The New Oriental Education and Technology Group has forecast that the number of Chinese international students will increase over the next five years, peaking at up to 800,000 students annually. So what are the main reasons why Chinese students study abroad - and particularly in the UK? 1. Access to recognised education From Oxbridge through to [...]
International students play a huge role in the stability and development of universities, with entrants from outside the European Union making up to 60% of those commencing on postgraduate full-time taught masters degrees. It has been estimated by Universities UK that international students contribute up to £25 billion per year to academic institutions and therefore [...]
I do love the law of inadvertent consequences. The Labour Party’s manifesto commitment to removing tuition fees for students, together with their clever use of social media, delivered a massive increase in young voter registrations, and Labour’s biggest share of the national vote since 1945. The inadvertent effect will be to force the ‘victorious’ Tories [...]
It continues to amaze me that though we’re almost in the third decade of the 21st C, most universities in both North America and the UK still rely on techniques that they were using 40 years ago. The market has grown hugely over the last decade or three, the world has gone completely digital, and [...]
The mood music is getting louder and a lot more encouraging for British universities. The cross-party Education Sub-Committee of the House of Commons this week published its report on the UK’s higher education sector, and specifically the impact of Brexit. Concerned about the impact of Brexit on the numbers of EU students coming to study [...]
These are challenging times for International education marketing - especially for universities in the USA and UK. As an invisible export, the sector is worth billions, yet politicians sometimes seem blithely unaware of the effect their rhetoric can have in the big educational markets of the globe. A classic example is India. Indian postgraduate numbers [...]
We read today that Presidents Xi and Trump had a ‘cordial’ hour long telephone conversation yesterday, in which the latter affirmed his commitment to the One China policy that has been respected by the USA for so many decades. Will this ameliorate any growing concerns among Chinese International students about their likely welcome in America? [...]
Historically, ‘business’ related subjects account for four out of the top five highest demanded Masters programmes that Chinese students opt for in North American & British universities. This can cause real problems for universities, leading them sometimes to close for China applications early, and to focus on increasing diversity with recruitment from other international markets. [...]
The latest data from the Chinese Government shows that the number of students choosing to study abroad in 2015/16 increased by a further 5.6% over the previous year, continuing a decade-long trajectory. Will 2017 be the year when this long period of growth comes to an end? Earlier this week, Chinese President Xi was at [...]
When I worked in car marketing, one of the most important things I learned was that the most powerful way to sell a car was to put the prospective customer in touch with existing customers. This wouldn't work for every car brand of course, but it worked for my client, Toyota - such was the level [...]