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.

Starting as an international masters student at the University of Warwick in the UK, Sun Tao wanted to make that dream a reality for as many others as he could. At New Oriental Vision Overseas, he uses his global education expertise as CEO to help send Chinese students to universities across the globe.

Introduce yourself in three words or phrases. 

A mountain climber, an amateur drummer and an international educator.

What was your best work trip?

I would say it was a fam trip to the UK in 2011. That was my first trip to the country after having graduated from the University of Warwick almost 10 years before. We travelled from Glasgow to Brighton, and I have such precious memories of the trip.

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

I would use this magic to build three bridges. One would connect Chinese students with quality education elsewhere in the world, another one would bond Chinese education institutions with their international counterparts, and the third one would link global talents with Chinese education.

What’s the biggest challenge to your profession?

The biggest challenge, I think, is the uncertainty surrounding geopolitical relationships globally.

Tell us about a defining moment in your career.

I think that would be when I became a renowned trainer for the IELTS Speaking Test. From there, I started to think big and dream big, reaching out to see what else I could do in the industry.

What’s the best international education conference and why?

NAFSA – it’s a conference where, I find, one congregates with old friends and can meet new friends; and where friends encourage each other and can get new perspectives.

“There is a great sense of accomplishment in this job”

What do you like most about your job?

I like that I get to assist thousands of Chinese students in embarking on their pursuit of study across the globe. There is a great sense of accomplishment in this job.

What’s the story of the most inspiring international student you’ve met or assisted through your work?

I would say it was helping a Chinese student who has cerebral palsy. We helped him through all kinds of difficulties, and in the end he was admitted to a Computer PhD program in the US. It was very inspiring to work with him.

Who’s a champion or cheerleader in the industry which we should all follow and why?

I think that would be Michael Yu (Yu Minhong), the founder and CEO of New Oriental Education and Technology Group. He has inspired and assisted millions of Chinese students to get connected to the world.

The post Sun Tao, New Oriental Vision Overseas, China appeared first on The PIE News.

Institutions in the UK are “considerably ahead of the game” for the upcoming autumn intake, with overall CAS issuance, deposits and visa issuances up year-on-year. 

CAS-to-visa issuance rates also have sped up by more than 8% compared to last year, according to the data from student onboarding platform Enroly.

Data analysis showed 73% of UK clients had “launched their intake on CAS shield” at least five months before their courses begin. In September 2022, just 14% were launching in such a time frame. 

Across the platform’s 100,000 or so international offers, visa issuances were up 62% on 2022 numbers, while CAS issuances were up 11.4% and deposits paid also increased by 11.7%. 

“It’s interesting to see the numbers demonstrate a brighter outlook overall at this stage of the intake,” noted Jeff Williams, CEO and co-founder of Enroly. 

In 2023, it was found that Enroly’s partnerships with over a quarter of UK universities have led to it becoming the biggest data lake for international admissions benchmarking in the country.

While the latest figures look encouraging overall, two outliers paint a slightly concerning picture.

India’s deposits were up by just over 4%, but the worrying figure comes through with CAS issuances having dropped from 2022 figures by 8.4%. 

“International recruitment teams are dealing with very high levels of fraud from high-risk regions like India,” Shivani Bhalla, head of international student recruitment at Brunel University London, told The PIE. “It’s another piece of the puzzle that needs to be resolved sooner than later.”

Nigeria’s figures differ from the overall picture even more. Not only were its deposit payments down 4.2%, but CAS issuance dropped by over 15%.

Some 170% more students who are on the Enroly platform from Nigeria are in the “closed/lost” stages, which indicate that they either abandoned or postponed their search for study on the platform.

Enroly itself predicted that this could lead to higher deferral and even withdrawal numbers among Nigerian students in the coming year. 

“It’s interesting to see the numbers demonstrate a brighter outlook”

“Informal conversations with many of our partners have indicated that the key markets of India and Nigeria were down slightly, something shown in these latest figures,” Williams added. 

