We just talk about the good stuff

UK universities have established plans to move into Indonesia, following a higher education mission led by the government’s international education champion Steve Smith. 

Representatives from 13 UK universities visited Jakarta at the end of November to meet with Indonesian academic institutions and discuss future collaborations and transnational education partnerships.

Smith also met Indonesia’s economics minister to discuss the set up of branch campuses in four of the country’s Special Economics Zones – regions which offer tax breaks, among other incentives, to attract foreign investment.

During the trip, the University of Dundee signed an agreement with the Indonesia International Institute for Life Sciences to begin delivering dual degrees, through which students will spend two years at each institution.

Photo: UK DIT

It has not been revealed which other universities will establish programs in Indonesia following the trip, but a “key investor” will visit the UK in January to meet with a potential partner university. There are also plans for a higher education forum and cooperation between the two countries on teacher training, technical education and English language teaching.

“I am delighted to finally visit Indonesia and meet our key partners”

The UK government named Indonesia as a “priority” country in its international education strategy, describing it as one of five regions where there is “significant potential for growth” and where Smith can “open up opportunities and address barriers to that potential”.

In recent years, the Indonesian government has outlined plans to establish TNE courses in the country, including setting out guidelines for the creation of international branch campuses.

The UK currently has 16 TNE partnerships in Indonesia and over 900 Indonesian students were taking UK TNE courses in 2020/21.

The trip also aimed to strengthen existing research partnerships, such as the UK-Indonesia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Sciences. 

“I am delighted to finally visit Indonesia and meet our key partners, strengthening our bilateral education relationship and foster collaboration in higher education and transnational education,” Smith said. “I am also thrilled to be joined by 13 leading UK universities… I look forward to working closely with my Indonesian counterparts to support these to grow, in line with Indonesia’s ambitions to strengthen the higher education sector.” 

Summer Xia, country director of British Council Indonesia & South East Asia lead, said, “Encouraging students and education institutions to build links, share ideas and good practice through transnational collaboration is an important part of our work at the British Council here in Indonesia, aimed at strengthening trust and mutually beneficial partnerships between our two countries.” 

The visit was arranged by the British Council and the British Embassy Jakarta. 

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The University of Birmingham in the UK has taken home the top gong at QS and Wharton’s joint Reimagine Education awards for its Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues.

The awards, which took place in Philadelphia on December 8, saw 18 international awards given out, along with a set of regional awards.

The Jubilee Centre’s director, James Arthur, said he was “delighted to receive” the Global Education Award on behalf of the centre – which developed an educational framework based on “principle that values and virtues associated with good character”.

“The award recognises the 10 years of research and practice that underpinned the development of the Framework for Character Education in Schools,” Arthur said.

“The Framework has had a significant impact on character, values and ethical education in the UK and globally, which is so important for individual and societal flourishing,” he added.

The prize is worth $25,000 in funding.

Nunzio Quacquarelli, co-founder of Reimagine Education and QS president, cited the 500-strong independent judges panel, saying the winners have “received the unequivocal backing of expert educationalists across the world”.

A new category was also launched this year at the awards – Nurturing Values and Ethics – which, in the words of Emeritus professor Yoram Wind of the Wharton School, where the ceremony was held, is a “fundamental mission of educators”.

“It is a pleasure and a privilege to offer a global platform”

“I am delighted that the gold winner in this new category is the winner of the Global Education Award,” Wind said, officially announcing the award for the University of Birmingham for its Jubilee Centre – the second gong of the night for the university.

“Our Grand Jury recognised the importance of the work being done by the University of Birmingham in this crucial area for the future of education and humankind,” Wind commented.

Other notable awards came from the global edtech category, which was won by global non-profit economic mobility platform Generation.

“We train and place people of all ages into life changing careers that would be otherwise inaccessible,” said Generation’s chief comms officer Jennifer Skies.

“We have more than 72,000 graduates who are at the centre of our work. 90% of them are unemployed when they join our program, and within three months of completing it 81% are working together. They have earned an astonishing $630 million in wages to date,” she observed.

