We just talk about the good stuff

‘Director of future students’ – it’s one of the newer job titles in higher education to pop up, noticeably so across the UK and Australia. But what exactly does the role encompass, and does a new title come with new responsibilities?

Rob Lawrence, director at Prospect Research and Marketing and renowned industry commentator, has a unique view of the sector, having worked across universities in the UK and Australia over the past 30 years.

For him, the director of future students role is partly the result of a growing philosophy, born out of the Covid-19 pandemic, that brings together marketing to domestic and international students under one policy.

Universities require someone to take control of understanding the needs, priorities and expectations of students, no matter where they come from, says Lawrence.

“It’s a very powerful term because it’s a statement of intent,” he says of the new title.

“It really is that sort of narrowing the funnel to create something which is relevant to people in the future. We need a point of reference for communications, for integration, for effectiveness. It signals to the world outside that we’re focused upon the future in terms of the future students and what they need.

“I like the approach of treating all students as the same students”

“I like the approach of treating all students as the same students,” he tells The PIE.

Of course, Lawrence acknowledges international students come to university through different channels than their domestic counterparts. They have significantly unique needs and expectations but ultimately he agrees with the philosophy that, in many ways, all students should be treated the same, because after all, they are students.

“The future students director actually has to have a really huge understanding of the different value sets which derive domestic and international students. It’s not a basic role of looking after them. It’s almost like what used to be called a global brand manager.”

For Lawrence, the role is not about creating better admissions processes, but about understanding the market.

Some found themselves in the new role due to the enormous number of restructures, reorganisations and consolidation of functions that have taken place over the past few years.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, universities and the sector as a whole lost a lot – from voluntary programs to valuable workers who left during the great resignation. These were “all of the fantastic initiatives that created the experience”, says Lawrence.

Now, universities must hone in on what’s important to people in the future, he adds, and this new title could help to do so.

Donal O’Connor, director of future students at the University of South Wales, is one of those who finds himself in the new role due a restructure in early 2022. Previously head of international at the university, O’Connor says there was a need for a name change due to his new role overseeing both home and overseas recruitment.

“The role therefore changed accordingly, with leadership of staff, targets, and marketing and recruitment strategy across both the home and overseas portfolio becoming necessary,” he adds.

Katy Scott, director of future students at the University of Dundee, tells The PIE what she finds inspiring about the title is that “it ensures that students are at the heart of all that we do, and it helps unite the team around a clear, shared objective”.

“That’s incredibly powerful and anchoring,” she notes.

So what is at the top of the agenda for our sector’s directors of future students?

“That’s easy,” says O’Connor, “meeting or exceeding annual new student recruitment targets, our future students.”

Meanwhile, Scott tells The PIE that this year she’d like to really delve deeper into understanding target audiences, and work on personalising the journey for them.

“That and further streamlining how we work as a directorate, allowing us to work smarter not harder, breaking down remaining silos and sharing skills, knowledge and expertise across the wider team.”

For Lawrence, he’d like to see those in this role focus on gaining an umbrella understanding of the entire ecosystem around students.

“It didn’t used to happen. We used to have domestic people understanding domestic and international people understanding international, and they never really cross collaborated,” says Lawrence.

“I think now the environment is such that possibly is a benefit of post pandemic. We’ve started to understand it as an entire ecosystem.”

Kate Walewska is director of the future students office at the University of Leicester, and was the deputy director for global recruitment at Leicester prior to securing this role. She tells The PIE her core focus is student recruitment, covering all business lines and modes of study.

Leicester’s future students office was launched in 2017 and after some refining over the years, the office now includes: global recruitment for UK recruitment and outreach plus international recruitment with a majority of staff based offshore; admissions and applicant experience (admissions, enquiry management, applicant communications and business systems) as well as global business operations and partnership development.

“We’ve started to understand it as an entire ecosystem”

According to Walewska, prior to 2017 many of these teams were separate, “too often working in isolation” and occasionally seemingly competing. UK recruitment and widening participation teams both targeted the same local schools and often attended the same career events.

