2011-12.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha
Copyright DrEducation.com

Getting ready for the next wave of international student recruitment

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 16:40:00 +0000

International student recruitment enviornment is changing in terms of competition, policy framework and student profiles. In other words, push and pull variables of student mobility are transforming. In this context, US faces several challenge in recouping its lost share of globally mobile students. One approach in overcoming challenges and ensuring long-term success is to build competencies and capacites that adapt and respond to this new enviornment.

Given below is my article published in University World News

A recent commentary in University World News highlighted issues facing US higher education in sustaining international student growth rates. Although some of the concerns raised are relevant, they mask the latent strength in the scale, diversity and capacity of the American higher education system to become a more attractive player in the international student mobility arena.

The concept of international student recruitment in the US is a relatively new development. It gained traction in response to post-recession budget cuts, primarily in public higher education institutions.

The external environment prompted institutions to start recruiting international students, but the internal capacities and resources of many were ill prepared for this sudden shift towards a more proactive recruitment model.

Against a backdrop of higher expectations for international enrolment and declining budget support, this lack of internal capacity triggered the adoption of quick turnaround recruitment approaches. For example, several institutions started experimenting with commission-based recruitment agents, anticipating lower upfront costs.

These quick-fix practices, however, have created gaps in institutions’ ability to manage the qualitative risks associated with the use of agents and provide adequate support services to meet international student needs.

Research universities

Agent-using institutions are not necessarily the institutions that drive most of the international student enrolment growth. In fact, less than 3% of American institutions classified as "Research Universities (very high research activity-RU/VH)" by the Carnegie Classification are primarily responsible for overall expansion.

These 108 research universities increased their share of total international student enrolment in the US from 37.7% to 42.5% between 2010-11 and 2011-12, according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors survey. International student enrolment at these universities rose by 38%, compared to 23% for all institutions.

Until recently, most research universities did not actively ‘recruit’ as they could rely on strong word-of-mouth and institutional reputation. But with two-thirds of them being public institutions, they too could not shield themselves from the effects of the recent financial crisis.

This provoked several public institutions to begin recruiting international students, and this is evident from the much higher enrolment growth at some of the large public universities. For instance, Purdue University and the University of Washington each enrolled almost 3,000 more international students in the autumn of 2012 than the autumn of 2008.

When we look closely at the details of that expansion, we can see that research universities have witnessed a larger expansion in the enrolment of undergraduates than graduates. For example, at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), new international undergraduate student enrolment grew seven-fold – from 142 to 1,012 – between 2008 and 2012.

This is one example of many that show how research universities are attracting more and more undergraduate-level international students – a new phenomenon for these institutions known for their research excellence, an excellence that traditionally drew graduate students.

This trend towards an increasing undergraduate focus is driven by a fall in the funding available at graduate level and a higher revenue potential for self-funded undergraduate students. This pattern prevails across all institution types as international student growth is driven by undergraduate students.

In 2011-12, 24,793 more undergraduate international students than in the previous year were enrolled in US higher education institutions as compared to 3,856 at graduate level. Undergraduate-level students now make up 78% of total international student enrolment.

Thus, it is undeniable that recent growth in international student enrolment in the US is driven by an overarching trend: large public research universities reaching out to increasing numbers of undergraduate-level students.

Next phase of growth

In order to capitalise on the potential for the next phase of enrolment growth, US institutions must continue to build their internal capacity to actively recruit international students. This growth may be risky if institutions rely on quick-fix recruitment practices rather than long-term capacity building models.

In addition to insufficient institutional preparedness for the changing environment of international student recruitment, lack of a coherent national policy has also hindered the US from attracting more international students.

However, recent proactive measures taken by US government agencies, such as providing information through Study in the States, will nationally brand American higher education for international students. In addition, recent policy initiatives like offering green cards to STEM graduates will make the US even more attractive to international talent.

