The quality of education makes universities in Southeast Asian countries competitive internationally
Export of Education
Over the last ten years, the number of students receiving higher education outside their country of residence (mobile students) has increased by almost 70%. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, there were 1.68 million such students in 1999, and by 2008 that number had risen to 2.9 million. According to IDP, an organization promoting Australian education, the number of mobile students is projected to reach 7.2 million by 2025.
The leaders in international education remain the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, as well as Germany and France. They account for more than 60% of mobile students. However, Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia have also actively entered the competition to attract foreign students. The main reason for the influx of students to these countries is not only a wave of interest in the Asian world but also the opportunity to save on tuition and living expenses. On the other hand, students bring significant profits to the economies of countries actively developing the education industry. An example is Australia, which in 2007 earned A$4.2 billion from the export of higher education. Competition in this field is fierce, as the global volume of educational services exports is $1.5 trillion.
But besides financial benefits, leading education-exporting countries also gain a number of other advantages. First, to ensure continuity of education for mobile students, universities in these countries upgrade their curricula and programs to international standards, use distance learning, or open campuses in other countries. Modern technologies allow students to attend a foreign university without leaving their home country. Second, the social and living infrastructure of student campuses is constantly improving, and universities are effectively becoming city-forming "enterprises." A whole industry of student services emerges, helping them with studies, daily life, and employment. Third, this stimulates the development of the scientific base, otherwise it is impossible to attract young promising scientists, and today the quality of research is how universities in most countries are evaluated. World university rankings are based on these assessments. Fourth, the population of developed countries is aging rapidly, and the replacement of retiring personnel is partly provided by international graduates of national universities.
Chasing the Americans
Despite some restrictions on employment and difficulties in obtaining a student visa, the USA still ranks first in attracting foreign students. According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), there are 582,900 foreign students in the USA, or 20% of all mobile students. The main suppliers of students to American universities are India (14.4%), China (11.6%), and South Korea (10.7%). The most popular programs chosen by foreign students are business and management, as well as engineering specialties.
The UK, with 376,200 foreign students (11.3% of all mobile students), ranks second in the world. Donor countries include China (13.3%), India (6.4%), and the USA (5.9%). The most popular subjects among international students are the same as in the USA.
Australia educates 202,400 mobile students (6.3% of the total), who mainly come from China (25.3%), India (13.6%), and Malaysia (7.7%). The highest demand is for management and commerce (52.7%), followed by subjects related to computer science and information technology (15%).
There are several reasons for the dominance of these three countries in the international education market. The main one is that they were the first to develop long-term strategies for attracting foreign students and support them with various resources. Having once covered many countries with their offerings, the USA, the UK, and Australia remain attractive to India and China, which have the largest populations in the world. The increasing prevalence of English over other world languages also played a role. And, of course, citizens from developing economies tend to study in wealthy countries.
The indicators of Canada and New Zealand in attracting mobile students are more modest. Canadian higher education institutions enroll just over 100,000 foreigners. The main suppliers of students are South Korea (21%), China (16%), and Japan (8%). Among the main subjects studied by foreigners in Canada and New Zealand are business (35% and 49%, respectively) and exact and natural sciences (15% and 17.4%).
New Zealand universities have about 67,000 foreign students, with the largest number from China (59.8%) and far fewer from the USA (5.6%) and Australia (4.8%). It is clear that the flow of foreign students to Canada and New Zealand will grow, thanks not only to more attractive financial conditions for tuition and living but also to good prospects for further employment and obtaining residency.
Currently, German universities have more than 261,000 foreign students. If just three or four years ago these were mainly students from European countries, now the dominant groups are Chinese (11%) and Turks (9%), with increasing numbers of Poles (now 5.9%) and Russians (5%). Foreigners prefer business and law (27.4%), while engineering disciplines (19.8%) are less popular than humanities (22.4%).
247.5 thousand mobile students study in France. French-speaking students from Morocco (13.8%) and Algeria (9.4%) have pushed Chinese students into third place (4.8%). The most popular fields here are business and management (40.6%), humanities and arts (20.7%), exact and natural sciences (15.4%), and engineering (11.5%).