Nigeria has recently been dealing with heavy issues on the ground. The country’s devaluation of the Naira has resulted in difficulties for students wanting to pay fees, as well as market concerns following the end of the country’s fuel subsidy. 

The country is also one of the key markets for those wanting to come to the UK with dependents. 

After the ban was announced on postgraduate taught dependents, there was a scramble on social media offering applications for places before it comes into place in January 2024. 

This scramble, however, doesn’t seem to have been an uptick reflected in Enroly’s data. In September 2022, just under 11% of all students on the platform declared they would be bringing dependents. In 2023 to date, that figure is now only 9.3%. 

Declarations of dependents among Nigerian students lowered even more significantly – just 20.7% in 2023 compared to 33% in 2022’s full intake. 

While those drops were seen in India and Nigeria, more encouraging data can be found for countries like Nepal, which saw a 225% increase in deposits paid on 2022 figures. CAS issuances, similarly, went up by 259%. 

“One of the main reasons [for this growth] is due to it being the last September 2023 intake with the allowance of dependents,” noted Bickey Kumar Shah, country manager at Boost Education Services in Nepal.

Despite the growth, Nepal suffered some ongoing turbulence in recent months as a decision was made then reversed to effectively bar students from leaving the country for non-higher education courses.

A recent increase in tax rates for outgoing students was also implemented, but stakeholders say it may be too early to see whether this will be a deterrent. 

Also showing over 100% growth in the last year on deposits was Pakistan, with 141% on last year’s figures, as well as Iran (119.5%) and Ghana (100.4%).

Pakistan’s CAS issuances also went up by 201%. All of the top 10 markets in the report apart from India and Nigeria saw increases in CAS issuances. Sri Lanka saw a 118% increase, Malaysia went up by 30%, and even Canada and the US saw bumps of 25% and 18%, respectively.

Speaking on India’s and Nigeria’s performance in the data, Bhalla predicted it by no means spells bad things to come.

“We were living in an iconic bubble period and now the bubble has started to burst – I mentioned this last year in a conference, that by 2023, things will start slowing down.

“As my friends in the stock market would say, the market is correcting itself this year. By 2024/25 we will have stabilised our recruitment across these regions and others as well,” she explained.

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Insurance provider guard.me International Insurance has become the sector’s first company to obtain specialist data protection certification.

The ISO 27001 and SOC 2 credentials show the company’s “commitment to safeguarding sensitive user information”, it said.

“Our priority is to safeguard the data we manage, ensuring it is used only for its intended purpose,” stated Tony Searle, chief information officer of guard.me International Insurance.

“We have implemented stringent access measures and provided comprehensive privacy and security training to all our employees, leaving no stone unturned in our commitment to preventing unauthorised access, disclosure, or misuse of data.”

“Our priority is to safeguard the data we manage”

In 2021, education was among the most-targeted industries for data breaches, while personal data including passport numbers and health details of some international students in Australia was stolen after insurance provider Medibank was hacked in October last year.

More recently, the Colorado Department of Higher Education in the US was the target of an attack in June.

guard.me said the two new certifications solidify the company’s position as “an industry benchmark for data protection and reinforces its commitment to safeguarding sensitive user information”.

It is promptly implementing legislative changes related to privacy, compliance and data security to ensure maximum protection for its clients, it added.

“This includes offering ID theft protection in every policy,” guard.me noted.

The company is also pursuing additional certifications as it creates a framework to manage data privacy.

The insurance provider has been very supportive of the Canadian higher education sector, donating to institutions such as Sheridan College on a number of occasions – including to create a Fund for International Musical Development – Niagara College, Centennial College and Georgian College.

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At the physics department of Finland’s Aalto university, Sorin Paraoanu, a senior university lecturer, shows off the institution’s low temperature laboratory. 

The research facility has produced some of the lowest temperatures on record and is an important part of Finland’s science and technology ecosystem. 