Education Above All took the prize for Access, Diversity and Inclusion for their Internet Free Education Resource Bank, and AI in Education went to CENTURY Tech – Generation also picked up the award for Nurturing Employability.

“It is a pleasure and a privilege to offer a global platform to the projects, pedagogies, and solutions that represent the future of educational provision,” Quacquarelli added.

The full list of awards can be found on the Reimagine Education website.

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International students have a positive economic impact on France, where their contribution amounts to €5 billion, according to a survey from Campus France.

Some 9,992 students from abroad studying in France took the The International Impact of International Students in France survey, and it examined geographical origin, study level, benefits of government scholarships and types of higher education institutions.

“Our figures on the arrival of international students show that the sector has already recovered. We have even exceeded our pre-Covid figures,” Olivier Marichalar, manager of institutional communication at Campus France, told The PIE News.

North Africa was the biggest demographic of students coming to France at 32%, closely followed by sub-Saharan Africa by 24% – Europe shared 20% of the international student cohort, Asia and Oceania together shared 16% and the Americas had 8%.

“The figures for 2022 indicate a particularly marked recovery over the last year for the Americas: with 15% more students, this is the region that is experiencing the strongest growth, thanks in particular to North America whose students progress by 43%,” Marchelar said.

“The figures in Latin America and the Caribbean increased by 14%, those in South America by 4%,” he said.

Another notable finding of the survey was that almost half (49%) of those studying in France are studying at the master’s level. A further 31% are studying bachelors degrees – but the statistics show masters is currently dominating the French intake market.

“Being able to work on a student visa is really an advantage”

One of the most outstanding parts that the survey showed was the vitality of jobs to international students’ studies in France – almost half of those responding said they worked during their studies in the country.

A majority of students, the survey says, declare that “paid activities”, i.e. student jobs, are “essential to meet their spending”. Some 34% of respondents said jobs were a frequent source of income to fund their studies.

“Being able to work on a student visa is really an advantage. However, it requires a lot of effort and organisation,” said Marichalar.

“Our economy has recovered, therefore many international students have resumed their part-time jobs, thus financing their stay in France becomes easier,” he added.

In terms of funding studies, over three-quarters cited familial and sibling financial assistance, while personal savings were mentioned by just under half of the cohort.

CAF – the French equivalent of social security – was mentioned by 46% of respondents, but just 18% said they relied upon scholarships from either the French government or their countries of origin.

Directly, students are directly benefiting the economy at a figure of €1.35bn – taking into account their own expenditure, their tuition and other aspects related to their studies specifically.

The rest of the €5bn figure comes from the other benefits brought by international students; according to the survey, they are not only bolstering the education sector through their economic input, but also other sectors.

Almost 40% of those studying in France had visits from their families and friends during their stay – staying an average of 23 days – generating €1,692 to reach France for each visit.

Prior to going to France, over a quarter of international students spend an average over €1,500 on French lessons.

The survey showed quite clearly that Covid had a heavily negative impact on international students in France. Over 50% of students “incurred additional expenses” as a result, and 62% of those responding called Covid a “negative impact on their income”.

A further 60% also said that relatives’ trips were cancelled as a result of the pandemic.

“Our figures on the arrival of international students show that the sector has already recovered”

Marichalar also said that in terms of tourism, France’s borders being open means there is no longer such an impediment for families to travel and visit the students.

“The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) recently published a study on tourist attendance in France during the summer of 2022, compared to the summer of 2019. This study reveals that attendance in 2022 is higher to 2019 tourist attendance in hotels and campsites,” Marichalar commented further.

The accommodation situation was evenly split, with 50% in so-called individual accommodation, while 48% report being in collective residences – most of those in individual accommodation were in their own furnished rentals, and 17% had roommates.

Students are spending around €867 a month on average, and while the increase in price is “evident throughout Europe”, France registered the lowest inflation of the EU. Despite this statistic, Marichalar insisted that any increase is being monitored and “taken seriously” by the government – especially in terms of living conditions.

