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International graduates in the UK using the country’s post-study work visas are working “in a variety of graduate-level roles and with an impressive range of organisations”, yet the nation has not yet benefitted from the full potential of the route.

According to new research, some eight in 10 (72%) of those employed via the graduate route – announced under prime minister Boris Johnson in 2019 and rolled out for the first applicants in 2021 – are in graduate-level roles.

The AGCAS research, funded by UPP Foundation, delves into the experience of international graduates using UK post-study work opportunities.

The research found that 58% of international graduates believe their expectations of post-study work visas were being met while 18% were undecided. A further 24% said they did not think their expectations were being met.

It continues to warn that the UK “cannot be complacent” if it is to remain an attractive international study destination.

Home secretary Suella Braverman is said to be pressing back against international graduate work rights in a bid to reduce net migration to the UK.

On the release of the report, UPP Foundation director, Richard Brabner highlighted that, “To maintain our global competitiveness it is incumbent on the government to work with universities and employers to ensure the UK is an attractive place to study and work”.

In fact, the report suggested that ideally the length of the graduate route should be extended to compete with post-study work offerings from other international markets such as Australia. Maintaining the existing offer is the absolute minimum, it said.

Concerns have previously been raised that the two-year length (three years for PhD holders) may be putting employers off hiring international graduates.

“The UK risks losing out on talented graduates if these barriers are not addressed”

AGCAS also highlighted that most employers would need to pay additional costs if they want to retain employees on skilled worker visas, which the report says is an “unnecessary additional barrier to retaining talent”.

Other barriers beyond employer resistance and lack of knowledge include: the lack of information for graduates; visa application and recruitment cycle timings; lack of university and government support; cultural differences; issues with cost; and subject studied and employer differences.

However, 79% respondents did say they received support from their university careers service.

Respondents also raised concerns around living in the UK such as the country being unwelcoming to some international graduates and welfare issues – including housing, mental health, physical health, and financial concerns.

The report indicates that “behind every international graduate ‘success story’ were disheartening tales from graduates struggling to find UK employment”.

“If you talk to the company like the recruiters and stuff like that, they will say, ‘oh, you’re an international student. I’m sorry, we can’t take you’,” one respondent said during a focus group session.

“Even if you do discuss the Graduate visa option… they’re like, ‘I’m sorry’.”

Another detailed that they received “blanket rejections as soon as they found out that I was an immigrant”.

“Even if I didn’t need visa sponsorship, even if I was just applying for a position for six months and my visa allows me to work for two years, I just get flat out no’s,” they said.

The paper also called for a “cross-government campaign to enhance employers’ understanding and awareness of the Graduate and Skilled Worker immigration routes”.

Sector stakeholders have long emphasised the need to promote the opportunity to UK employers, with a recent survey of 656 employers finding that over a quarter were not actually aware of the route. Only 3% were actively using the initiative.

“International graduates are ready to offer their talent, time, commitment and international knowledge to the UK economy, but many are facing barriers to employment based on their visa status,” Elaine Boyes, AGCAS executive director, said in a statement.

“The UK risks losing out on talented graduates if these barriers are not addressed. It is clear that collective effort is needed if the UK is to retain its competitive edge.”

“We must hear the stories from international students and graduates, and educate employers”

The June 2022 survey drew 345 responses from graduates of over 50 UK universities from 77 countries, while November 2022 focus groups added to the findings.

“We must hear [international students’ and graduates’] stories, and educate employers to enhance their recruitment practices, to support positive change for international students and graduates,” Boyes added.

The report also reiterated that the decision to stop calling international graduates as part of the Graduate Outcomes survey “has led to a significant decline in response rates and a diminishing evidence base at a time where the need to demonstrate return on investment to prospective international students has never been greater”.

Policy and research manager at AGCAS, Florence Reedy, wrote in Wonkhe that “when the graduate route works, it works for everyone”.

“We saw examples of SMEs, multinationals, charities and public sector organisations all using the graduate route to recruit international graduates,” she said.

“We must do what we can now to avoid jeopardising the early success of the graduate route.”

The post ‘Success stories’ and disheartening tales in UK PSW appeared first on The PIE News.