As refrigerators hum around the laboratory, a PhD student from New Zealand discusses his ongoing research into mechanical vibrations and quantum technology. 

“Finland is a nice place to study, definitely,” he says. “It’s not so popular just because it seems far away to some people.” 

While it may be a small and distant country to some, Finland has big ambitions when it comes to growing research hubs, like the one at Aalto, and cementing the country’s position as a science superpower. So much so that the government recently committed to spending 4% of GDP on research and development. 

But with a population of 5.5 million, realising these aspirations will rely on its ability to attract global talent, including students. Now, Finland’s universities are gearing up to play their part in supporting the country’s ambitious technology goals via international education. 

Finland is far from the only country hunting for talent. OECD countries are experiencing tight labour markets and low unemployment rates. In this context, countries are competing to attract skilled workers from abroad. 

Finland’s roadmap for education and work-based immigration was released in 2021 and set out how the country will attract skilled workers, students and graduates. 

Under former prime minister Sanna Marin, the country introduced an ambitious plan to triple the number of international students in Finland and for 75% of those students to remain in the country. 

“Now we are talking about attraction and retention”

“Before we were talking only about attraction, but now we are talking about attraction and retention,” says Hanna Isoranta, chief specialist at Study in Finland. 

Finland’s 25 universities are currently home to approximately 20,000 international students. Historically, encouraging these students to stay once they graduate has been a challenge, in part due to complex visa requirements.

This changed when, in 2022, the country simplified its residence permit program and extended its post-graduation jobseeker’s permit, allowing students who have completed a degree in Finland to stay in the country for two years. 

“It’s really attractive in the eyes of prospective students,” Isoranta says. This is reflected in the figures: the move immediately led to an increase in the number of students applying to study in the Scandinavian country from 32,000 in 2022 to 61,000 in 2023. 

But the language still poses a major barrier for graduates wanting to work in Finland. While larger companies may operate in English, the majority of the population communicate in Finnish, a notoriously tricky language to learn.  

“It’s not the easiest country to integrate into because of the language,” says Yuri Birjulin, international affairs and EU advocacy advisor at student union SYL. “To actually go into the job market, you need to learn domestic languages, mostly Finnish but also Swedish.” 

“It’s been a little bit bureaucratic to stay and get a job and I think it’s been a little bit not easy to get a job in local companies,” says Hannu Seristö, associate vice president of external relations at Aalto University. 

But things are changing, albeit slowly. 

“Language regulations relaxed and the overall attitude of the labour market sort of seems to be gearing towards… more positivity for internationals to be here,” says Markus Laitinen, head of international affairs at the University of Helsinki. 

While language barriers may be lessening, the cost of studying in Finland is becoming more of a hurdle for some potential international students. 

Under policies announced when the new coalition government formed in June, non-EU students will soon have to pay higher tuition fees. 

At the time, Universities Finland warned the decision will have a “negative impact” on opportunities to attract and teach international students. Those in the sector hope that generous post-work rights will balance the rising costs of studying in Finland. 

The country’s new government and its anti-immigration rhetoric has also raised concerns about how welcome international students will feel in the country. 

Laitinen predicts it could give Finland a reputation “for being anti-immigration that gets into the ears and eyes of the highly-skilled potential people”. 

Birjulin agrees: “That kind of anti-immigration attitude also reflects upon the general attitude of the society towards immigrants, and that also makes it harder for skilled labour to integrate and find a job and so forth.”

Whatever its rhetoric, the government has confirmed its intention to continue recruiting skilled workers, focusing on four priority countries: India, Philippines, Brazil and Vietnam.

For some markets, such as Vietnam, there is already a diaspora community in Finland, making recruitment easier. 

But others, such as Brazil, are “totally new”, says Isoranta. For these regions, marketing starts with establishing the basics – like where Finland is. Campaigns also focus on study-life balance, quality of life and post-study work options. 

This, they hope, will be enough to attract talent to support the country’s blossoming technology sectors. 

