Accidental achievers? International higher education,class reproduction and privilege in the experiences of UK students overseas

To date, scholarship on international students has generally focused on flows from non‐western economies to the main English‐speaking destination countries (such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia). In contrast, we draw on a qualitative study of 85 UK students who have either completed or are considering undertaking a degree programme overseas. We found that, in opposition to a common image of ‘international students’, UK students are not overtly motivated by ‘strategic’ concerns. Instead, they are seeking ‘excitement’ and ‘adventure’ from overseas study and often use the opportunity to delay the onset of a career and prolong a relatively carefree student lifestyle. Despite these ostensibly ‘disinterested’ objectives, however, UK students remain a highly privileged group and their experiences serve only to facilitate the reproduction of their privilege. The paper calls for a more critical analysis of the spatially uneven and socially exclusive nature of international higher education.     

Explaining Estimated Economies of Scale and Scope in Higher Education: A Meta-Regression Analysis

Numerous studies have investigated economies of scale and scope in higher education as a means of providing public and private providers of college and university teaching, research and other services and their stakeholders with knowledge of the cost structures that underpin provision in this economically and socially important sector. However, debate continues on the precise nature of the economies of scale and scope in higher education given the mixed findings, largely because of significant institutional and other differences across studies. To address this, we employ meta-regression analysis to explore not only the overall level of scale and scope economies across more than 40 international studies conducted in Australia, the US, the UK, Italy, China, and elsewhere since the early 1980s, but also those factors that potentially affect their presence in the higher education sector. Our findings suggest that functional form and allowances for managerial efficiency have a significant impact on the estimated scale economies. In contrast, for scope economies, the key discriminating factors appear to be when the analysis was conducted, the diversity of the sample, and the national level of economic development.     

西方国家留学生教育与高等教育国际化

外国留学生教育是高等教育国际化的重要内容之一,发展留学生教育是推进高等教育国际化进程的重要途径。研究西方国家发展留学生教育的主要措施,及其在本国高等教育国际化进程中的作用,认真总结其成功经验,对我国发展留学生教育,推动高等教育国际化具有积极的借鉴意义。     

The cost structure of higher education in further education colleges in England

This paper examines the cost of the increased provision of higher education courses within further education colleges in England. We believe this to be the first attempt to fit a cost function specifically to the further education sector. Cost functions for a sample of 96 colleges over a 2-year period, from 2000 to 2002, are fitted using a panel data methodology as well as stochastic frontier analysis. We compare and contrast our findings with a sample of 959 US colleges. Our findings indicate that most further education colleges are able to benefit from economies of scale. Results from both methodologies suggest the presence of product-specific economies of scale, substantial ray economies of scale and indicate that higher education classroom-based courses, such as business studies, as well as vocational courses display substantial economies of scope.     

Making the Most of Overseas Students

The educational case for overseas students has been put back on the agenda by present financial difficulties of higher education. Alternative and sometimes conflicting rhetorics of 'interntationalism' and 'Third World modemisation' now have to be re-examined. The general case for overseas students stemming from liberal education principle can be supplemented by specification of a range of benefits they may bring. One condition of realising these benefits is systematic thinking and positive action in the institution; another, even more fundamental, is the integration of overseas student provision into an international education policy, and of that policy in the overall policy of the institution .     

Are New Zealand universities underperforming? An analysis of international enrolments in Australian and New Zealand universities

International education is widely recognised as providing a range of positive outcomes for students, universities, and both the source and destination countries. New Zealand politicians, however, see international education as a means of generating significant export earnings able to subsidise the local provision of university education. New Zealand universities have been criticised as underperforming in comparison to their Australian counterparts in attracting revenue from international students. This article explores the evidence of that observation by examining the patterns of enrolment by international students in New Zealand and Australian universities. The analysis identifies significant drivers of the international student enrolments in Australia and discusses potential strategic and policy implications for international education in New Zealand that respond to these drivers.     

Are Public Master’s Institutions Cost Efficient? A Stochastic Frontier and Spatial Analysis

The current study examines costs, measured by educational and general (E&G) spending, and cost efficiency at 252 public master’s institutions in the United States over a nine-year (2004–2012) period. We use a multi-product quadratic cost function and results from a random-effects model with a first-order autoregressive (AR1) disturbance term to calculate economies of scale with regard to undergraduate enrollment, graduate enrollment, and research. We also employ a slightly modified version of Kumbhakar et al. (J Prod Anal 41(2):321–337, 2014) multi-step approach, involving the use of stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and taking into account spatial interdependency, to decompose cost efficiency into long-term stable (persistent) and short-term (residual) efficiency. The key results of this study include evidence that: (1) regional clustering of costs exists; (2) there are economies of scale in undergraduate education and diseconomies of scale in graduate education; (3) relatively few institutions are cost inefficient; and (4) cost inefficiency tends to be long-term and persistent rather than short-term and residual. This research also identifies public master’s institutions that are the most cost efficient. Our inquiry has implications for future research as it points towards specific institutions, which may be engaged in effective practices to keep costs low, for possible follow-up case studies. Going forward, the techniques used in this study could be applied to examine economies of scale and scope as well as cost efficiency among other types of higher education institutions, such as public or private research universities, baccalaureate institutions, and community colleges.     