“Being one team enables us to share best practice, maximise resources and provide our future students with the best possible experience, at every step of their journey,” Walewska explains.

“Student experience remains our utmost priority, recognising the role we play in helping young people make what will be one of the most important decisions of their life. It’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly.”

Each team is led by an “exceptionally talented head” and supported by a “phenomenal deputy director of the future students office”, she continues.

“Our core aim was to create highly specialised teams that support students from their earliest encounter with the university… all the way through to enrolment, should they decide we are the right institution for them.”

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The UK and the European Commission have struck a long-awaited deal to allow researchers in Britain access to the EU’s flagship research program, Horizon.

From January 1 next year, scientists in the UK will have access to Horizon Europe funding and the UK government is encouraging them to apply now for grants and projects “with certainty” from today.

The agreement, which also sees the UK associate to the European Earth Observation program Copernicus, is “fully in line” with the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the partners said.

The UK is expected to contribute almost €2.6 billion per year on average to participate in both programs until the end of the current program in 2027. Over the seven years from 2020, Horizon has a budget of £85bn.

The “mutually agreed solution” will allow the EU and UK “continue to be at the forefront of global science and research”, according to European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.

The UK government is selling the deal as one that has “improved financial terms of association… that are right for the UK”.

Ahead of the NATO summit in July when association to the program was expected to be announced, prime minister Rishi Sunak said there was “no point in doing something that it is not in the interests of British taxpayers or British researchers and scientists“.

Stakeholders had also warned that the Horizon program was being used as a political lever in post-Brexit negotiations.

The announcement will delight the sector, but will leave many asking why it has taken so long to reach an agreement.

“We have worked with our EU partners to make sure that this is right deal for the UK, unlocking unparalleled research opportunities, and also the right deal for British taxpayers,” Sunak said after the deal was revealed today (September 7).

UK taxpayers will start contributing to the scheme again from January 2024. The UK will have a new “automatic clawback” that Downing Street says will protect the UK as participation recovers from the effects of the last two and a half years.

If UK scientists receive significantly less money than the UK puts into the program, the country will be compensated.

Michelle Donelan, UK minister for Science, Innovation and Technology said the government has listened to the sector, noting that “through hard work and negotiation we have secured an excellent deal for researchers, taxpayers and businesses”.

“The Horizon program is unrivalled in its scope and opens up a world of opportunity for cooperation on science that delivers real-world benefits for the UK,” she said.

“The Horizon program is unrivalled in its scope and opens up a world of opportunity”

President of UUK, Sally Mapstone, said the entire research community “will be delighted at the news that an agreement has been reached”.

“Overcoming the obstacles to association was no small feat and we are grateful to the government and the commission for their perseverance to secure this successful outcome,” she added.

Research that the Horizon Europe program supports will help to deliver medical breakthroughs, new technologies and advances in areas such as AI to “improve all our lives and help tackle the shared environmental, economic, and social challenges we face”, chief executive of the Russell Group, Tim Bradshaw, added.

Vice-president of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič said the “significant step forward” will “ensure that EU and UK researchers and industry mutually benefit from one another’s experience and from fruitful collaboration in EU scientific and space programs”.

The UK government also noted that researchers in the UK will also be able to cooperate with Norway, New Zealand and Israel, all of which are part of the program. New Zealand recently associated – Australia, Korea and Canada are also looking to join.

The agreement must now be approved by the Council before being formally adopted in the EU-UK Specialised Committee on Participation in Union Programs.

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Almost half of Chinese international students who are dismissed by their universities in the US are asked to leave due to academic dishonesty, a new white paper has found. 

The report from Pittsburgh-based WholeRen Education, which helps “promote Sino-US education opportunities”, found that 47.9% of those students are dismissed due to academic dishonesty.

The white paper on Chinese international student dismissal and its consequences also indicated that poor academic performance was close behind as a reason, citing 46.3% of dismissals.