“The Ministry for Higher Education and Research announced a 2023 budget that is €1.1bn superior to that of 2022, these new funds serving, among other priorities, the improvement of living conditions of students,” he added.

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Universities could play a more dynamic role in the admissions process by advising their agent partners on how many CAS allocations remain so agencies have a more realistic picture of whether to direct students to their institution in large numbers or not.

This is just one of the suggestions that came from our education agent readers in a snapshot survey we undertook into the state of admissions – following feedback of extreme frustration and long waits for students to find out if they will receive offers or not.

As part of our analysis on agent perspectives, The PIE News conducted a flash survey into the challenges agents in South Asia face working with the UK.

The results reveal a unique insight into the factors affecting agent behaviour and their influence on applicants.

An overload: global race to secure university offers

A statistic that will reassure stakeholders from universities is that a combined 91.4% of agents said they process between one to five applications per student, the same number of choices the UCAS system allows applicants to submit.

However, two respondents confessed to processing more than 20 applications on average per student, presumably in a bid to try and secure an offer amid competition for places.

While our agents indicated that they do not duplicate the same applications across lots of portals to get a faster offer – with 84% saying that is not a tactic they use – there was a clear trend to submit applications across multiple study destinations as students and agents consider global options.

A combined 65% of respondents said their students apply to multiple study destinations, a stark reminder that the UK sector is being compared in service levels to competitor destinations.

The pandemic has ensured students are preferring to keep their options open across a number of countries.

Speed matters, but what agents really value is a relationship with universities

When asked how long it takes on average to get an offer from a UK university, there was wide disparity in experience. Some 41.4% said one month, 15.5% said two months – yet 19% said three weeks and 12.1% said two weeks on average.
While these averages appear to be reasonable timeframes given the level of demand for the UK, just under 9% of agents considered their experience a fast service.

The vast majority of respondents (77.6%) considered the UK service to be ‘average’ or worse than average, scoring 3-5 on a five point scale, with 1 equalling the fastest score.

When pressed to say if agents would recommend an alternative university choice to applicants if they were waiting too long for an offer – many admitted they would, or that they have done on occasion.

The survey generated lots of comments about improving timely admissions decisions such as “speed up the offer and give a quick ‘no’ when admission is not possible”, “expedite the admissions and CAS process” and a need for “faster fairer processes”.

One respondent pressed the need to “improve turn around times between application and admission”.

“Be more proactive and transparent about how many applications are required for which programs and which departments are no longer open for applications – so that students don’t face rejections due to lack to seats,” they requested.

When asked to name the best and worst performing universities for admissions service a significant pattern emerged. In several cases, the same institutions appeared in both categories, the good and the bad.

“Be more proactive and transparent about how many applications are required for which programs”

Personal service and priority lists were also named as effective solutions offered by partner universities, leading us to conclude that admissions experience within any institution is not consistent for each agent – and that the service you receive depends on the personal service and communication you receive from an individual rather than the institution as a whole.

Despite frustrations, the highest proportion of agents (36%) still felt highly valued by their university partners, working as an extension of their admissions and recruitment teams.

Smaller agents find their voice in our survey

While some larger agents did contribute to the survey, it is notable that the vast majority of respondents (64%) came from smaller, boutique companies or individual counsellors that supported on average approximately 200-500 students or fewer each year to enrol in the UK.

Just under a third of those completing the survey indicated they send only 50+ students to enrol each year.

Also, half of respondents reported to having less than five direct university agreements, and a further 14.5% officially represented fewer than 10 UK universities.

Smaller agents, despite their services to students, lack clear channels of direct communication with universities. By nature they are more commercially vulnerable to market factors like deferrals, non-payment, third-party disputes, fluctuating currency or course closures because of their size.

However, it is important to remember their role as a fundamental component to how students are served in South Asia.

Our anonymous survey gave them a platform to articulate their views without moderation from a third party.

Fraud and competition is increasing

The two most resounding results related to polls on fraud and competition and if agents in South Asia are seeing an increase in these areas.

