International students snapshot : a global picture

Transcription

1 n Council for Educational Research ACEReSearch Joining the Dots ( JTD) Higher Education International students snapshot : a global picture Daniel Edwards ACER, Daniel.Edwards@acer.edu.au Follow this and additional works at: Recommended Citation Edwards, Daniel, "International students snapshot : a global picture" (2011). This Journal Article is brought to you by the Higher Education at ACEReSearch. It has been accepted for inclusion in Joining the Dots (JTD) by an authorized administrator of ACEReSearch. For more information, please contact repository@acer.edu.au.

2 Joining the Dots Research Briefing Volume 1 Number 8 December 2011 International students snapshot A global picture P3 P5 P6 IN THIS ISSUE The wide distribution of international students Almost every way the data on international student mobility is cut International student distribution in context The UIS data for international students in higher education provides an interesting tool for contextualising the in-flow and out-flow of students International student movement in our region Analysis of s international student cohort Introduction This is the final briefing for the 2011 Joining the Dots series. It is necessarily concise and is designed to offer an entrée into the 2012 series. It does this by presenting a snapshot of statistics relating to international students in higher education. Rather than simply focusing on the ebbs and flows of international students in the n higher education sector, the briefing provides a global picture, contextualising the broader market forces which impact n institutions. The briefing assumes that readers already have some knowledge of the international student market in and does not therefore present an introduction to the topic. Those who would like further details should instead refer to the plethora of academic resources already available (Marginson, 2011; Ziguras & McBurnie, 2011, particularly in relation to the Asia- Pacific region) and consult the n Government s international education arm, n Education International [AEI], at This briefing draws exclusively on data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), which provides a rich data resource, one that is freely available and yet can be overlooked in discussions of n higher education policy (see Education/ for access to this data). The international student snapshot is presented in order to highlight the value of this data and to show the relative global presence of in the international student market. The most recently available and internationally comparable data from the UIS are for 2009, and this is presented here. The figures here are not analysed in depth, but rather presented to subscribers as a means of exploring the global flows of international students. The analysis highlights the relative place which plays as n Council for Educational Research

3 2 International students snapshot a provider of international education, particularly to students from the Asia-Pacific region. It also provides an indication of the increasing competition for international students which is facing, as places traditionally considered source countries develop their capacity as destinations for international study. This briefing examines: international student numbers in relative to other nations; UNESCO net flow indicators from a comparative and global perspective; and detailed information on the origins of international students coming to and to our neighbours. The main findings shown here are: UNESCO data confirm that is a key power in the world of international student provision. There are more than 100 nations hosting international students around the globe while not at the same volume of the largest few providers, many countries host substantial numbers of international students. s net flow of international students is one of the highest in the world, even when calculated in the context of the total size of the higher education sector. s international student market is heavily reliant on Asia and the Pacific accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the cohort in. Students from Asia travel in substantial numbers to a large variety of different countries for higher education, meaning that the scope of competition for students in this region now and in the future is significant.

4 International students snapshot 3 The wide distribution of international students Almost every way the data on international student mobility is cut, emerges as one of the world powers for international education in higher education provision. Figure 1 presents the raw data on international student numbers, incorporating the individual national figures for 109 countries. As the graph shows, is the third largest provider globally. In total, the UNESCO data records 109 countries across the globe that were hosting international students pursuing tertiary education qualifications in Figure 2 provides a world map of the spread of international students. It illustrates the remarkable number and extent of countries across the world which are equipped to enrol international students. The number of students hosted is indicated by the colours in the legend. Countries shaded grey are either not host countries or not recorded in the UNESCO data. Number of international students studying in country 700, , , , , , ,000 0 USA UK France Germany Russia Japan Canada Italy China South Africa Austria Republic of Korea Spain Malaysia Singapore Ukraine Egypt Switerland United Arab Emirates Belgium Cuba Czech Republic Sweden Jordan Netherlands Lebanon Greece Kyrgyzstan Turkey Saudi Arabia Norway Poland Thailand Brazil Hungry China, Macao SAR Ireland Finland Denmark Chile Kazakhstan Serbia Romania Cyprus Bulgaria China, Hong Kong SAR Portugal Bahrain Kuwait Morocco Fiji Yemen Azerbaijan Slovakia Algeria Belarus Other countries Host Country Figure 1: Number of international students by host country, tertiary education provision (ISCED 5 and 6), 2009 (countries hosting more than 5,000 students listed) Figure 2: Countries which host international students by number of international students, tertiary education provision (ISCED 5 and 6), 2009 and Note: countries in grey either do not host international students in tertiary education or do not have data available.