WholeRen compiled data from 11,096 students whose data sets were complete. Some 1,120 of those occurred from March of 2022 to March of 2023, and 1,000 of those were randomly selected for the report.

It comes as Chinese students are somewhat under a microscope, with geopolitical tensions between the US and China rising and declining Chinese student numbers, according to 2022’s Open Doors data.

WholeRen writes in the white paper that, despite academic dishonesty being the major reason for dismissals, it’s not simply a case of someone cheating – many factors come into play. 

The white paper divided intentional dishonesty when students knowingly and purposely violate rules and unintentional behaviour when students have a “lack of understanding of the academic integrity policies in American schools”.

The most notable form of this academic dishonesty is plagiarism. From 2022 to 2023, 53.8% of students dismissed due to academic dishonesty were dismissed as a result of plagiarism. 

The issue increased significantly in 2023, jumping almost 10% between March 2022 and March 2023, according to WholeRen’s data.

“Improper use of citation frequently caused Chinese international students to violate academic integrity policies. If students are not familiar with how and when to use citation, it can easily be labelled academic dishonesty – albeit unintentionally,” the white paper points out. 

Some 28.6% of this group were dismissed due to cheating, 7.8% due to ghostwriting – aka contract cheating for assignments where someone else is paid to take assignments – and 3.9% due to proxy-test taking. 

One student mentioned as a case study in the white paper, named as Student B, reportedly did not “manage his study time properly and found himself struggling” with deadlines – and ended up plagiarising online content to make them. 

Despite receiving a job offer, the student still hasn’t actually graduated – the situation “remains in flux”, the white paper said. 

“Improper use of citation frequently caused Chinese international students to violate academic integrity”

The intent behind the paper examines just this type of case, where students have difficulty adapting to life in the US due to culture differences. 

“It is very likely that the challenges they face will have a negative impact on their academic performance or even lead to behavioural misconduct which, in turn, may lead to warnings or suspension,” the white paper read. 

In general data presented by the white paper, 69.4% of the cases were undergraduate, 26% masters and 2% doctoral students. 

Around a quarter of those dismissed were in their senior year at a US university – showing that in a good amount of cases, it was only in their last year that issues began to surface. 

Over half of the cases were in schools in the US that were ranked one to 50 according to the rankings from US News and World Report.  

The rest were evenly split between institutions ranked 50 to 100, and above 100. In terms of location, most schools were either in California or New York – where a good portion of international students in the US flock to.

While academic dishonesty is the biggest dismissal reason, poor academic performance is close behind. 

However, again, another factor brought into play is also that not all students in that data set were simply lacking in academic performance – they were also affected by “attendance and psychological problems”. 

“Students should seek help as early as possible to explore different options and increase their chances of staying in the US,” the report concluded. 

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If you could spend five minutes with anyone from the international education sector, who would it be and what would you ask them? Introducing The PIE’s latest series, Five Minutes With… where we speak to leaders from across the sector and ask them all the big questions.

Stuart Easter is the head of international partnerships and student recruitment at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. He was recently elected to the BUILA Executive, giving him more opportunities to work on impactful projects across the UK sector. Easter shares with The PIE ups and downs of working in a sector with an ever-changing landscape.

How did you find yourself working in intled?

My role at Edinburgh Napier expands beyond international these days (including domestic recruitment and widening participation), but I cut my teeth in international recruitment in the further education sector after returning from a series of transformative international career experiences over 15 years ago including a year living in China.

Like many in this sector, I was originally drawn to the role for the chance to travel to new places and experience new cultures at the same time as promoting opportunities for students to gain their own transformative experiences within the UK higher education sector. I was lucky in my first recruitment role because it wasn’t defined by a single region, so I was able to spend time in places as varied as Hong Kong, Nigeria, Brazil, Nepal, Bangladesh, Brunei and the UAE.

What do you like most about your job?