A unanimous 91.1% of agents agreed they were seeing an increase in the number of agents working in the market. They cited reasons such as “the outbound number of students is increasing” and “too many agents being appointed in the same region in order to access volume recruitment”.

Worryingly just over half said that fraud is increasing in their markets, while 30.9% said the risk of fraud is the same as always.

Nearly 90% agreed that the student counselling profession needed to be regulated in South Asia by suggestions ranging from “an independent body” , “the government” , “an institution such as the British Council” or “universities themselves”.
Working with third parties to access university contracts was a common feature with a 70% commission share being the common rate (43.1%). The reason for doing this was clear – 82.1% said they worked with third parties because they were unable to secure contracts directly with universities themselves.

In a reminder that the majority of university contracts are available on the open market in South Asia, 55.8% of respondents said they accessed commission via Tier 1 or master agents, while only 7.7% said they did so through online marketplaces or aggregators, as they have become known.

It is worth noting that questions relating to commercial contracts were optional due their competitive nature and therefore had a marginally smaller group of responses.

Distributed to agents in our mailing list, the survey quickly generated 58 responses from agents across the region including India (70.7%), Bangladesh (15.5%), Pakistan (13.8%), Nepal (6.9%) and Sri Lanka (5.2%).

Some agents also cited having operations based in study destinations such as the UK, Australia or Canada with a focus on supporting students in South Asia.

Are you an agent working in a South Asian country to support students to apply to a UK university? Have your say in the comments below or by emailing editorial@thepienews.com

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The British Council has launched its agent training and engagement hub in a bid to help global education advisers better understand the UK as an international study destination.

The hub will represent every level of UK education and includes information on what international students will need to study at English language schools, independent schools, colleges or higher education providers.

The initiative has been introduced after the UK sector has sought to strengthen its relationship with agents.

In 2021, analysis by British Universities International Liaison Association and UK Council for International Student Affairs recommended the introduction of a Ethical Practice code, a good practice guide and a new training scheme.

At the time, research found that, although widespread good practice was already ensuring quality experiences for many, “opportunities for greater transparency” existed to enhance the agent-provider relationship further.

The newly-revealed hub aims to be a one-stop-shop, providing resources to support agents including tools such as a ‘Good Practice Guide for Agents and Counsellors’, and allowing them to become certified on the hub.

Jacqui Jenkins, global program lead for international students at the British Council said, “Education advisers that are new to the industry can take their time to work through the content, while those that are more experienced can jump straight to the assessment and quickly get certified.”

For agents and counsellors with no experience, it is estimated that there is 17 hours of content available to study. The pass mark to complete the training is 97%, and if agents or counsellors fail, they can redo the training but a different set of questions will be given each time.

“We hope that the hub will empower agents and counsellors working with prospective students and provide a better international experience,” added Jenkins.

The hub will also include an events calendar for webinars and in-person events, as well as announcements and updates from the UK government and UK sector bodies. Furthermore, agents will be able to send feedback to the UK education sector through available channels.

According to Jenkins, optional modules may be added to the training in future for different study destinations within the UK or for different types of institutions.

Bobby Mehta, chair of the BUILA, said, “We are really pleased that the British Council has launched this important facility which is a pivotal tool in the UK’s Agent Quality Framework, sitting alongside the Code of Ethical Practice, Best Practice Guides for Agents, Education Institutions and very importantly, tips to help students select agents.

“It underpins the close partnership we have with agents and counsellors”

“It underpins the close partnership we have with agents and counsellors to maintain quality and sustain our international recruitment,” he added.

Mehta highlighted the importance of continuously improving standards, and said that that agents are “often an extension of the university, expansion of the UK offering overseas, and often the element of the sector which is the most misunderstood”.

According to the BUILA, over 50% of new international students in 2018/19 came to the UK via agents.

As well as the training tools, the new hub offers international students and their parents the ability to check if their agent has the right level of knowledge via a public-facing searchable database of certified agents.