The US is a recent entrant in the world of international student recruitment and will remain highly attractive to international students from all parts of the world. The central challenge for the US is not its unsustainability, but rather building the capacity and competencies required to recruit international students while maintaining high standards.

12 Things to Know about Asian Higher Education: ADB

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:26:00 +0000

Asian Development Bank posted 12 Things to Know in 2012: Higher Education on its website reasserting the issue of expansion of systems without preparedness to cope with quality and access. Here are the 12 issues and facts from ADB:

Over the last 20 years, higher education systems across Asia have experienced a sharply increased demand for access.
Universities in many developing member countries suffer from inadequate infrastructure and weak instruction. Low quality is the greatest challenge facing higher educations systems across the region.
Financial support for higher education dropped sharply in the 1990s and 2000s as the central development challenge of the era was to expand access to basic education.
The World Bank has argued that sustainable poverty reduction will not be achieved without a renaissance in the higher education systems of developing countries.
Countries that give individuals one additional year of education can boost productivity and raise economic output by 3% to 6% over time.
In any analysis of higher education issues across Asia, generalizations must be treated with great caution. The region includes some of the most affluent economies - Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore - as well as some of the poorest like Cambodia and Lao PDR. It also includes PRC and India, the fastest growing higher education systems in the world.
Unemployment among university graduates in Southeast Asia is on the rise – the highest is in Indonesia and Philippines.
A World Bank study noted that 80% of Thai firms had difficulties filling jobs as graduates lacked basic and technical skills.
Corruption is a major problem within universities in some developing member countries in Asia, evidenced by instances of plagiarism, falsification of data, and cheating on examinations.
Across Asia, more faculty members are needed, with higher qualifications and better wages - current academic staff are stretched as they seek ways to make ends meet, and the attractiveness of the profession is declining.
In Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, and Philippines, private universities enroll the majority of students - in some cases up to 80%.
Since 1970, ADB has provided about $7.5 billion in loans to the education sector, of which 12% was for higher education.

Source: ADB

Management Education & GMAT Trends: India Recovering, China Growing

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:10:00 +0000

Number of GMAT test takers for the testing year 2012 (July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012) increased by 11% as compared to 2011, according to GMAC. Testing volume hit the highest record volume 286,529 after facing decline in volume for previous two years. TY 2012 volume was 8 percent higher than the previous record of 265,613 in 2009.

This year also, the growth was driven by test-takers from outside the US. Number of GMAT test-takers outside the US increased by more than 19% as compared to stagnant numbers for US test takers. Over the five years, average GMAT test-taker volume for the US citizens was 123,552 (–1.7%) and for rest of the World it was 140,702 (+9.0%).

Outside the US China continues to grow at a clipping rate while India is showing signs of recovery from declining numbers in last couple of years.Within China the growth was driven by young women in early 20's while for India it was late 20's to early 30's.

Copyright Dr. Rahul Choudaha

Big Getting Bigger: Large Research Universities Driving the Growth of International Student Enrollment

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Just 108 universities enrolled nearly two-fifth of all international students in the US. These 108 universities are classified as "Research Universities (very high research activity)" by Carnegie Classification. In fact, these universities drove most of the growth in the last five years and increased their share from 37.7% of total international student enrollment in the US to about 42.5%. International student enrollment at these universities grew by 38% as compared to 23% for all institutions, according to IIE Open Doors report. Clearly indicating a trend towards "big getting bigger."

It is also interesting to note that two-thirds of the Research Universities (very high research activity) are publicly institutions like University of Iowa and University at Buffalo and not the private universities. This relates to the narrative of budget cuts in public institutions and hence higher acceptance of international students to meet some of the shortfall. Here is a related post of examples of dramatic increase of international students at some public institutions.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha

International Student Enrollment Trends: China, Saudi Arabia and Public Universities Driving Growth

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Yet another year of growth in international student enrollment in the U.S. according to the latest IIE Open Doors 2012 data. This time growth is driven by two primary factors 1) who can pay and 2) who wants students who can pay.