The variety. Working in a university, and specially having an international remit, means that there is always something going on. Change is exciting, and the fact that priorities can change from one week to the next (or overnight!) keeps me on my toes.

“Working in a university, and specially having an international remit, means that there is always something going on”

This is where my job intersects within some of my dull hobbies, such as keeping up with national and international politics, and reading the news! Whilst HE works on an annual calendar, it feels as though no two years of my career have been the same, and I feel incredibly lucky not to be bored by ‘going to work’.

If you had a magic wand, what would you change?

The variety! Whilst exciting, the sheer volume of change that we have to address in these roles verges on chaotic. It would probably be better for my health if we had a year or two of predictable policy, stable exchange rates, calm geopolitics and fewer global pandemics.

What are your top 5 priorities?

• Making sure my team are engaged, satisfied and motivated to do a great job
• Ensuring we have solid operational plans to achieve our targets
• Investing in great customer service, continuously improving the applicant experience
• Keeping in touch with senior stakeholders for our work, internally and externally
• Planning for the future, building in resilience and opportunities for growth

Tell me about a defining moment in your career

I had been interested in a career in education in some way for a long time (my mum was a teaching assistant in a primary school and I heard lots of stories about the impact she made on peoples’ lives) and my first formal opportunity came when I was applying for a master’s degree. I found a fantastic program in Edinburgh that brought together my undergraduate skills in computing with my interests in education.

The student experience was so different from my undergraduate and I felt so supported to succeed. The research phase of my dissertation included a visit to Ghana to interview people who had been investing in education projects for many years and this work led me to want to understand more about the value people place on education. Shortly after submitting my project I moved to China for a year to work on a British Council project and this gave me an incredible opportunity to experience a new culture, learn a new language and inspire me to seek out a career in the internationalisation of education.

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London universities need to help international students foster a sense of belonging when they study in the city, as well as ease cost pressures, according to a new policy note.

The Expressing the international student voice paper, which examines the experiences of overseas students studying at universities in the UK capital, was put together by London Higher and Middlesex University London from answers given at a special student roundtable.

“One cannot underestimate the vital role that international students play in enriching the academic, cultural, and social environment of their host countries and institutions,” said Chris Skidmore, MP and chair of the International Higher Education Commission, writing in the report’s foreword.

“The recommendations outlined in the report are thoughtful and actionable, reflecting a commitment to enhancing the international student experience and ensuring that their voices are heard and valued,” he continued.

The paper found that the prep and administration required to enter the UK can be “both challenging and othering”, which makes some students feel “isolated and unwanted”.

“International students face high costs obtaining visas, insurance and accommodation even before they arrive on British soil.

“On arrival, it can also be difficult for international students to obtain national insurance numbers and bank accounts or understand and arrange NHS care.

“The move towards cashless payments in shops on and off campus following the pandemic has exacerbated the challenge for international students to buy groceries and essentials while they are waiting for their bank accounts to be set up,” the policy note reads.

Another compounding issue of concern, the policy note said, was the high cost of accommodation in London – one of many cities in Europe and across the world facing a rental crisis.

“The search for affordable accommodation is driving international students further and further out of the centre of the city, lengthening commute times and increasing the cost of travel.

“Choosing a place to live in a large city they may have never visited before can be difficult, and can come with significant cost and time pressure.”

Additionally, guarantors on student housing for international students are “provided through outsourced agencies” in most cases – fees needed to secure guarantors can “make students feel they are paying for accommodation twice”, the note adds.

The cost-of-living situation can be “stressful” and even in some cases “impossible to manage”, it suggests.

It did say, however, that London universities “generally live up to” the high expectations international students have in terms of academic experience.

“One cannot underestimate the vital role that international students play”

The note pointed out that, naturally, international students tend to have less of a safety net than domestic students, and often find difficulty getting part-time work due to visa restrictions. That, along with additional visa costs, a soaring NHS surcharge and higher tuition fees, is where London could become less attractive.

Transport is also expensive, with most students travelling at peak times when travel tariffs are more expensive.