An ageing population is a problem for many of the world’s most developed countries; shrinking birth rates can equal less innovation, weaker productivity and higher welfare costs further down the line.

They also impact on the number of eligible students entering tertiary education domestically, and countries and institutions often look to international students to fill the gap.

Alternatively, a demographic dip can act as a push factor for study abroad or a shrinking market that can impact student mobility trends.

In our recent survey of leaders in international education, 62% of our readership who responded said that population cliff edges were a genuine concern. Only 3% of respondents across 16 countries said that population numbers were not a threat for student recruitment long term.

The PIE examines how this might affect international education in some of the world’s top study source countries and destinations.

China

China’s population has fallen for the first time in 60 years and the United Nations is now predicting a 6% fall in 20-24 year olds between 2020-2030.

As a result, the national economy faces significant challenges as more working-age people are needed for an economy still largely based on manufacturing.

In addition to falling numbers of younger people, rising wages and a climb in the world rankings for Chinese universities could encourage more people to study or work domestically in the near future.

The PIE News recently reported on reduced competition for higher ed as China’s population declines.

Some analysts predict that the total number of Chinese students in overseas higher education specifically will peak within five years and then stagnate or decline.

For a country with a population of over 1.4 billion, however, this is likely to be a drop in the ocean in terms of falling demand for those wanting to study overseas and universities needn’t panic just yet.

Japan

Japan is often cited as a cautionary tale for problems associated with an ageing population. In the 1980s, Japan was considered an emerging global super-power due to its superior electronic and automotive design and manufacturing.

That high economic growth, though, has declined over the last 30 years as the population has grown older and the country has resisted immigration as a solution to the shrinking workforce.

A third of Japanese people are now over 60 years old, making Japan home to the oldest population in the world. It is recording fewer births than ever before and by 2050 it could lose a fifth of its current population.

Japan is a conservative country and has never been a large source market for western study destinations; younger Japanese people are now less likely to be married or have children – and less likely to speak a foreign language or have studied overseas than their parents.

US

The ramifications of an ageing population are certainly disrupting the higher education market domestically in the US. Unlike other countries, the issue is not simply about slower population growth, but more specifically about the demographic changes within society.

According to census data, during the pandemic year 2020-2021 the US population grew by just 392,665, a figure that should have been closer to 1 million in normal times.

Like many countries at that time, the number of deaths increased, the number of births decreased and immigration was curbed as the world ground to a halt.

“Some analysts predict that the Chinese student numbers overseas will peak within five years”

Similarly, many younger people left large metro areas to avoid lockdowns and benefit from remote working.

The biggest national decline, notably, has been within the white population – the race-ethnic demographic group traditionally most likely to go to university.

Non-white Americans, especially Latino or Hispanic Americans, now comprise larger shares of the population at all ages.

There has also been an exponential rise in enrolments in online education, micro-credentials and hybrid model degrees, as this disrupted generation is weighing up the perceived value of a four year campus college degree.

All of these factors have resulted in a 10% decline in enrolments at US colleges in 2021, totalling almost 4 million people less in the system.

Combined with falling numbers from major source markets such as China, parts of the US sector are facing challenges in meeting admissions targets.

Italy

Italy has the fastest declining population within the EU, although other countries such as Finland, Greece and Portugal are catching up. Even Germany, the most populous European country, has a low fertility rate of 1.5 children per female.

The Italian National Institute of Statistics, Istat, predict that Italy could lose almost a fifth of its residents by 2050, with the population set to decline from 59.2 million in 2021 to 54.2 million in 2050.

“Parts of the US sector are facing challenges in meeting admissions targets”

Italy is one of the more robust study abroad markets in Europe, with UNESCO estimating that there are as many as 77,000 Italian students studying abroad in countries like the UK, Austria, Germany, France and Spain.

South Korea

Between 2019-2021, South Korea statistically had the world’s lowest birth rate at 0.81. Despite being the world’s 10th biggest economy, the population actually shrank in 2021.

Analysts have claimed that the problem for Korea is largely to do with quality of life and widespread unemployment amongst the younger generations.

Unlike other global societies, younger couples want to feel secure and optimistic about their prospects before deciding to have children.