But those working in Finland’s universities are keen to emphasise the importance of international students beyond their contributions to the labour market.

“We don’t want to see students only as a tool for improving our demographic problem,” says Birjulin. “We see students as value in itself and they need to be supported in general, no matter whether there’s a skilled labour shortage or not.” 

Laitinen adds, “Those who leave, we should make sure we are in touch with them through alumni activities and others so that we don’t lose their potential, but only considering them valuable if they stay is a bit misleading.”

“I don’t think that we would consider international students as cash cows”

He is also adamant that, unlike in destinations such as Australia and the UK, international students will not be used to plug financial gaps. 

“I don’t think that we would consider international students as cash cows,” says Laitinen. 

“We see international students more as a quality aspect in increasing diversity in our classrooms.”

“The money is not the issue really, but diversity and providing different views in the classroom,” agrees Seristö. 

“It’s highly unlikely that you would get the best students or faculty from among five million people of Finland.”

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US higher education institutions will fail in their recruitment efforts if they take the view of international students as “cash cows”, according to CEO of NAFSA Fanta Aw.

Speaking to The PIE News, Aw highlighted the necessity of recruiting international students in helping the US survive the upcoming enrolment cliff – as one of many strategies.

“We do believe there is ample capacity at US colleges and universities to welcome them,” Aw said, referring to the thousands of institutions who have fewer international students than the bigger campuses.

“However, institutions must be committed to creating the structures, systems and environment for international students to thrive for their recruitment of international students to be considered a wise decision.

“That starts with approaching international students with the right motivation and perspective – to see them as true assets to the campus, classroom and community on a multitude of levels – not to simply plug a gap in enrolment or tuition dollars,” she continued.

The issue of the enrolment cliff not only brings problems of demographic loss to the fore, but also revenue loss, as said by Ben Waxman of Intead in an earlier piece on the issue from The PIE.

Smaller colleges that have more difficulty attracting international students – due in part to the pull of those bigger institutions – can do more to recruit them, but cannot do it alone.

“We see real potential in a centralised national strategy for international education as a means to diversify the origin of international students in this country and their study destination within the US,” she said, referring to the strategy NAFSA has long been calling for.

But Aw also noted that this expansion needs to happen in tandem with a rise in HE professionals – especially those in international offices – to have the tools, knowledge and skills needed to be successful in recruiting.

“Part of the US appeal to international students is its multicultural society”

The ‘great resignation’ has taken place in the last few years across the US, Canada and the UK.

Aw also touched on the fact that diversity across the student body will allow institutions to better recruit international students. In light of the issues faced across states like Florida, where DEI initiatives are being rolled back, it is “so valuable”, she suggested.

“Part of the US appeal to international students is its multicultural society; they are not interested in being in an echo chamber once here.

“Further, we can’t lose sight of the importance of US domestic students and their own mobility in this equation.

“They should have access to an internationalised curriculum and education abroad opportunities for a campus culture to truly be one where international perspectives and experiences are widely shared and valued,” Aw added.

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Debate on government proposals to reduce the numbers of international students in the Netherlands by cutting back English-taught programs is continuing as a public consultation has launched.

Last year, Dutch minister for Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, told The PIE in an exclusive interview that the country was searching for an “optimal” number of international students, while he praised the role of student and researcher international exchanges.

Dijkgraaf has since urged public research and applied sciences universities in the country to halt the recruitment of international students.

On April 21 of this year, he wrote to the House of Representatives detailing “concrete measures” that are designed to “better control and manage the number of international students coming to the Netherlands”, in addition to “preserving and strengthening” the Dutch language.

Uninhibited flows of students leads to “overcrowded lecture halls, high workload for lecturers and a lack of accommodation, and puts pressure on the accessibility of study programs”, the minister said at the time.

However, Dijkgraaf has always maintained the importance of both Dutch students studying abroad and international students being able to study in the Netherlands. International students’ contribution to Dutch society and its knowledge economy, especially in growth sectors in technology, have also been emphasised often.