Who can pay? China and Saudi Arabia
Number of students from China and Saudi Arabia grew by 47,906 as compared to increase in total enrollment by 41,044. This means that without the double digit growth of China (23%) and Saudi (50%), total enrollment in the US would have declined. Both these countries higher ability to afford foreign education.

While both these markets have common thread of growth and ability to pay, they differ in terms of level of education and sources of funding. For China, most of the growth is coming from undergraduate enrolled funded by students' family while for Saudi Arabia growth is at English language programs funded by Saudi government scholarships.

Note: IIE Open Doors has a lag of one year so, the current report reflects the enrollment of foreign students in the US for academic year 2011-12 (Fall'11).

Who wants students who can pay? Public universities (I know real answer is everyone)

Another important driver of growth have been proactive outreach and acceptance by large public universities. Post-recession budget cuts in state universities and colleges have become an annual affair which in turn has prompted many institutions to increase their focus on international students which pay much higher out-of-state tuition fee. These public institutions have a reputation to attract and absorb large number of international students. In particular, China and Saudi are becoming attractive to many public institutions due to students' ability to fully pay for the education.

(copyright) Dr. Rahul Choudaha

Which are the Emerging Markets for International Student Recruitment?

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:40:00 +0000

World Education Services released a report entitled "Beyond More of the Same: The Top Four Emerging Markets for International Student Recruitment" co-authored by me and Yoko Kono. Here is the highlight of the report published in University World News.

International student recruitment has become increasingly competitive as institutional budgets continue to shrink. More than ever, higher education institutions are expected to recruit quality students in a short period of time.

Most institutions rely on traditional source countries to achieve this goal, as penetrating an existing market for enrolment growth is a less costly route in terms of effort, expenditure and time.

As a result, students from China, India and South Korea are overrepresented on campuses. On some, Chinese students make up over half of the non-domestic student population. This is the case at the University of Iowa, where Chinese students comprised more than 70% of international undergraduates in 2011.

There is increasing pressure on institutions to attract international students from a broader range of countries, as they look to diversify their student bodies.

A recent research report published by World Education Services aims to address the information needs of higher education institutions by systematically identifying key emerging markets and offering near-term strategies to successfully nurture them.

The research was based on a two-round Delphi survey – a mixed method forecasting technique based on the anonymity and expertise of participants.

The top four emerging markets

The report identifies four emerging markets for international student recruitment and provides comprehensive background information on each country. Here is the summary:

Saudi Arabia
With more than 23,000 students currently enrolled in US institutions, Saudi Arabia is and will continue to be an encouraging market, due to the extension of the King Abdullah Scholarship Programme to 2020.

US institutions that offer intensive English programmes and skillfully engage with sponsoring agencies have the greatest potential to recruit from this rich pool of fully sponsored students.

Brazil
Due to the launch of the Brazil Scientific Mobility Programme, US institutions can expect a healthy flow of nearly 50,000 Brazilian students enrolling in short-term programmes over the next four years. Institutions that effectively differentiate themselves from competitors can capitalise on this market opportunity.

Vietnam
High recruitment potential is attributable to Vietnam’s growing middle-class and strong study abroad interest. Vietnamese students are the third largest body of international students at American community colleges. Institutions of higher education that identify and reach Vietnamese students with the financial means to study in the US should enjoy a good deal of recruiting success in the coming years.

Turkey
Opportunities to recruit from Turkey are primarily from its graduate market and dual degree programmes. Turkey is recognised as a tough market to develop, but one with a lot of potential. Higher education institutions can overcome barriers by understanding the preferences and academic needs of Turkish student segments.

Portfolio approach to international recruitment

One of the key recommendations of the report is that institutions should consider adopting a portfolio approach to international recruitment, to mitigate the challenges that emerging markets pose.