我国国际医学高等教育发展面临的问题和对策

改革开放政策促使我国医学高等教育向国外自费留学生敞开了大门,国际形势发展为我们开拓周边国家医学高等教育市场提供了机遇。作为一个快速发展的新领域,我国国际医学高等教育目前还缺乏宏观指导和规划,管理已经明显滞后于发展。为此,主管部门应尽快制定宏观规划,建章立制,规范管理,以保证涉外医学高等教育沿着正确的轨道健康发展。     

国际留学生教育转向：从谋求政治影响到追逐经济利益

20世纪80—90年代以来,在高等教育国际化进程中,国际留学生教育从谋求政治影响为主导转向了以追逐经济利益为主导的时期,呈现出学生规模迅速扩大、学生流向地在保持集中的同时逐渐趋于多元化和留学生教育走向市场化的主要发展趋势。在WTO规则下,作为国际教育服务贸易最主要的形式的境外消费,留学生教育已成为世界公认的新兴产业和新的经济增长点。我国应把握国际留学生教育市场化趋势,高度重视留学生教育服务产业对推动经济发展的重要意义,着力提升高等教育水平,以优质的高等教育产品和服务参与国际留学生教育市场竞争,从而实现来华留学生教育健康、持续地发展。     

浅析高校大学生留学规划指导策略

华夏学子谋求前往世界各教育发达国家深造学业,成为中国教育走向世界的必由之路。近年来,伴随着国际化教育理念的融合以及中外合作办学机构和项目的增多,我国每年有意愿出国留学的人口与日俱增,成为很多高校毕业生热衷的去向选择。但是,不少学生为了解决事务性和非技术性问题花费了大量时间和财力。为学生提供专业化留学规划指导,合理规划人生,成为高校学生工作的重要组成部分。     

高等教育国际化背景下拉丁美洲留学生教育现状评析

留学生教育是高等教育国际化的重要组成部分,影响着高等教育国际化发展水平。随着高等教育国际化进程速度加快,拉丁美洲国家也越来越重视留学生教育。然而,在留学生教育国际市场竞争中,拉丁美洲却面临着招生渠道少、生源流失严重、语言沟通障碍等方面的困境。究其原因,主要在于政策激励机制不健全、教育资源相对有限以及社会环境动荡不安。为此,拉丁美洲需要采取加大教育资金投入、健全政策激励机制、增强国际交流与合作、推动教育一体化、开发远程教育平台、实现优质资源共享等有效举措,进一步推动留学生教育发展,提升高等教育国际影响力。     

The transition experiences of direct entrants from overseas higher education partners into UK universities

This two-year study was conducted to explore the experience of international direct-entry students making the transition from overseas higher education partners to a UK University. Using mainly qualitative data from forum discussion, focus-group interviews and face-to-face interviews with students and staff, we document how international direct-entry students cope with academic and social anxieties during their transition. The findings reveal that there are some similarities, such as language issues, which are experienced by most international students. However, this study has highlighted a distinguishing factor for direct-entry students which relates to the use of intra-networks to overcome their social anxieties. The exploratory analysis also indicates that international students entering directly into an academic programme at a later study stage face a steep learning curve and require additional support to adapt quickly to a UK educational system.     

An Exploration of the Readiness,Challenges and Expected Support for Their Overseas Study of Chinese Business and Management Programme Students

Chinese students are the largest international student cohort in the higher education institutions of English‐speaking developed countries. The paper explores strategies to enhance the Chinese students' learning efficacy in overseas institutions. This research differs from other research focusing on international students already in English‐speaking institutions; it explores the readiness of potential Chinese international students before departure from China, their anticipated challenges for study abroad and expected support from host institutions and staff. Besides the insights of anticipated challenges and expected support, the key findings include: the majority of the sample students are financially ready for overseas study, however they are not fully ready on English language; students from the public institute in the study have a higher level of readiness for subject knowledge than their private institute's peers. The findings offer a guide, to both the English‐speaking institutions and their Chinese partners, on facilitating, teaching and preparing the Chinese students for a fruitful learning experience abroad and enhanced academic performance.     