Like China, South Korea implemented birth control in the 1990s to slow population growth but it has the generational impact of much of the younger population not aspiring to have families themselves.

UK

The UK recently tracked a demographic dip of 18 year olds, with a 2% decline occurring in both 2019 and 2020. The decline was actually mitigated by the pandemic, which saw more mature students returning to study, fewer teenagers deferring university places and non-EU student numbers rising.

All of these factors, as such, combined to result in record numbers of students at British universities rather than the predicted fall.

The post Danger! Beware of cliff edge; population numbers affecting int’l education appeared first on The PIE News.

Post-pandemic recovery in Australia’s international education sector “continues to gain momentum”, according to data cited by Universities Australia.

In an announcement, the organisation said that around 59,000 international students arrived in Australia in January 2023; data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has also revealed that over 36,000 arrived in December, showing the number is rapidly climbing. 

In January 2022, there were 28,030 international student arrivals to Australia across HE, VET, ELICOS and schools, while pre-Covid figures for the month in 2020 stood at 91,700.

The latest arrival, according to Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson, is boosting the economy as it continues to recover from Covid.

“These students make a significant contribution to our cultural fabric and economic prosperity, adding $40.3 billion to the economy pre-Covid.

“There is still a way to go in reaching pre-Covid numbers, but we are pleased by the progress to date,” she commented.

Jackson also noted that the numbers would not capture any increase in the numbers of Chinese students, as it was only in the last few weeks that China began “recognising only face-to-face study for students enrolled in overseas universities”.

“There is still a way to go in reaching pre-Covid numbers, but we are pleased by the progress”

On January 28, authorities in China announced that students who were supposed to be studying in foreign destinations “must return as soon as possible” – resulting in around 40,000 needing to return to Australia, putting crushing pressure on the country’s already stretched housing market.

Despite the figures on returning students, PerthNow reported that there has been no noticeable surge in visa applications from the Asian country since Beijing released the edict. 

However, Jackson remains confident that as time goes on, “more students coming from our largest source market” will be a “welcome boost as we work back to the position of strength we held prior to the pandemic”.

Data from Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the number of those going for independent ELICOS to the country had grown by over 170% year on year, with 3,800 coming in December 2022 compared to 290 in December 2021. 

English Australia also recently released data in detail up to November 2022, showing that while China is struggling to bring in new students in higher education, ELICOS is different – commencements in China increased by 9.3% versus the same time in 2021.

Additionally, the ELICOS sector hit 143.1% growth on November 2021, supporting the claim of post-pandemic recovery in the international education sector. 

Massive increases in students from Colombia and Brazil were also recorded, with another 8,506 and 6,634 additional students respectively, and Thailand’s share of students increased by 917%, with November commencement in 2022 being 9,566 compared to 2021’s 940 when borders were closed.

The data also said that almost half (44%) of those with commencements in year-to-date November came from Thailand, China and Colombia. 

“These students make a significant contribution to our cultural fabric”

English Australia’s own data on higher education saw a 38% rise in commencements in November 22 compared to November 21.

However, ABS’s data on higher education arrivals showed that December 2022 numbers were slightly lower than 2021, with 20,750 compared to 21,850.

While this seemingly demonstrates that month-on-month, the market is still fluctuating, almost all other education markets saw an increase, including a 46% rise year-on-year rise in VET students. 

Australia’s return of international students, while described as an “inundation”, has seen recent issues with visa processing and accommodation – including eye-watering rent hikes.

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Canada hosted over 800,000 international students in 2022 – an increase of almost a third in one year, according to new government data. 

There were a total of 807,750 study permit holders in Canada in December, over 190,000 more than in 2021. The new figures surpass by some way Canada’s target figure of 450,000 foreign students by 2022 set out in the country’s 2014 international education strategy.

IRCC released data showing it issued 551,405 new study permits in 2022, an increase of 24% on 2021, in what Canadian immigration described as a “record-breaking year” for immigration applications. 

Canada struggled to cope with an influx of visa applications, despite commitments from the government to tackle ongoing backlogs. After months of delays, in November IRCC said study permits were mostly back to the normal 60-day processing times. 

Some 41% (226,450) of these went to Indian students as growth from the country continued to accelerate. The number of Indians has almost quadrupled since 2019 when 58,435 study permits were issued to this cohort. 

