With the recent news of the UK hitting its 2030 targets for international recruitment nine years ahead of schedule, we got together with ApplyBoard UK Advisory Board member Nick Hillman to unpack how the UK got here.
We discussed the role of government policy in reaching this milestone so early and its impact on the future of international education in the UK.
AI: In July 2020, the Graduate Route was announced. Shortly afterwards, the UK government set an increased target of welcoming 600,000 international students in a single year by 2030. That goal was reached in just one year (605,000 international students in 2021). Was this sudden growth ever anticipated?
Nick Hillman: The goal of 600,000 was never a standing-still target, it was the absolute minimum we wanted to hit. For me, that target never signified the limit of the possibilities for international student growth in the UK. Based on the annual growth rates we were seeing, that target was not as aggressive as it could have been.
It was no surprise to anyone that worked in our sector. UK institutions have always offered a quality education to international students, but it was an opportunity after graduation that students wanted. The ability to stay in the UK and work in following their studies was the missing piece.
It was a matter of addressing that need for policy change. Allowing students to stay in the UK and work unlocks a massive market opportunity here. There was a huge capacity for growth.
We have some natural advantages in the sense that we teach English in the UK, and when you combine that with the number of universities we have in the global rankings, that becomes a really powerful combination.
Once the Boris Johnson government took power, the need for more international students in the UK was reflected in the policy changes. There were a lot of questions in the UK about how COVID-19 was going to impact students’ appetite to study here. Everyone thought COVID would deter people from learning, but we’re actually seeing the opposite. The pandemic has made people reevaluate what really matters to them.
Equipping yourself with education and a trained set of skills is a really good insurance policy against uncertainty. If anything, COVID-19 has allowed students to see the importance of education even more than they did before.
ApplyBoard’s UK Advisory Board is composed of distinguished education leaders and changemakers that help guide and support ApplyBoard’s expansion within the United Kingdom.
AI: Most people understand the draw of the Graduate Route, but I want to talk about what might have been going on behind the scenes to drive this achievement. What do you think the impact of government policy was in reaching that goal so quickly? What policies directly impacted this result?
Nick Hillman: There’s no question that the Graduate Route is driving this. Almost immediately following the UK government’s decision to revoke the post-study work visa in 2012, many of us industry professionals were lobbying for change.
But one mistake the UK has made in recent years is limiting the decisions around immigration to one branch of government. The Home Office Department—the department in charge of national security, police force, and home affairs—had sole control over migration policy.
If you’re a government department that prioritizes security, you’re more inclined to associate an increase in immigration as a potential security risk. In 2011 and 2015 it was actually a part of the Conservative government’s targets to reduce immigration. That’s prevented international education from growing in the UK.
In other European countries, we’re seeing more departments having seats at the table when immigration decisions are being made. For example in Germany, when they set targets for international students, the education department, the trade department, and other relevant voices are contributing to the final decision on policy.
The change of power from Theresa May to Boris Johnson was crucial in the UK pivoting to a different set of policies. I think the time Johnson spent as Mayor of London gave him a massive appreciation for the value of international students.
The UK also benefited from evolving situations in other large destination markets. President Trump made the US look much less appealing for some international students. Australia’s strict lockdown measures prevented students from getting there. Those things worked in our favour.
Brexit also caused the value of the pound to fall, making studying and living in the UK cheaper for international students.
AI: Welcoming more international students is exciting, but it also brings challenges. There have been rumblings that a lot of UK universities are nearing capacity. Can UK schools continue to meet this increased demand?
Nick Hillman: Universities don’t have infinitely expanding walls. But many UK schools are investing in building faculties and spaces for students that are making them competitive on a global scale. You can’t expand rapidly and hope to maintain the quality of your student experience, but you can grow over the course of a few years. I think that’s what a lot of British universities are planning to do.
One of the biggest questions this industry faces is, which of the changes we’ve undergone during the pandemic is going to last? Remote learning is not for all students, but there are some that do prefer it. COVID-19 has normalized online education. UK schools will continue to cater to those who want to study remotely.