Jenkins highlighted that the platform is not designed to assist students to find specific agents, but instead a tool to check if an agent is certified. The hub also provides a guide for international students, containing advice on what to look out for when selecting an agent.

It is hoped that as many as 20,000 certified individual agents and counsellors will eventually be trackable on the database. 

Developers hope the initiative will assure prospective students that agents are trained best to support them.

“It gives us some power and confidence in making our own decisions,” Diana Catana, an international student from Romania, studying a PhD in biophysics at Kings College London, said at the press meeting.

Certified agents and counsellors will not be regulated further by the British Council once training has been complete. However, they will appear on the database for two years, when they will then be encouraged to redo the training in order to have their name remain on the platform, although the other hub features are accessible indefinitely.

“BUILA will champion this agenda as we go forward”

British Council has set aside £50,000 to continuously update the training.

“I don’t think this is the end of the journey because it is continuously evolving,” Mehta added. “There’s more work that needs to be done and we will continue to do this, working with colleagues and working very closely with the British Council, BUILA will champion this agenda as we go forward.”

Initial feedback from stakeholders suggest that the initiative is very welcome.

Mark Pettitt, founder of consulting company Edified which worked on the initial research piece for the initiative, said the initiative is “really practically going to make a difference to the sector and in particular make a difference to the students who we ultimately serve”.

Comparing the UK to competitor study destination Australia, where Pettitt is originally from, he said that UK now leads, thanks to the initiative.

We attended The British Universities’ International Liaison Association conference for the launch of the British Council Agent & Counsellor Training & Engagement Hub & associated Agent Quality Framework. @BUILAcommittee @BritishCouncil Read more here: https://t.co/MklcvynO9Y pic.twitter.com/aMFLLLI1t5

— Council of British International Schools (@COBISorg) December 7, 2022

Delyth Chambers, Council of British International Schools, said the hub will be “very helpful” and that she will be encouraging counsellors to complete the training.

According to Adam-Lucas Pettit, director of partnerships at AECC Global, the training will be a mandatory part of all its counsellors’ training.

“It’s going to be the foundation which we’ll then build on with our own personal training,” he added.

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The ability for UK masters and PhD students to bring dependants is key in allowing UK universities to recruit students from a wider range of countries and compete against other study destinations, the UK government has emphasised.

Speaking during an education committee meeting in Westminster, education department officials warned that any change to the UK visa offer to prospective students could reduce the UK’s ability to attract the “best students from around the world”.

After reaching the 600,000 target a decade ahead of schedule, the department of education is working with universities to “focus on how we can expand and grow still”, education minister Gillian Keegan said.

Expanding the breadth of countries to recruit international students also remains a priority, she suggested.

“Clearly when we’re looking at the challenge of migration, which I’m not underestimating, we do have huge, huge issues and the small boats is obviously something that concerns many of us and our constituents, [but] we’ve really got to separate that from people who are coming here to do degrees,” Keegan told the committee.

“I’ve never had any concerns raised about PhD students”

The government has been under pressure from some in the UK to reduce net migration after it hit 504,000 in the year to June. The prime minister’s spokesperson had told reporters that Downing Street is “looking at the issue of student dependants and low-quality degrees”. Reports have suggested that any plans to restrict international student numbers have come from No 10 rather than the Home Office.

Chair of the committee, Robin Walker, highlighted that constituents had raised concerns “over the years about uncontrolled migration, about the issue of small boats, [but] I’ve never had any concerns raised about PhD students”.

“Clearly when we are looking at the challenge of migration… we’ve really got to separate that from people who are coming here to do degrees, a lot of them doing STEM degrees,” UK ed minister @GillianKeegan tells the Education Committee#intled pic.twitter.com/5gKoHmZNvH

— The PIE News (@ThePIENews) December 7, 2022

Co-chair of the APPG on international students, Paul Blomfield MP, has previously stated that “nobody’s concerned about international students in the debate on net headline migration numbers”.

Committee member and MP for Don Valley in the north of England, Nick Fletcher, pressed the minister on the differentiation in quality of Russell Group universities compared with non-Russell Group institutions.