Institutions that build a portfolio of countries to diversify their student body reduce financial risks and remain competitive. As mentioned, the emerging markets that institutions should target for their near-term recruitment efforts are Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Vietnam and Turkey.

The growth potential of these emerging markets along with the high volume countries like China, India and South Korea, offers a more balanced and de-risked outreach strategy.

While emerging markets present opportunities and potential for enrolment growth, they also pose corresponding challenges and uncertainties. To this end, the report recommends a portfolio of practices to help institutions cultivate emerging markets.

For example, institutions should leverage their institutional competitive advantage by developing relationships with organisations that fund and-or administer overseas scholarships (for example, the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission).

Likewise, institutions should engage with current and former students from emerging markets as brand ambassadors, particularly through social media. This represents a low-cost approach of experimenting with emerging markets and student segments, and then working on one or more in a concerted manner.

In closing, institutions need to recognise the risk of over-relying on a few countries to achieve their international recruitment goals. This over-reliance may not only adversely affect the diversity of the international student body on campus but also the financial health of some institutions.

It is imperative for higher education institutions to have a proactive and informed strategy to de-risk their efforts and prepare for the changing context of international student recruitment from emerging markets.

Dr. Rahul Choudaha

Chinese and Indian Higher Education Enrollment Statistics

noreply@blogger.com (Rahul Choudaha) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 19:25:00 +0000

China and India are the two largest higher education systems in the world with total enrollment of 29.1 million and 26.7 million students as compared to 21 million in the U.S in 2010.

India has the largest system in the world in terms of undergraduate enrollment of 19.8 m. students as compared to 12.7 m. in China and 10.4 million in the U.S.

In contrast, India has much smaller proportion of students enrolled in the vocational education. This highlights the skilled manpower shortage in India which is simply ballooning with time.

Indian sociocultural enviornment creates aspirations for bachelor's degree even if they do not offer employment opportunities. After earning bachelor's degree many continue for master's education in hope for subsequently getting jobs. This situation of postgraduate unemployment is also emerging in China. Indian students (2.7 m.) at master's level are also more than double as compared to China (1.2 m.).

This fascination for getting advanced degrees suddenly stops as the doctoral level where India has one-third of students in China. Here is my earlier article on the qualitative and quantitative challenges in India on two extremes of higher education--vocational and doctoral.

Source: AISHE, Ministry of Education, China

Copyright Dr. Rahul Choudaha
This blog post can only to be used with full credit to the author and hot link to the post.

Links for 2011-01-24 [Digg]

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:00:00 PST

Foreign Universities in India: Who's coming and why?
Article published in Financial Express on which foreign universities will come to India and how will the Bill influence Indian higher education? Over the last decade, Indian higher education has witnessed three primary trends—growth of private institutions, increasing demand for professional education and widening regional disparity. These three trends will become stronger with the introduction of the Bill and more foreign universities with profit/revenue motives are expected to establish campuses in India.

Links for 2010-10-26 [Digg]

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:00:00 PDT

TIME magazine on foreign universities in India
"The American schools, true to their nation's entrepreneurial heritage, see the opportunity as too ripe to pass up. "

Links for 2010-09-28 [Digg]

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:00:00 PDT

Colleges See Booming Growth Of International Students : NPR
The number of international students in the U.S. continues to rise despite the recession, especially those from China. Host Michel Martin talks about this with Rahul Choudaha, associate director of Innovation and Development at World Education Services.

Links for 2010-02-24 [Digg]

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PST

Foregin universities partner with Indian institutions
Around 140 Indian institutions and 156 foreign education providers are engaged in academic collaborations in India and offering 635 academic programs. There is increasing interest among foreign universities to establish academic partnerships in India.

Links for 2010-01-28 [Digg]

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 PST

Quality in Indian higher education (The Telegraph)
Presents challenges of Indian higher education system aggravated by two interrelated forces — over-regulation and lack of resources. This constraints pursuit of quality and innovation at institutional level.