5 4 International students snapshot Table 1 provides further detail on the size of the international student cohorts hosted by particular countries. It shows that 13 countries host at least 50,000 international students, with a further 32 hosting between 10,000 and 50,000. Of the 109 countries recorded in the data only a marginal number of these (25) have provision numbers smaller than 1,000 students. In all, the data in Figure 1, Figure 2 and Table 1 help to highlight two key points first, that is a key player in the global market for international students; and second, that despite the large share a few nations have in this market, there are a substantial number of countries that host large groups of international students within their higher education systems. Table 1: Countries hosting international students by size of international student cohort, tertiary education (ISCED 5 and 6), 2009 Number of international students (range) Number of countries more than 100, ,000 to 99, ,000 to 49, ,000 to 24, ,000 to 10, ,000 to 4, to to

6 International students snapshot 5 International student distribution in context The UIS data for international students in higher education provides an interesting tool for contextualising the in-flow and out-flow of students while keeping the overall size of the system in perspective. The net flow ratio provides a measure of the balance between incoming international students that the country hosts and outgoing domestic students (i.e. students leaving the country to become an international student elsewhere), expressed as a percentage of all tertiary education students in the country. The net flow ratio for 27 countries, all hosting more than 10,000 international students is displayed in Figure 3. It shows that apart from the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Macao, has the largest net flow ratio of the large international host countries. This highlights the importance of international students to n higher education in terms of relative size of the sector. It also provides some perspective on the relatively small proportion of students in who undertake study abroad Net flow ratio (%) China, Macao SAR Austria UK Singapore Switzerland France Belguim Denmark USA Cuba Sweden Norway Japan Netherlands Finland Italy Spain Chile Brazil Thailand Malaysia China Greece Republic of Korea Ireland Figure 3: Net flow ratio of international tertiary education students (ISCED level 5 and 6) by selected countries, 2009 Note: Net flow ratio is the number of tertiary education students from abroad (inbound students) studying in a given country minus the number of students of the same level of education from that country studying abroad (outbound students) expressed as a percentage of the total number of tertiary enrolments in that country. Countries hosting more than 10,000 international students. Only countries with available data for calculating net flow ratio included.

7 6 International students snapshot International student movement in our region Analysis of s international student cohort by region of the world is displayed in Table 2. The table shows that n higher education providers are attracting substantial numbers of students from all parts of the globe. However, with 79.1 per cent of all international students originating from Asia (either East Asia and the Pacific, or the rest of Asia ) the ongoing importance of this region to n institutions is clear. The UIS data allows for tracking of the key countries of destination for students of each nation. For this briefing, the focus is on Asia and the Pacific. Within source countries in Asia, the choice of destination for international students varies greatly. Table 3 presents a detailed insight into the choices of Asian international students by country of origin and most popular country of destination, and highlights the complexity of the market. It is important to note in examining this table that while the largest host nations (USA, UK and ) are frequently among the top few destination countries, there are dozens of other key players within this region. Table 3 shows that 23 different host countries appear among the most popular destinations for international students from Asian and Pacific countries. This highlights the diversity of pathways and the number of Table 2: International students in n tertiary education (ISCED level 5 and 6), by region of origin, 2009 Inbound international student origin Number of students Share of international students* (%) from Africa 7, from North America, Central America and Caribbean 7, from South America 2, from East Asia and the Pacific 154, from the rest of Asia 49, from Europe 10, from Oceania 4, from unspecified region and country 20, Total 257, *percentage share of international students in.