China was the second leading source country for international students, with 52,165 permits issued in 2022, compared to 55,900 the previous year. This marks a continued decline from pre-pandemic levels, with 84,155 permits issued in 2019. 

In total, there were 319,130 Indian study permit holders in Canada, followed by 100,075 from China. Other leading source countries included the Philippines (32,455), France (27,135), Nigeria (21,660), and Korea (16,505). 

The most popular study destination was Ontario, with 52% (289,835) of all new permits issued to this region, followed by British Columbia, which accounted for 19% of total 2022 permits. Over half (411,985) of all international students in Canada held permits linked to Ontario institutions. 

Other regions have attempted to lure foreign students away from Canada’s most populous province with new investments, including New Brunswick, Alberta and Nova Scotia.

The majority of permits were issued at higher education level, but the k-12 sector also saw growth, with 82,000 study permits issued for secondary level or below, compared to 63,745 in 2021.

But the influx of international students has set off alarm bells across some parts of the international education sector, with critics warning that the country may not be able to accommodate the number of permanent residency applications that will likely enter the pipeline from international students in the coming years.  

Similarly, affordable housing is in short supply in parts of Canada, with some students falling victim to scams. 

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Two world-renowned universities in London are partnering with technology learning specialists in a bid to foster skills needed to succeed in the technology sector.

In partnerships announced this week, Imperial College London has linked up with online coding bootcamp provider HyperionDev. Across town King’s College London has revealed a new UX Design Career Accelerator program with FourthRev, building on a previous partnership.

HyperionDev will offer a portfolio of online programs with Imperial for individuals wanting to “re-orient their careers towards technology, regardless of their background”.

Experts from the coding company will deliver programs covering Data Science, Software Engineering and Full-Stack Web Development together with faculty from Imperial’s Data Science Institute.

“This is a really innovative way of addressing a serious skills gap and shortage in the labour market,” co-director of the DSI, Mark Kennedy said, a point also picked up by HyperionDev’s founder and CEO, Riaz Moola.

“With this new partnership, HyperionDev advances in its mission to close the tech skills gap in the UK and fill the high demand for tech roles globally,” Moola said.

KCL’s project-based UX Design Career Accelerator with FourthRev is designed to develop learners who will go on to improve online marketplace customer satisfaction and be able to “curate meaningful and engaging experiences with digital products and services”.

“Providing the skills and knowledge to enable us to live better with technology is an essential part of King’s mission”

“Providing the skills and knowledge to enable us to live better with technology is an essential part of King’s mission, helping tackle the major challenges of the twenty-first century,” said executive dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at KCL, Marion Thain.

“This unique program combines King’s global leadership in digital humanities and psychology with the experiences of veteran and junior UX designers,” Mark Lester, chief partnerships officer at FourthRev, explained.

“As such, it offers aspiring UX designers the chance to differentiate themselves by equipping them with rigorous approaches to understand users and the key technical and business skills required to make an impact as a UX designer.”

The KCL Career Accelerator program is the second time FourthRev has partnered with the London institution. It launched a similar program in product management in 2022. The edtech specialist also secured $8 million in Series A funding at the beginning of last year.

Expert in product and UX design and co-designer of the UX Design Career Accelerator, Kate Parker, noted that the goal was to “create a course that enables the learner not only to design and solve problems but to build an informed and balanced view of how UX fits into the broader ecosystem of product development”.

“The UX Design Career Accelerator is a brilliant combination of industry experience and world-class academia, bringing a new and practical approach to discovering more about UX and learning how to apply the skills in reality,” she added.

HyperionDev also works with University of Edinburgh, and has partnerships in England with the DfE (announced late 2022), The University of Manchester and University of Nottingham Online, in addition to Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

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A new scheme set up by the Lithuanian government could see multiple UK and US universities partner with institutions in the country and put its education sector “on the map”, a minister has told The PIE News.

The project, originally conceived due to a current skills gap in three key industries in Lithuania, has seen heavy UK university interest, with a number already having signed agreements at the end of January.

“When we talk to businesses, local or international investors, everyone says that the talent pool is the number one thing they are interested in,” Aušrinė Armonaitė, Lithuania’s minister for the economy and innovation, told The PIE News.