“[Press speculation] would seem to imply that in some people’s minds, the product of other universities outside the Russell Group is somehow inferior therefore not worthy of attracting international students,” he said.

“That would be hugely detrimental, certainly to universities in the Northeast of England, who actually have a very good product and are producing good students with good quality degrees.

“So I really do hope you can put on the record secretary of state that this is definitely not in the thinking of the DfE or other colleagues around the cabinet table.”

Keegan was “very happy to put that on the record”, but added that continual assurance on quality is required.

Analysis by Times Higher Education has found that two-thirds of English universities are failing to meet outcomes benchmarks introduced by the Office for Students on October 3 in every subject.

“It is a big investment going to university and you need to make sure that you get the quality… that’s for every student, to make sure that we have very good quality courses and continually make sure that they are meeting the needs of business and employers,” Keegan added.

Fletcher also asked the minister to confirm the department is looking into masters students bringing dependants to the UK, amid concerns that they are putting an additional “strain on society”.

“First of all, the vast majority of international students are probably undergraduates, not postgraduates, and the exception in terms of being able to bring a family member over, you have to also be able to fund your family members as well… there are conditions attached to it,” the minister responded.

Figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that in 2020/21, of the 605,130 international students in the UK, postgraduate students made up 290,295 of enrolments.

“Immigration is a Home Office lead… we always will work with the Home Office to make sure that we’re getting the systems right,” Keegan continued.

“But I think actually, if you look at international students and that 605,000, there’s probably a very small number who have actually brought over dependants.”

There were 476,389 sponsored study visas issued to main applicants in the year to September 2022, while of all sponsored study related visas a fifth (20%) were to family members of students. In total, dependants reached 116,321 visas – up from 6% (16,047) in 2019.

One way to ensure that the UK is attracting more international students from a wider range of countries is through its visa system, the education department’s permanent secretary, Susan Acland-Hood, highlighted.

“We know that they go home at the end of the period of study”

Masters and PhD students bringing dependants must be able to demonstrate that they can support their family, and are subject to an NHS surcharge, she reminded.

“Also we know that they go home at the end of the period of study,” she said.

Previous exit checks in 2017 showed that 97% of international students left the UK after finishing their studies, while 2016 Home Office-commissioned analysis found only 1% of students overstayed their visas. More recent data on student overstay is not widely available.

The UK has since introduced its graduate route allowing international graduates to remain in the country after completing their studies for two years, and up to three years for PhD and doctoral students.

From Q3 2021 to Q3 2022, a total of 83,486 graduate visas were granted.

“This is one we have to think really carefully about and balance because this is part of our international student visa offer and it’s very similar to what our competitors around the world will offer,” Acland-Hood said.

“If we make change to it, we need to accept that that means our ability to attract the best students from around the world is going to be reduced.

“If you look at the places where students are most ready to come without the ability to bring dependants, it’s China. So the ability to bring dependants is also something that helps us to make sure we’re able to attract the best international students from all around the world and that our institutions are not overdependent on the single places.”

Permanent Secretary at the DfE, Susan Acland-Hood: “The ability to bring dependants is something that helps us to make sure we are able to attract the best international students from all around the world, and that our institutions are not overdependent on single places”#intled pic.twitter.com/PVuLwERZKb

— The PIE News (@ThePIENews) December 7, 2022

The department was also quizzed on medical placements for international students.

Earlier this week, The Times reported that new medical courses at Worcester, Brunel and Chester universities have catered for international students as a result of the lack of funding for domestic students.

Flick Drummond, MP for Meon Valley, asked whether the department had plans to ensure that UK students would be able to enrol on the courses.

“We’re investing in medical schools,” Keegan said. “We’re investing in more and more medical places [and] we know there is a challenge with medical places.

“Let me take that away and look specifically at that… There shouldn’t be a school that’s got 100% [international]. That sounds a bit excessive, but I guess… when you’re starting up, you’ve got these students you attract first, and it is probably a financial [matter] as well.”

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