Facts and figures: International

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1 Universities Scotland Facts and figures: International Public information briefing 13 Introduction Every aspect of Scotland s universities has an international dimension whether it s the recruitment of students and staff, the reputation of our research or relationships with international business. International students There were over 37,000 international students studying in Scotland in 2006/07. Of this, 34 per cent were from outside the UK but within Europe and 66 per cent were from the rest of the world. Domicile UK domicile Other European Union Other international TOTAL Students numbers 186,405 12, , , 530 As a proportion of all Source: Hesa 2006/07 Students studying in Scotland by domicile 2006/07 6% Non European Union Other European Union United Kingdom 83% International students are attracted to study in Scotland at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. However their presence is felt much more at postgraduate level where international students (both EU and other overseas) represent 35 per cent of the student population. At undergraduate level international students account for only 10 per cent of students.

2 Domicile Student numbers at undergraduate level As a proportion of all undergraduate Student numbers at postgraduate level As a proportion of all postgraduate UK 148, , EU 7, , other international 8, , TOTAL 164,505 59,020 Growth of international students In the last ten years the number of international students studying in Scotland has nearly doubled from 19,600 students in 1996/97 to over 37,000 students in 2006/07. This represents an increase of 89 percent. Growth in UK and international domiciled students in Scottish universities 1996/ / UK domiciled Student numbers overseas / / /03 Year 2003/ / / /07 The fastest growth has been from students outside the EU. Recruitment of non-eu overseas students has increased by 85 per cent in the last five years alone, compared to an increase of 50 per cent amongst students from EU countries. By comparison, the growth in UK-domiciled students increased by a far more moderate 6.3 per cent in this period. Student numbers in Scotland by domicile (as a proportion of all students over time) 2001/ / / / / /07 UK EU Other

3 Satisfaction amongst international students Satisfaction amongst international students studying in Scotland is high. In a recent poll, students in Scottish universities were found to be more satisfied across all the measures used to assess the learning and life experience than students at university elsewhere in the UK and in Europe. The same survey also found that satisfaction with aspects of the learning experience had increased amongst international students in Scotland over the last couple of years even though their expectations seem to have risen in the same period. 85 per cent of international students in Scottish universities would recommend others to apply to their institution, of which 39 per cent would actively encourage. This is an improvement on the results from two years ago which saw a recommendation rating of 81 per cent. It also compares favourably with the rest of the UK as although the same proportion of students would recommend their institution elsewhere in the UK, a smaller proportion would do so actively; only 37 per cent compared with Scotland s 39 per cent. Scotland s position in the world market Scotland punches above its weight in terms of its share of the world market for international students. Scotland has approximately a 1.2 per cent share of the world market relative to a less than a 0.1 per cent share of the world s population. In 2006/07 international students accounted for 16.6 per cent of all students enrolled in Scottish institutions. This makes Scotland s campuses more international than the rest of the UK and amongst the most internationalised in the world. The publication of OECD data lags behind that which is available in the UK but if we were to use Scottish data from 2005 for the sake of comparability, Scotland would still rank fourth in the world, behind only Australia, New Zealand and the UK average in terms of international students as a proportion of all university enrolment. We know that if this were updated to use 2006 data Scotland would overtake the UK average.

4 International students as a percentage of all university enrolment amongst OECD countries Australia New Zeland UK Scotland Switzerland Aus tria France Germany Belgium Sweden Netherland Denmark Finland US Hungary Japan Norway Slovak Spain Greece Proportion (%) Scottish higher education institutions also score highly in international league tables for university performance. Three Scottish institutions appear in the Times Higher World University rankings for 2007 with a further two appearing within the top 200. Similarly another league table, the Shanghai index, ranked three Scottish universities in the world top 200 and five amongst the top 120 European universities. International staff Scotland has proved to be successful in attracting and recruiting international staff. Over 4,000, or 10.6 per cent of all staff employed at Scottish universities are of non-uk nationality. This proportion rises amongst academic professionals as 18 per cent are of non-uk nationality. UK nationality Non-UK nationality Unknown Number proportion Number proportion Number proportion All staff 30, , , Academic professionals 11, , , All staff employed in Scottish institutions by nationality 2006/07 Unknown non-uk nationality Academic professionals in Scottish institutions by nationality 2006/07 9% Unknown 18% Non-UK nationality UK nationality UK nationality 78% 73%

5 International research reputation Scotland s higher education sector punches well above its weight in terms of the international impact of its research. in terms of both quantity and quality. With just 0.1 per cent of the world s population, Scotland produces 1 per cent of the world s published research. A recent independent survey also found that Scotland had the highest rate of citations (a peer reviewed mark of quality) per level of expenditure on higher education research in the world for the recent five year average between 1999 and International collaboration in teaching and research A UK Higher Education Europe Unit Survey on European higher education developments demonstrates the high level of international collaboration taking place within Scottish universities. With regards to learning and teaching, more than 80 per cent of Scottish universities responding had the power to award joint degrees. Of these, 33% do so in collaboration with an institution in one of the 44 other Bologna Process signatory countries and 8% do so with an institution outside of the European Higher Education Area. The quality of Scotland s research is respected internationally and Scotland s universities attract significant levels of research income from beyond the UK. In 2006/07 Scottish universities earned 55.2 million in research grants and contracts from international sources. Of this total, 31.8 million came from research grants and contracts within the EU and 19.3 million from other overseas sources. Research income from outside of the UK represents more than one eighth of the total value of all competitively won research grants and contracts. Source of income European Commission Other EU EU other Other overseas TOTAL income from non-uk sources TOTAL income from research grants & contracts Income , ,937 17,610 55, ,071 As a proportion of all income from research grants and contracts: (%)