“We don’t have oil, we don’t have gold, or natural resources, so our economy is based on knowledge. Our chosen strategy for Lithuania, as such, is focusing on these three strategic industries we are investing in and building on,” she continued.

“It will put our universities on the global map once more”

Three industries featured include life sciences (especially biotechnology), ICT and engineering – with some disciplines in Lithuania playing host to very niche competencies – including making the lasers that cut cameras on smartphones, she said.

The project will aim to attract gifted international students to study in the country with a dual degree mechanism. They will come to Lithuania and study in a university, bolstered by a partnership program with a UK university and graduate with a ‘supercharged’ degree sporting both the UK and Lithuanian qualifications.

Students will also have paid work experiences, as well as access to post-grad work visas in Lithuania – lasting up to three years. The degree will also see students spend a semester or a year of their degree in at the UK partner institution.

The minister also added that partnering with UK universities especially would be beneficial for Lithuania, as home to some of the “best educational institutions in the world”.

“It will put our universities on the global map once more,” she affirmed.

Cormack Consultancy – whose Ukrainian Twinning scheme has seen great success in assisting institutions with UK partnerships in the wake of the Ukraine war – is helping to facilitate the project, and told of dialogues already being facilitated by the government between the two countries’ universities, and a couple of US institutions.

“[The government] is going through changes at the moment to make it as attractive as they can. They’re doing a lot of things around the periphery,” Charles Cormack of Cormack Consultancy told The PIE.

“One of the key issues that we identified in the beginning was the limited number of embassies that Lithuania has. For example, there’s only one embassy in Africa. However, they’ve more than doubled the amount of visa points where students can apply from,” he mentioned.

The aim is to facilitate a start to the programs in the next September start.

“The vision is that we have the first programs launched this fall. We understand that there are many elements to agree on the programs, including scholarships and internships, as well as the foundation of the courses,” said Armonaitė.

“It will depend on universities themselves, whether they are reaching the agreement [in time] but it’s a win-win project and hopefully everyone will benefit,” the minister added.

Cormack Consultancy confirmed that as of February 2023, nine MoUs have successfully been signed, featuring nine universities.

Keele University will be partnering with the Kaunas-based Lithuanian Health Sciences Universities on a life sciences program, and with Vytautas Magnus University, also in Kaunas, on another life sciences program.

In the US, the University of Missouri in St Louis will be supporting two courses at Vytautas Magnus in ICT and life sciences.

Vilnius Tech has signed an MoU facilitating a partnership on an ICT program at both Lincoln and Glasgow Caledonian Universities, and Vytautas Magnus has partnered with Lincoln on both ICT and life sciences programs.

The date for these programs has not been officially announced, but as the first of the partnerships to be agreed, some could be starting in September 2023.

“The vision is that we have the first programs launched this fall”

According to Cormack Consultancy, over 40 partnerships have been started as part of the project, meaning many more could be set to launch in the following academic year.

Three corporate companies, aiming to provide the paid work experience portion of the degrees – Accenture, NASDAQ and Thermofisher Scientific – have all become actively involved in the project.

“The Lithuanian government will be looking to bring in organisation expertise to manage the international recruitment drive and try to create a bigger presence in the international student market about Lithuania for these subject areas,” Cormack said.

“We are talking about two programs now or sort of two industries now, information communication technologies and life science industry. And it is more than enough for a promising start,” the minister added.

The post Lithuanian dual degree scheme to put institutions “on the map” appeared first on The PIE News.

The UAE’s ministry of education has released an innovation strategy in an attempt to promote “the development of creative ideas and capabilities”.

The strategy, which has been released in line with the government’s overall innovation plan, includes an “innovation platform” that will be known as DisruptED, allowing ministry employees to voice their own ideas for furthering innovation.

“DisruptED aims to generate competencies within the ministry to lead the country into a future that raises the concept of innovation in education to unprecedented levels,” said Hind Al Tair, director of the Department of Science, Technology and Scientific Research and deputy head of the Innovation Committee at the education ministry.