Higher tuition fees than their domestic peers makes many international feel “less valued”.

“The idea that their universities want their money more than they want the students themselves persists in some students’ minds in some universities,” the note says.

“The crucial thing is for us to treat international students as people, not numbers, and to make sure we are listening, responding and co-designing with them,” noted Nic Beech, vice-chancellor of Middlesex University, commenting on the policy note.

“London Councils should commit to working with London’s higher education institutions”

It recommended five points to help improve London international students’ experience – easing cost pressures was the first, with a call to work with the Mayor of London and the city’s business groups to work with universities in the city to “demystify the process for employing international students”.

Focusing on arrival, another recommendation was made to ensure cash be an available payment option while international students wait for their bank accounts to be set up. For getting around, it said TfL should “consider dropping” off-peak restrictions on its student travelcard.

Finally, it recommended that the OfS should consider the creation of an international student panel nationwide – in London, it said an international student voice should be represented on the Mayor’s Academic Forum, to “give an additional perspective on issues” regarding the international student experience.

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Student visas should be seen as a path to permanent residency and flexible ‘follow-up’ visa schemes should be introduced if governments are to attract talent, a new report has suggested.

The Passport to Progress report, published by think tank representing the UK’s entrepreneurial community The Entrepreneurs Network and global education non-profit ABE Global, urges government to rethink its migration policy.

A key recommendation is that international graduates should have access to unsponsored right to work in the UK following their graduation.

Along with ‘dual intent’ and flexible visa schemes to ease switching visas upon graduation, the report says international graduates should be exempt from migration caps and have the right to launch their own businesses upon graduation.

It also calls on governments to “actively step in” to expand loans and scholarship options for exceptional talent who do not have the means to cover university and living costs.

The research highlights the Chinese government’s Belt and Road Scholarship covering selected students’ expenses at some universities as a good example of attracting talent. Other countries are not using their sponsorship programs to the maximum potential, it contends.

“Governments can create extremely selective student loan programs and scholarships specifically for exceptional international students at annual caps. Universities can be made responsible for spotting the top talent and governments will provide the funding needed,” the paper says.

UK House of Lords peer and founder and chairman of Cobra Beer, Lord Bilimoria, said that if the UK government wants to increase productivity, innovation and economic growth, a “flexible, proactive and competitive” immigration system is needed to incentivise students to choose the UK.

The report argues that the current sponsorship system disproportionately benefits big firms and does not incentivise graduates to launch their own business in the country.

Bilimoria, who himself set up Cobra Beer in the UK after graduating from the University of Cambridge, referred to immigrants as “natural allies” for those governments seeking economic growth.

“The desire to succeed, the craving to build something new and the entrepreneurial soul are a part and parcel of many immigrants’ personalities,” he said.

Access to work, stable paths to permanent residency and costs of education are seen as common challenges across study destinations, with some having better migration policy in place.

Canada has been “exceptionally successful” in attracting high-achieving international students in the past two decades, seeing a six-fold increase in numbers.

Historically, the US has also been successful, the report indicated, pointing to the Operation Paperclip which recruited over 1,600 German engineers and scientists after the Second World War.

Governments should establish specialised task forces to actively recruit entrepreneurs and talented STEM professionals, it said.

Ireland’s Critical Skills Employment Permit allowing firms to import talent as long as they maintain a 50% European national workforce, Israel’s Innovation Labs programs providing critical technological infrastructure to migrant entrepreneurs and New Zealand’s Global Impact Visa offering training, investment and networking opportunities are all noted as successful policy interventions.

Canada, it says, is “realising the benefits of positioning international graduates as the future of its workforce”. Competitor countries should be looking to adapt migration policy as they face talent shortages and productivity stagnation, it contends.

It highlights the UK’s High Potential Individual visa as “a unique and creative policy example”, but says at the two-year work visa route should be expanded beyond the current top 200 universities to include institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology.