In total, Germany and France account for 17.4% of all mobile students. Foreign students are attracted primarily by free tuition at French universities (all French higher schools of commerce, engineering, and arts are fee-paying) and the moderate cost of studying at German universities. In addition, universities in these countries have opened teaching of a number of programs in English: France offers around 100 such programs and Germany about 300. It should be noted that teaching in English in non-English-speaking countries is becoming the norm in the modern world of higher education.
With an English Accent
Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia, long-time student donors to more developed countries, are now increasingly attracting foreign students and achieving certain successes in this endeavor. Above all, they want to compete for students who fill the classrooms of universities in Australia, the United States, and New Zealand.
About 120,000 foreigners study in Japan. These are mainly students from China (63%), South Korea (13.5%), and Taiwan (3.6%). Of the total number of students studying in Japan, 1.5% are Americans.
The Japanese government is not satisfied with this number of foreign students and last year announced plans to attract at least 300,000 foreign students to the country by 2012. To this end, it intends to simplify visa procedures, improve the quality of student life, take measures to increase the number of foreigners studying Japanese, and help foreign graduates of Japanese universities find employment. Thirty of the country's top universities have been selected to implement the plan. Almost all Japanese universities offer one to five postgraduate programs in English in fields such as business, engineering, information technology, and agriculture.
China shows high growth rates in the number of foreign students. If in 2003 their number reached about 88,000, then last year it was already 144,000. The national composition of students is interesting: South Korea – 33%, Japan – 9.5%, USA – 7.5%. Students from Russia occupy sixth place in this list – 3.7%.
The website, 'subordinate to the China Internet Information Center,' provides a list of 34 Chinese universities offering a large number of master's and doctoral programs taught in English. China's vast education market is very attractive to foreign universities, but strict government regulation limits the opportunities for foreign expansion: each educational institution must be equally owned by Chinese and foreign partners. Nevertheless, British universities Nottingham (University of Nottingham Ningbo), Liverpool (Xi’an Jiao Tong-Liverpool University), and Surrey (Surrey International Institute) have opened campuses in China, as have American institutions – Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center) and New York University (New York University Shanghai). The University of Georgia conducts a summer law program in Shanghai and Beijing (Georgia Law Summer Program in China), and the Georgia Institute of Technology runs a Chinese language and engineering program (Georgia Tech – Shanghai Summer Program).
It is indicative that the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) took seventh place in the Financial Times MBA schools ranking of 2009, ahead of many famous competitors.
The number of foreign students in South Korea is growing rapidly. In 2006 there were 22,600, in 2007 already 63,900. The Korean government plans that by 2012 there will be 100,000 mobile students in the country. Most students here are from China (51.3%), Japan (12%), and other Asian countries (7.8%). The US accounts for 5.2%, and students from Russia occupy seventh place with 2%.
The teaching of university programs in English is best established at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), which plans to switch all undergraduate and postgraduate courses to English instruction starting in 2010. Yonsei University, Korea University, and a number of private universities, such as Woosong University, offer a small number of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs in specially created units where the language of instruction is English.
In Singapore, 86,000 foreign students studied in 2007. The Singapore government expects to increase their number to 150,000 by 2015. The fact that English, widespread in the country since British colonization, has remained the language of instruction in national schools and universities will undoubtedly contribute greatly to the implementation of these plans.
Now in Singapore there are campuses of top-ranked universities – the French MBA school INSEAD, the American postgraduate business school of the University of Chicago (Chicago GSB), the leading Indian business school of the Institute of Management and Research Center of Management (S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research Center of Management), the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, several engineering programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and also the German Institute of Science and Technology.
Malaysia has also entered the competition for international students. In 2003, there were just over 30,000 such students in the country. Last year, the number of mobile students in Malaysia was already about 65,000. Mainly these are Chinese (34.4%), Indonesians (18.5%) and Bangladeshis (7%). The Malaysian government is very serious: it plans to increase the number of foreign students to 100,000 by 2010. Many Malaysian universities have programs taught in English. Australian universities Curtin (Curtin University of Technology Sarawak Campus), Monash (Monash University Malaysia), Swinburne (Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus), the British University of Nottingham (University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus) and the German-Malaysian Institute have opened their campuses in Malaysia.
Choosing a country for education is a purely individual matter. But even today it can be assumed with a high degree of confidence that potential students from the East Siberian and Far Eastern regions of Russia will increasingly choose Asian countries for their studies in the near future. It is closer and cheaper.
Andrey SHUYSKY,
expert of Parta.org