留学生教育高质量发展路径研究

改革开放以来,尤其是加入WTO以后,中国开展留学生教育的高校越来越多,追求留学生数量增长成为许多高校的重要目标。伴随着“一带一路”倡议在国际社会得到广泛响应,中国留学生来源结构出现明显变化,很多高校的留学生教育质量也有所提升,留学生教育成为中国教育走向世界中心的重要组成部分,然而,从目前的状态看,中国的留学生教育同传统留学目的地强国相比,还处于规模扩张和质量不高的发展阶段。“一带一路”倡议为中国高等教育发展提供了新的契机,中国留学生教育必须走高质量发展道路,需要客观分析传统留学目的地强国的成功做法,探讨留学招生方法、筛选机制、教育资源、管理方式等方面的创新举措,明晰中国留学生教育迈入世界先进行列的发展路径。     

The international flow of scholars and students: A vehicle for cross-cultural understanding,international co-operation and global development?

This article is a shift away from the narrow socio-psychological focus of student flows towards an examination and analysis of the mutual educational, political and economic advantages and disadvantages to both sending and receiving countries and to global development through educational exchange. The, article within its limited framework goes on to outline the impetus for the origin and development of the international flow of scholars and students in a global context. It then examines the implications and contribution this movement makes towards cross-cultural understanding, international co-operation in higher education and a global development in knowledge. It outlines the educational, cultural and economic advantages and disadvantages that sending and host countries have derived and continue to derive from these flows. However, the benefits seem to outweigh the disadvantages, particularly in the light of the growing new international economic order accompanied by an interdependent world economic system. In spite of this, a number of the developed host countries, mainly for parochial economic and political reasons, have introduced a series of protectionist measures to curtail the number of overseas students coming into their institutions of higher education. This has adversely affected particularly the poorer developing countries and their students. The article also points out that this exchange of scholars and students is a useful marketing mechanism for the developed countries, as students returning home take back with them a considerable amount of knowledge of their host country and this is helpful in a highly competitive world market system.     

Fixing Special Education

The current system of educating disabled students provides financial incentives to schools to overidentify students as disabled and underserve those that are identified. The incentive to overidentify is caused by providing schools with additional funds as more students are placed in special education categories that are ambiguous to diagnose and require relatively low additional expenditures to address. The incentive to underserve is caused by high information and transaction costs imposed on parents using the legal process to obtain desired services. An efficient alternative to the current system is to offer disabled students vouchers worth the cost of their education in public schools with which they can attend a private school if they wish. This article considers empirical analyses of the relationship between financial incentives and overidentification as well as the potential benefits of vouchers for special education. It concludes that vouchers for special education are a promising idea for improving the quality of education for disabled students while constraining growth in special education enrollments.     

One-third of the globe: The future of higher education in China and India

China and India together account for almost 25% of the world’s postsecondary student population. Most of the enrolment growth in the coming several decades will be in developing countries, and China and India will contribute a significant proportion of that expansion, since China currently educates only about 20% and India 10% of the age cohort. Both countries are expanding the higher education sector, while at the same time seeking to improve its quality. Challenges of funding, educating qualified academics, and building a sustainable academic culture are significant. An emerging private higher education sector and developing masters and doctoral programmes are additional pressures. Internationalization is a key factor as well, as both countries seek to expand their global profile and develop strategies for international programmes. Also, higher education development is central to future economic growth of these two of the world’s fastest growing economies.     

大学的收益:留学生教育中的经济学意义

留学生教育的经济收益是国际教育服务贸易中的重要部分,国外有关学者、政府机构和国际组织都非常关注,但在国内,人们对留学生教育的认识还主要集中在政治和文化层面。通过建构的经济收益测算模型(包括图式模型和数学模型),并以上海一所大学的留学生样本进行试测,研究显现出我国高校留学生教育的经济学意义:留学生教育促进了教育服务贸易,增加了我国经济总量;能够缩减我国在国际教育服务贸易中的巨大逆差;增加了高校的"预算外收入";改变了高校的教育资源结构,提高了教育管理效率。     

关于华侨高校扩大境外生源的思考

从院校研究的角度,认为在全球化背景下,高等教育的国际化趋势为华侨高等教育的发展提供了新的发展空间。论述了以华侨大学、暨南大学为主体的大陆华侨高等教育所具有的高等教育国际化的特征以及初步形成的境外生招生体系,认为应该积极参与国际高等教育竞争,努力扩大海外生源,为华文教育事业的发展做出应有的贡献。     

A cross-national comparison of international strategies: global citizenship and the advancement of national competitiveness

This paper examines national-level strategies concerning internationalisation of education and the extent to which global citizenship is deployed in their discourse. We focus on a cross-national comparison of selected internationalisation strategies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK and the USA, all countries with highly developed economies and a relatively high proportion of the market share of international students. We draw on a thematic textual analysis and the use of corpus technologies to explore the framing of discourses and language use in each strategy. Our comparative analysis of national strategies highlights a dominant approach to international education that is primarily competitive in its orientation, with national interest as the key driver. This cross-national comparison also revealed considerable variation in framing of strategic internationalisation on a discourse level. Based on findings, we argue that internationalisation strategies limit the possibilities of advancing central tenets of global citizenship.