“Recently, the central relationship between immigration and innovation has come under attack”

Chief executive officer of ABE Global, Rob May, warned that, “Recently, the central relationship between immigration and innovation has come under attack.”

He said that the positive effects of migration have “once again become clouded in a hostile narrative that finds its fulfilment in the populist rhetoric that any immigration is antithetical to national progress”.

Researcher at The Entrepreneurs Network and author of the report, Derin Kocer, highlighted the need to increase productivity as the way to meaningful economic growth.

“Many countries, especially developed economies like the UK, have been rather unsuccessful in increasing productivity over the past decade and thus their GDP per capita growth either slowed down substantially or stagnated. To break this cycle, the UK needs to invest more in innovation. For that, it needs innovators and entrepreneurs,” he told The PIE.

Business leaders have been citing ‘access to talent’ as a main concern, he continued.

“The need for talent will only grow as new technologies change the skills needed to work productively.”

The UK government can be “much more bold and ambitious in spotting talent”, he concluded. One option is to expand the High Potential Individual visa to professionals as well as graduates from top universities.

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Students on virtual mobility programs and at branch campuses could be counted towards Europe’s student mobility targets in order to boost numbers, a new report has suggested. 

A briefing from the European University Association urges ministers to reconsider how student mobility is counted in the European Higher Education Area, after the region has repeatedly failed to reach its target of 20% of students participating in study abroad opportunities. 

“The higher education sector has reached a choice point”

“The reality is that the higher education sector has reached a choice point. Putting it bluntly: either it abandons the unattainable 20% benchmark or it radically expands its catchment,” the report notes. 

EU nations agreed on the target in 2009, with a plan to achieve it by 2020. But, after years of struggling to collect accurate data, the total mobility rate stands at around 10% for bachelor’s degree graduates. 

It is higher for those with master’s and doctoral degrees, meaning those who don’t go on to postgraduate education may be ‘missing out’ on international experiences, according to Michael Gaebel, director of higher education policy at the European University Association.

“The benchmark was agreed more than a decade ago, and one of its benefits is that it started systematic efforts to collect data,” Gaebel told The PIE News. “We know now that the benchmark – which was set relatively blindly at the time – has not been achieved.

“The results also suggest that it would make sense to replace the present 20% benchmark with a more differentiated approach, by distinguishing degree cycles, but also credit and degree mobility.”

Obstacles to reaching the target included the portability of grants and loans, immigration requirements and qualification recognition. In recent years, Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and Brexit have further disrupted study abroad opportunities. 

The EUA briefing calls for a “radical redefinition” of student mobility, including considering branch campuses and foreign franchise programs. 

Although this might provoke “skepticism”, Howard Davies, author of the report and senior advisor at EUA, points out that “such students have either been denied access to, or have voluntarily stepped outside, their nationally funded HE systems.

“While still studying in their home country, they are not intellectually immobile.”

The report also recommends recognising mobilities achieved in non-formal and informal prior learning as well as students engaged in cross-border virtual learning.

“Given the urgency of the digital and green transitions, physical mobility needs to be blended with virtual mobility in ways which assure high quality and amenability to measurement,” the briefing notes.  

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A university in New Zealand has confirmed a significant expansion of programs in Singapore, just a month after confessing it was in the most “difficult financial situation” it had ever faced.

In July, Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa asked over 200 staff to consider voluntary redundancy as part of its plans to cut costs amid declining student enrolments and a reported $8.8m deficit.

In August, the institution announced it would be launching a new campus in Singapore, a recent favourite of foreign universities looking to expand their TNE outreach.

Massey’s Singapore campus would be challenging the likes of James Cook University, Curtin, INSEAD France, and Georgia Tech’s Singapore centre, and MIT’s Singapore venture MISTI.

However, there is speculation among staff as to whether this campus would be successful – even top-notch universities such as Johns Hopkins University had difficulty in the region, with its Singapore campus being closed down in 2017.

A chair in theoretical chemistry at the university, Peter Schwerdtfeger, said there was “little understanding among staff” about why cuts are necessary when they are, effectively, instead investing in Singaporean students.

