Share insight
Idea In Brief
High priority
More than 90 per cent of international education leaders agreed that internationalisation is a high priority for their university. But leaders are less certain on their ability to deliver.
Focus on revenue
When forced to rank their priorities in managing international recruitment, about half of respondents gave top priority to increasing revenue, and about one-third increasing volume.
Political tensions
Leaders see little risk of declining interest in international study. Instead, leaders are mainly concerned with larger deteriorating macroeconomic conditions and rising geopolitical tensions.
Recently Nous Group delivered a session at The PIE Live Europe on the topic “Thriving in a hyper-competitive world: results from the inaugural Global Survey of International Education Leaders”. Presenting the session in London on 28 March 2023 were Nous Principal Julie Mercer and Director Oliver Jawara. We are pleased to share some key themes from the event.
COVID-19 has radically reshaped international education. For some universities, the pandemic has accelerated trends in global education delivery, offering new opportunities but requiring new capabilities to tap into them. For others, the pandemic has presented new challenges, including making apparent the historical over-reliance on students from China or South Asia.
So how are universities responding to these challenges and opportunities?
Nous and Navitas sought to answer this through the inaugural Global Survey of International Education Leaders. Our survey included responses from Deputy Vice Chancellor (International), Pro Vice Chancellor (International), Vice President (International) and Director (International) from universities across the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. Our survey made six findings.
Internationalisation is a priority but leaders are not confident they can deliver
More than 90 per cent of international education leaders agreed that internationalisation is a high priority for their university. But leaders are less certain on their ability to deliver. Less than half of respondents believe their university has adequate resourcing to deliver on internationalisation aspirations.
These results are stark but not surprising. Prior to the pandemic, universities benefited from strong demand for international education – from China and South Asia in particular – which required little investment in their recruitment capability. Now with many universities posting significant financial losses, there is more intense global competition and destination universities must compete more for international enrolments.
Internationalism is primarily international student recruitment
International student recruitment is the most important dimension of internationalisation for university leaders. Universities need healthy numbers of international students to support their post-pandemic financial recovery. But after recruitment, responses on the most important dimension differed across ranges in university rankings:
- Higher-ranked universities placed more emphasis on partnerships, transnational education delivery and outbound study experiences.
- Universities ranked 100-250 indicated offshore/transnational education delivery was especially important.
- Universities ranked 250-500 placed more emphasis on international partnerships and study abroad.
Revenue is the highest priority, but diversity and quality are important
When forced to rank their priorities in managing international recruitment, about half of respondents gave top priority to increasing revenue, and about one-third gave top priority to increasing volume.
This should not be read as indicating that diversity and quality are irrelevant. In our experience, retention, student experience and student outcomes are negatively impacted when student quality and diversity are ignored. Diversity and quality are important but not at the expense of volume and revenue.
Universities have many levers available
International offices are using five levers to drive recruitment. These are:
- fees and scholarships
- marketing and recruitment resources
- agent commissions and incentives
- agent aggregators
- entry requirements.
Planned investment in these levers vary by country and ranking. While leaders are optimistic in raising international student fees to recover pandemic losses, the amount varies. Nearly half of university leaders in the UK anticipate annual fee increases of 5 per cent or more, above the pre-pandemic average. Conversely, Canadian leaders expect a more modest fee increase, with just over half of respondents predicting increases of 1-3 per cent. Higher-ranked universities are planning to invest more in scholarships, as universities attempt to diversify recruitment into price-sensitive emerging markets such as India and Nigeria.
Anti-immigration sentiment is a risk in the UK
Leaders see little risk of declining interest in international study. It was the lowest-rated risk – by some margin – in our survey. Instead, leaders are mainly concerned with larger deteriorating macroeconomic conditions and rising geopolitical tensions.
UK leaders are considerably more concerned with anti-immigration and nationalist sentiment than their Australian and Canadian counterparts.
Leaders are optimistic despite the sector’s challenges
Despite these risks, university leaders felt upbeat about internationalisation’s future. As one leader told us: “Appetite for international study has followed demographic and tertiary participation trends for 20 years. I don’t see this being reversed in most markets.”
But in our experience, universities must invest in their internationalisation capability to make the most of demand. Critical success factors are:
- clear and transparent internal and external governance
- a willingness to invest in new skills, capabilities and levers
- data-driven planning and performance management.
Correctly implemented, these factors will allow universities thrive in a hyper-competitive market.
Get in touch to explore how we can help your university’s internationalisation efforts.
Connect with Julie Mercer and Oliver Jawara on LinkedIn.
Prepared with input from Jack Armstrong.
Authors
Oliver Jawara
Director
Oliver is a Director specialising in business and digital strategy. He brings a strategic mindset, deep analytical capability and an engaging and personable attitude.
Julie Mercer
Principal
Julie has worked in industry, government and the public sector for almost 30 years. She has worked with businesses operating in the education sector across the globe.