8 International students snapshot 7 Table 3: International students by country of origin and most popular destinations for tertiary education (ISCED 5 and 6), Asia and the Pacific, 2009 (number of students per destination in brackets) Country Number students abroad Destination no.1 Destination no.2 Destination no.3 Destination no.4 Destination no.5 China 510,314 U.S.A. (124,225) Japan (79,394) India 195,107 U.S.A. (101,563) U.K. (34,065) (70,357) (26,573) U.K. (47,033) (5,710) Rep. of Korea (39,309) (4,314) South Korea 125,165 U.S.A. (73,832) Japan (24,850) (6,796) U.K. (4,277) Germany (4,105) Malaysia 53,121 (19,970) U.K. (12,697) U.S.A. (5,844) (2,516) Japan (2,147) Japan 44,768 U.S.A. (28,783) U.K. (3,871) (2,701) France (1,847) Germany (1,778) Viet Nam 44,038 U.S.A. (12,612) (7,648) France (5,803) China, Hong Kong SAR 32,944 Indonesia 32,346 (12,925) (10,205) (3,518) U.K. (9,600) U.S.A. (8,192) Canada (1,578) Japan (2,895) China, Macao SAR (387) U.S.A. (7,386) Malaysia (7,325) Japan (1,788) Germany (1,546) Iran 31,542 U.S.A. (3,475) Malaysia (3,475) U.K. (2,849) Germany (2,561) Canada (2,086) Pakistan 30,940 U.K. (9,609) U.S.A. (5,211) (2,844) Sweden (2,420) Canada (1,342) Thailand 24,805 U.S.A. (8,592) U.K. (4,674) (4,377) Japan (2,193) Malaysia (976) Nepal 22,291 U.S.A. (11,391) (3,900) Japan (1,457) India (1,252) Cyprus (829) Singapore 19,633 (10,394) U.S.A. (3,923) U.K. (3,188) Malaysia (606) Canada (355) Bangladesh 18,672 U.K. (3,488) U.S.A. (2,662) (2,380) Cyprus (2,085) Japan (1,683) Sri Lanka 16,148 (4,296) U.K. (3,553) U.S.A. (2,927) Japan (1,098) Malaysia (892) Philippines 9,719 U.S.A. (4,157) (1,291) U.K. (1,093) Japan (583) Malaysia (278) Myanmar 5,005 (1,034) Thailand (999) Japan (922) U.S.A. (656) (495) Laos 4,582 Viet Nam (2,435) Thailand (1,301) Japan (264) (167) France (117) 4,530 (2,393) U.S.A. (1,056) U.K. (481) Japan (84) Canada (76) Afghanistan 3,810 Iran, Isl. Rep. (676) Turkey (509) U.S.A. (400) Germany (278) (228) Cambodia 3,675 Thailand (984) France (546) Viet Nam (388) (366) U.S.A. (347) Solomon Islands 3,132 Fiji (2,747) (119) Brunei Darussalam (53) 2,969 U.K. (1,688) (774) Malaysia (269) Cuba (50) (65) Japan (44) Timor-Leste 2,319 Indonesia (1,421) Cuba (697) (90) Portugal (32) U.S.A. (30) North Korea 2,240 (914) (383) India (168) France (160) Philippines (142) Note: Destination columns show the five most popular destinations for each source country. Countries with more than 2,000 students abroad included.

9 8 International students snapshot genuine competitors in the market on which n higher education is heavily dependent. For, while it remains one of the big fish in the international student scene, growth in the size, quality, and infrastructure for hosting international students in the future is likely to be substantial, thus signalling a warning to n providers that the number of host nations is growing, as is their capacity to compete for students. Such trends have also been highlighted recently in the Institute of International Education s Project Atlas (Bhandari, 2011). A Joining the Dots briefing in 2012 will examine the growth trajectory of international student populations across different countries to explore this issue in more detail. Using the data in Table 3 and extracting the examples of two countries, the pie charts in Figure 4 illustrate the top five destinations for international students from two of s largest source markets China and India. This illustration shows that there is significant competition among host countries for these students and importantly that even the major host countries for these two source countries include those which are non-english speaking. South Korea 39,309 UK 47,033 70,357 Russia 4,314 5,710 UK 47,033 USA 124, 255 Japan 79,394 China India 26,573 USA 101,563 Figure 4: Top five destination countries for students from China and India, tertiary education (ISCED 5 and 6), 2009

10 International students snapshot 9 Conclusion This brief examination of data on international student flows across the world has served to highlight the large stake that has built-up in this area. This success is well documented and the contribution of this cohort to the n economy is significant. However, the figures displayed here reveal that competition for the international student market is not simply limited to a few large, English-speaking nations. The number of countries across the world that host international students is remarkable, and a substantial proportion of the countries engaged in international education are doing so on a relatively large scale. While not documented here, there is substantial growth in the market share of many of those host countries with smaller numbers of international students an issue to be examined in the JTD series for References Bhandari, R. (2011). Student Mobility and the Internationalization of Higher Education - national policies and strategies from six world regions, A Project Altlas Report. USA: Institute of International Education. Marginson, S. (2011). Global position and positiontaking in higher education: The case of. In S. Marginson, S. Kaur & E. Sawir (Eds.), Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific, Strategic Responses to Globalization. Dordrecht: Springer. Ziguras, C., & McBurnie, G. (2011). International student mobility in the Asia-Pacific: From globalization to regional integration? In S. Marginson, S. Kaur & E. Sawir (Eds.), Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific, Strategic Responses to Globalization. Dordrecht: Springer. These data serve to show that while still a dominant force in international education, n higher education providers should be aware of the massive number of participating nations (and institutions) in this market and the potential influence of these competitors on global higher education in the future. Acknowledgement This JTD Research Briefing was written by Dr Daniel Edwards, ACER. The author acknowledges the input of Dr Sarah Richardson to earlier drafts of the paper. Joining the Dots is a subscription-based resource provided by ACER to those with an interest in n Higher Education. In 2011 the series includes eight research briefings, a monthly news and event digest and a webinar series. More detail can be found at or by ing jtd@acer.edu.au

11 acer.edu.au Melbourne office 19 Prospect Hill Road (Private Bag 55) Camberwell VIC 3124 Telephone Facsimile ACN ABN