“Such an investment is seen as high-risk by most academics,” Schwerdtfeger added.

Vice-chancellor Jan Thomas told staff, according to Stuff, that it would be building Singapore as a “major face-to-face campus” as part of “four big shifts” required to keep the university afloat.

Responding to The PIE News’ request for comment, a Massey University spokesperson insisted that there would not be a physical campus as part of the plans to expand in the country – and that the plan is one of the methods it will use to help keep the university financially sustainable.

“The announcement to expand our Singapore offering is in response to the current economic environment, where we need to diversify the way that we work, including transnationally.

“This is directly aligned to the Massey University Strategy 2022-2027… [and] this expansion has been in consideration for over a year,” they told The PIE.

One commentator on LinkedIn, Chris J Reed, argued that the university should not be criticised for attempting to expand its outreach.

“Surely it’s common sense that if you can’t make money in your home country then you explore other countries where you can. Why aren’t they being congratulated?

“Why the criticism when opening a campus in Singapore has minimal costs but could be very lucrative?” he asked.

An English professor from another New Zealand university pointed out the irony on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Massey was possibly using “taxpayer funding to pay to educate the young people of Singapore” while tertiary options in New Zealand are dwindling.

“If you can’t make money in your home country then you explore other countries where you can”

Massey told The PIE that New Zealand money would not be used for the venture, but did not reveal how much the investment would be to expand the offerings in Singapore.

It noted it was planning to reach 5000 students offshore by 2026 – it already has 300 students offshore in Singapore and 2000 more in other countries.

“We plan to offer a range of programs in Singapore and are currently finalising which of these will commence from 2024.

“There are no plans to ‘build’ a physical campus in Singapore – the university is aware that other institutions have attempted to create sub-campuses in Singapore. However, we are not following their approaches.

“This compelling opportunity has been given a great deal of thought and consideration regarding the potential risks and rewards, including the anticipated revenue contribution this could provide the university,” the spokesperson added.

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Issues with obtaining student visas for the second most popular study abroad destination for US student are continuing to plague the sector while travel returns post pandemic.

According to IIE’s Open Doors Study Abroad report, Spain is the second most popular destination among US study abroad students.

Post-Brexit, UK students seeking to study in Spain have faced frustration in obtaining timely visa appointments. A 2022 strike of diplomatic staff at the Spanish embassies and consulates nationwide in the UK compounded the delays.

It is now apparent that UK students have not been the only ones to suffer. Staff at Spanish embassies in seven other countries soon followed due to concerns over wages.

“This creates undue stress and uncertainty on students and universities”

According to Jennifer Engel, associate vice president for education abroad at Indiana University, the Spanish visa process “has traditionally been difficult”.

“But in the last few years it has become increasingly challenging  for students, as well as for advisors who are guiding students who wish to study in Spain and need a visa to do so,” she told The PIE.

Indiana continues to experience a major demand for study abroad programs in Spain from students across academic disciplines, and her staff have frequent conversations with students about the persistent visa issues. 

“In order for our students to have any chance of getting a student visa in time, they must have a passport in hand by the time they are accepted into the program,” said Engel.

“Given the challenges this past summer with students struggling to get independent visa appointments, we are now actively encouraging students to consider programs in other countries if they don’t already have a valid passport – and many do not as they are first-time international travellers.”

US secretary of State Antony Blinken and the US State department have been under fire this summer for passport processing times, said to be a lingering effect of the pandemic. Record numbers of renewal applications in 2023 have resulted in a current processing estimate of 10-13 weeks.

Even with a valid passport in hard, Engel indicated that over the last two years, the number of individual visa appointments available has been insufficient to meet the demand.

“This creates undue stress and uncertainty on students and universities. While the visa processing window has increased from 90 to 180 days… students are often not accepted into partner universities in Spain until 80-90 days prior to their program start date.”