While the DisruptED portion of the strategy will reportedly actively seek individual opinions from many heads at the ministry, the overall strategy proposed only cites that it will “prepare and empower employees and students with advanced skills in various fields”, and will provide a “technological infrastructure that inspires a culture of innovation”.

“Innovation must be at the heart of education and work, in line with the ministry’s strides to create an environment where creativity and critical thinking skills are nurtured, enabling employees and students to come up with innovative solutions to the most pressing problems facing society today,” said Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Mualla, under-secretary of the ministry of education for academic affairs.

How this will be achieved, or what will be included in the infrastructure, has yet to be announced.

“We have seen these types of ambitious strategies coming up since at least a decade now and they always emphasise the importance of developing technology sectors and promoting entrepreneurship to diversify the country’s economy which is overall, despite exceptions like Dubai, still very reliant on resource extraction,” Tim Rottleb, a research associate with the Leibinz Institute for the research of Society and Space  – who monitors UAE policy – told The PIE News.

One such plan was the innovation strategy released by the UAE in 2015. While some aspects, such as the EmiratesSkills program, have been successfully implemented, the language used in the paper echoes that of the strategy released in recent weeks.

“NIS aims to promote innovation in the education sector by introducing creative teaching methods and techniques like Smart Learning, as well as designing and developing innovative curricula that equip pupils with the 21st century skills and knowledge in the fields of science, technology engineering, mathematics and arts,” the 2015 strategy said.

“Let’s wait and see if some more significant changes follow this”

“That is also why it is quite difficult to assess how long it might take for something to actually come out of this,” Rottleb commented.

“Let’s wait and see if some more significant changes follow this.”

The announcement, which was made during the education portion of the UAE Innovates 2023 conference, noted that it wants to bolster the UAE’s position as a “global centre in innovation, and spread a culture of innovation on a large scale”, while creating an environment that “nurtures innovative and creative minds”.

“[The strategy] can help diversify the economy and reduce dependency on the oil sector, something that the government has been keenly focused on in recent years,” noted Vanessa Northway, deputy vice principal of learning and teaching at Heriot-Watt Dubai, speaking to The PIE.

“It will mean we can work with the government more closely than ever before to achieve our mutual goals. Historically, innovation and R&D have thrived when business, academia and the government collaborate to turn new ideas into profitable enterprises,” she continued, referring to Silicon Valley as a prime example of this type of endeavour.

The strategy further aims to enhance the position of the UAE as a global centre in innovation, promote the development of creative ideas and capabilities, and spread a culture of innovation on a large scale, creating a national environment that nurtures innovative and creative minds.

It went on to say that proactivity and flexibility was at the heart of the plan – but creativity would be the main tool to “renew and radically transform” education methodologies.

Crucially, the announcement notes that the strategy will aim to follow “the government’s direction” – and achieve the so-called vision of the “country’s wise leadership”.

Rottleb noted that while innovation strategies have been announced over the years – such as the one released in 2015 calling for a “first rate education system” to be developed – transnational education has had just as much impact on the country’s educational standing.

“We believe that working in tandem will help us make a bigger impact”

“The numerous international branch campuses in the country are at least as important as such innovation strategies for creating the image, but their actual impact on innovative economic activities has been rather low, so far,” he noted.

UAE University also recently announced that it had collaborated with 333 researchers from institutions across India – the aim of which, it says, is to enhance its reputation and global ranking. It also referred to the collaboration being founded under its own international research collaboration strategy.

The researchers selected for collaboration were from existing university partners.

“[The low impact] is something Dubai’s government has recognised and was trying to improve over the last two-three years by intervening more strongly in its TNE market than before. If we look at some key indicators, for example summarised by the Global Innovation Index, we see an interesting dilemma: while overall, the UAE does not rank badly in a global comparison, it shows quite low levels of knowledge and technology outputs despite high input levels in terms of institutions and infrastructure,” he added.

Despite this, Northway is confident it will only benefit TNE. The strategy, in her view, aligns with the general benefits of TNE, such as reducing brain drain and pressure on the local education system.

“It fosters a rich learning environment for students that helps them find and develop creative solutions for the complex world we live in.

“This is the same end goal that the innovation strategy aims to achieve; we believe that working in tandem will help us make a bigger impact,” she affirmed.

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