Maintaining a high-quality student experience will always be schools’ first priority, but if they can offer that experience to students who aren’t on campus, it will free up space for students who want to be there.
AI: Now that the UK has reached its international student targets, how might the government’s policy goals shift? Do you suspect the UK government is going to keep targeting growth or could they potentially restrict it?
Nick Hillman: In the past few years, we’ve seen the pendulum swing from a non-welcoming stance on international students to a welcoming one. So it’s hard to predict what future policy will look like. But currently, tuition fees for home students are so low that many universities are actually losing money on these students. This makes international students, who pay higher fees than home students, even more important to keep these schools in the black.
Overall, things are trending in a direction that would suggest growth. The UK government is starting to have more conversations around offering programs that can help streamline opportunities for international students. Hong Kong and Ukraine are a couple of markets that the UK has active partnerships with.
We’re starting to see that mindset shift from policymakers being protective of UK jobs, to a more human approach that appreciates international students for all the wonderful things they offer from a diversity standpoint.
Nick’s higher education think tank, HEPI, recently published articles on the history of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the likely impact of Brexit on student demand and university governance in a new age of regulation.
AI: As more international students come to study in the UK, the need to support and accommodate those students is going to grow, specifically with respect to career guidance and work experience/internship. What are your thoughts on UK institutions’ current efforts to support international students in that respect? What needs to change moving forward to help more students succeed?
Nick Hillman: The number one reason students are coming to the UK to get an education is to have a rewarding career. Work that fulfills them and keeps them engaged. I think it’s really important that British universities help students deliver on that objective to the same degree that they do with home students.
In our recent report, “Paying More for Less?”, we asked, are international students paying more for their education and not receiving the same quality of service from British universities as domestic students? Through polling and focus groups, we found that many international students encounter obstacles when they’re looking for work, including internships and any form of post-graduate work.
I think UK universities need to ensure that not only their career services but also mental health services are leveraged just as much by international students as they are by home students. We need our international students to be as integrated into the community of a university as possible.
Universities need to start asking themselves, “Have we got the balance of resources right?”, and, “Are we spending enough on preparing international students to find work after school?”
UK companies also need to really think hard about where they look for talent when hiring. So many organizations fall victim to recruiting from the same 10 universities when there’s an abundance of schools producing capable candidates.
If you look at the income of international students who stay in the UK, the majority of them end up earning a higher salary than the industry average. International students are clearly filling a huge gap here and making a powerful contribution to the UK economy when they choose to stay.
AI: When we look back on the history of enabling international students to work in the UK, there’s been a big turnaround. The UK government revokes the post-study work visa in 2012, reinstituted with the GR in 2020, immediately seeing a huge spike in international enrollment. Does that imply the UK was hurting themselves this whole time? Do you think international students have been wanting to come to the UK for a while now?
Nick Hillman: When I worked for the UK Universities and Science Minister, the Australian Education Minister came into our offices to meet us. His first words to us were, “Thank you. Thank you for your migration rules, they’re providing such a great opportunity for Australian institutions. We’re recruiting so many students who might have otherwise gone to the UK.”
Other countries knew it, we knew it. The UK was shooting itself in the foot for several years by not offering students post-graduate work opportunities. Thankfully, things have moved in the opposite direction now.
ApplyInsights recently took a deep dive into the factors driving the UK’s growth and how it compares to growth in other top destination markets.
AI: Looking at the growth trajectory the UK is on must be super encouraging to see. What’s the ceiling here? Do you think this momentum will continue?
Nick Hillman: People have a very strong appetite to better themselves through education. They have a very strong appetite to enrich themselves in the cultures of other countries. We’re blessed in the UK to have an interesting history, a language that a lot of people can speak, and long-standing connections with several other countries.
I’m optimistic that the world will continue to be a place students feel comfortable leaving home to travel and study abroad. I think one of the things that international students do is contribute to international understanding, which should make conflict between countries less likely because countries understand each other better.
The UK is now offering so many opportunities to international students. I think we’re well-positioned to become a place where more students want to develop and take the first few steps towards building a truly meaningful and rewarding career.
Published: April 5, 2022
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