The UK is one of the top destinations for international students, holding around 12.6% of the global market for recruitment. But those working in higher education will know that the sustainability of this market is uncertain. Both EU and non-EU student enrolments have significantly dropped during 2013-2014. And while non-EU students represent 48% of the UK postgraduate Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) courses, there is a 50% drop in the postgraduate numbers from India.
The falling numbers have been attributed to a range of factors: increasing global competition, the strict migration policy of the UK and the emerging new regional markets such as China, Egypt, Japan and Malaysia.
But there is another issue that universities are often less keen to discuss: are international students satisfied with the quality of their university experience while studying in the UK?
Almost 24% of all the complaints received by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator during the last year were from international students, which should send some key messages to the sector.
UK higher education has talked about internationalisation and international student experience for over three decades. Universities have focused on supporting international students, helping them to mix with home students and teaching them to be critical beings using academic English and so on. But there are signs that this approach isn’t working.
The problem is that “international student experience” has now become a catch-all phrase. The term has almost lost its meaning and direction – just like the term internationalisation.
Much of the research on international student experience has focused on cultural differences or differences in learning styles between home and international students. But this binary divide between home and international has led to some misleading assumptions and counterproductive narratives.
Academics continue to believe that Asian students aren’t critical thinkers. We imagine that Chinese students will never speak up in the classroom, yet even this doesn’t drive us to question our belief that their mere presence will create a global campus.
Rather than meeting the needs of the overseas students, universities are keen to create “international pedagogies and curricula” to help the international students to be like the home students. We force home students to mix with international students and teach this Other how to adjust into British higher education by mixing them with home students during group discussions, showing them how to talk critically and to be fearless about the authority of teachers.
This strategy has failed, international students are not chatty compared to home students due to lack of proficiency in English language and lack of knowledge about the focus of the discussions which are often centred on British context. This has led to mutual misunderstandings rather than intercultural dialogue, with international students believing that home students waste their time by dominating the discussions and home students assuming that international students hinder their learning by keeping silent.
Universities need to change their perceptions about how students learn and why they are here. Students today – whether home or international – have access to multiple ways of learning. They make use of a range of learning sites both physical and virtual. The so-called “passive Asian students” are very smart users of modern technology and are well connected with the online world. They are already international.
Some of the undergraduate international students from non-EU countries come to the UK because they are not able to secure a place in the best universities in their home countries.
The UK has been a popular destination since English language has become the international language of academic publications and so on. But the myth that the only reason behind the choice of coming to UK is the quality and reputation of our higher education system. This has led to the assumption that international students come to the UK to escape the less sophisticated, traditional national education systems.
For many decades, UK universities supporting international students have assumed that the key factor that affects learning is one’s national culture. Respecting different cultures is very important. Our curricular should encourage students to improve multiple perspectives, know more about alternative ways of learning – both western and non-western. Categorising students into national cultures and providing support to address Confucius or Socratic influence on learning has not brought any significant change over the years. Over emphasis as well as complete ignorance about different cultures of learning can both be harmful.
And higher education research cannot call itself inclusive until it addresses the needs of all students. At the moment, academia seldom focuses on Polish or Lithuanian or Kenyan student experience.New strategies need to be developed to address actual difficulties that hinder students’ success in education. There is a crucial need for helping students to improve language proficiency. When students are not confident about their language ability they are not able to actively contribute in classroom discussions. Misinterpreting this behaviour as being passive is not helpful.Like any other student, international students bring valuable knowledge and skills. It’s time we began to to see what we can learn from their pedagogic cultures.
Reconsidering our outdated approach aimed at making international students sophisticated learners by totally assimilating them in to UK pedagogic culture is now crucial. When students’ experiences, skills and perceptions are valued, they will be more prepared to negotiate their problems and issues and not complain.
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