Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Barriers to outward mobility and how to overcome them
Kevin Van-CauterHigher Education AdviserBritish Council, Manchester
Our corporate Purpose
British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust & understanding between them worldwide
Our work and projects connect people worldwide through learning opportunities to build lasting relationships.
British Council – why outward mobility?
Our focus in higher education is to build cooperation between
governments, universities and their communities to:
•develop sustainable, strategic partnerships
•provide forums for bilateral policy debate
•provide research and intelligence
•& encourage mobility of academics, researchers & students
Our Work
• Bilateral co-operation & Policy development - UK and
internationally
Policy dialogues and ‘Going Global’ Conference
• Research
Next Generation international report series
UK Next Generation
Our Work with academic communities & students
• Academics, teachers and practitioners: information, support &
best practice exchange
Websites & social media, workshops, policy and practitioner dialogues
• Students: promotion, information, programmes
Programmes including Erasmus, Thai Language Assistants, IAESTE,
Student ambassador scheme
UK Students Abroad portal
Partnership programmes: Prime Ministers Initiative & UK / India
Education & Research Initiative (mobility stream)
Context
• Strength of UK in recruiting international students
• 435,000 international students in 2011-12
• increase of 2% from 2010-11,
• full-time undergraduate study up 8%,
• full-time research postgraduates up 5%
• However only 1.7% of UK students are internationally
mobile
Percentage of home/international students in UK
Top study destinations for UK students
• USA
• Australia
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Netherlands
• Italy
• Spain
• China
• Japan
Barriers to Mobility
For Students
•Lack of student awareness
•Lack of linguistic competence or confidence
•Financial support
UK response
• Joint Steering Group on Outward Student Mobility established last year
• Tasked with identifying barriers to outward student mobility in the UK
• Group recommended development of a national strategy for outward
student mobility
• Outward Mobility Programme established earlier this year, run by UK
HE International Unit
UK Strategy for Outward mobility
• New programme – started May 2013
• Government support - funded by HEFCE and BIS
• Managed by dedicated team within UUK International Unit
• Work with higher education sector and partner organisations working in
international higher education to develop and implement UK strategy
for Outward Mobility
Where are we now?
Imbalance of inward/outward mobility:
•OECD data indicates that for every 15 international students in the UK,
we have one UK student studying abroad
•In 2010/2011, Erasmus ‘sending’ figures were
UK: 8,577
Spain: 36,183
France: 31,747
Germany: 30,274
BC – UK Agency for Erasmus [Top Study Destinations]
Work - Top Work Destinations
Why does it matter?
• 41% of UK employers dissatisfied with UK graduates’ international
cultural awareness (Building for Growth, CBI, 2011)
• 54% of UK employers dissatisfied with UK graduates’ foreign
language skills (Building for Growth, CBI, 2011)
• Employers value student mobility and international experience (Global
Graduates, CIHE and AGR, 2011)