And education abroad leadership foresees an even greater demand for appointments this fall with students applying for Spring 2024 programs.

Engel herself has a deep connection to education abroad in Spain, having studied abroad in Madrid as a Spanish major. She considers Spain to be her “second home” and is still connected with her host family from her time at university.

“While I wholeheartedly want to encourage students to study there, given the reality of the current visa situation we have to advise students to consider more accessible options,” she concluded.

For the past several years, the Association of North American University Programs in Spain (APUNE) has been involved in advocacy efforts around the visa process in Spain.

It “continuously seek a solution for the ongoing and ubiquitous visa issues that are currently having a devastating impact on enrolments in international exchange programs in Spain”, Amy Olson, president of APUNE, said.

It collaborates with the Spanish foreign ministry and education officials, as well as international study institutions, the Spanish Embassy in Washington and other Spanish consulates in the US.

Despite Spain being one of the top study abroad destinations, APUNE data indicates the majority of programs are experiencing a decline of between 3-10% enrolment, which translates to about 2,000 students.

Moreover, APUNE members report barriers with the process for the legalisation of documents, stating that current wait times have been as long as 10 weeks.

As such, many students who had originally planned to study in Spain are eventually redirected to other programs in countries with faster visa processes, with some even discontinuing the study abroad process altogether.

“While the concerns of APUNE have been taken seriously, most officials have stated that their hands are tied because each consulate operates independently, and the responsibility has not been assumed by any one organisation or ministry,” Olson said.

In addition, requirements often vary significantly between consulates, including requiring different documentation such as medical insurance, proof of finances or background checks. This “creates a great deal of confusion and a considerable amount of extra work for the university offices helping these students”, Olson asserted.

The Spanish visa process has recently been outsourced to independent agency BLS. However, Olson proffered that regarding BLS, “reports reaching the APUNE community are of chaotic appointments, backlogged processing, and similar difficulties as those experienced to date”.

“Most officials have stated that their hands are tied because each consulate operates independently”

It is possible for students to apply for their visa after arriving in Spain, but there are risks involved and offers no guarantees.

Many leaders in the field have advised against the route, as with no visa assurances, students risk losing significant funds along with academic credits if their visa is denied.

Organisations such as The Forum on Education Abroad and NAFSA have joined in efforts advocating for better efficiency for visa processing. NAFSA is holding a special online session on visa issues in Spain later this month.

However, with the new academic year already underway in the US, Olson and her colleagues are “dismayed at the loss of student participants to programs in Spain because of bureaucratic obstacles they face when applying for a visa”.

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As it seeks to deepen educational ties with Africa and make the Russian language a more widely spoken international language, Russia is set to open its first ever Russian language open learning centre in Africa this September.

The Russian Centre for Open Education will open in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi offering Russian language courses free of tuition fees to local students, in a bid to attract as many students as possible to enrol.

According to the country’s envoy to Kenya Dmitry Maksimychev, the centre will open with some 300 local students interested in the language which will also place them at an advantage in seeking study in Russia scholarships, local media reports.

The hub will be one of the 28 similar ones proposed by the country across Africa as it follows in the footsteps of China and Turkey, who in recent years have taken deliberate measures to create a mass of their language speakers on the continent.

The announcement is coming only a month after the country’s leader Vladimir Putin disclosed that his country planned to open campuses of ‘leading’ Russian universities in African countries. This he revealed during the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg.

This is besides teaching of Russian language, and a proposal to establish proposed consortiums for academic and research cooperation between it and African countries under the framework of the Russian-African Network University.

In 2018 Zambia’s Copperbelt University entered into a partnership with the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) to begin offering Russian language courses and set up a regional centre for the teaching of the language.

In the latest disclosure it is not clear if any universities will be involved in the venture or the country will go about setting the 29 centres along the same lines as France’s Institut Français and Germany’s Goethe Institute which teach their languages and culture as stand-alone entities.

It is also not clear yet if or not the country will use a universities and colleges partnership approach to pioneer the classes.

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