The government notes that the total 115,000 international students enrolled at institutions across the country in the 2021/22 academic year was 3.5 times as many as the 2005/06 figure. Figures currently indicate that international students represent 15% of total student numbers at Dutch universities.

However, the 6,000 international student growth in the most recent figures was the slowest level of growth for five years. Funding for the Dutch education internationalisation organisation Nuffic has already been considerably cut back, and its offices abroad – such as in Mexico, Brazil and China, and Russia, Vietnam, South-Africa and Korea – have been closed and backing for Holland Alumni Network officially came to an end in 2022.

Nuffic offices in India and Indonesia will continue to be open until the end of 2023.

The Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) reacted to the plan Dijkgraaf outlined saying initially that the legislation allowing universities to control the intake of international students at degree level was “welcome”.

It noted that Dijkgraaf’s proposal would be targeted, by permitting universities to set an enrolment quotas in specific degree program tracks. The quota would limit English-taught places while leaving Dutch language programs unrestricted.

Universities will be able to define maximum non-EEA student numbers for each degree program, in addition to an emergency enrolment quota if non-EEA applications are growing at an unsustainable level.

UNL added that several universities had indicated interest in the tools that would “enable them to manage student numbers more effectively”.

Examples include political science and psychology at the University of Amsterdam for a restriction on the number of students on a track that is taught in English, and Aerospace Engineering at Delft University of Technology for a maximum number of non-EEA students, it said.

However, UNL president, Pieter Duisenberg, called on government to introduce a funding system that is “less dependent on student numbers and market share”.

“The minister is currently exploring the future of education and science in the Netherlands (through the Toekomstverkenning onderwijs en wetenschap). We hope that this will lead to a system that is better aligned with what is required in terms of both Dutch and international talent and that will make funding is less dependent on student numbers and market shares.

“The current funding system is a distribution model. It is a model that is not suited to the challenges of our time,” he said earlier this year.

UNL also noted that the minister is “keen to consult with research universities and universities of applied sciences over the finer details of the agreements”.

In an online consultation, which – along with the publication of the legislative proposal – UNL described as the most important update since the collapse of the government in early July, government is seeking responses to the bill on internationalisation in higher education.

Suggestions made so far are wide ranging. One response indicates that fewer international students taking flights to the Netherlands will be positive for a rapidly changing climate, calling for colleges and universities to take more responsibility in the environmental crisis.

Others suggest the policy is an attempt to “retreat within national borders”, while others highlight the importance of science being an “international affair” that is largely practiced in English.

Not all responses are negative, with some describing the bill as “well thought-out and actionable” or calling for a complete overhaul of Dutch higher education financing – a point raised by UNL.

Edwin van Rest, CEO and co-founder of Studyportals, said that rather than driving a “protectionist ideology”, government should be focusing on building capacity and attracting more international students that make “the perfect immigrants”.

“The proposal raises concerns regarding university autonomy and the burden of implementing various measures”

Nuffic told The PIE it is preparing its response to the proposals but is not yet ready to comment.

UNL acknowledges the pressure that increased international enrolments have brought over recent years, but emphasised the importance of the “international character of Dutch higher education”.

The country’s universities have been calling for more legal options to manage international student numbers at program level since 2018, a spokesperson told The PIE, such as an enrolment quota specifically for an English-language tracks.

The steering instruments in the proposal will “greatly assist study programs in controlling admissions, monitoring educational quality, and ensuring accessibility for Dutch students”, they said.

“However, the proposal raises concerns regarding university autonomy and the burden of implementing various measures. For example, we are particularly worried about the ministerial regulation governing exceptions for foreign-language education. Universities would prefer to take responsibility themselves to achieve a more balanced approach to internationalisation.”

• Simone Hackett from The Hague University of Applied Sciences and a member of the EAIE General Council has written an opinion piece on the bill. Read it here.

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