Five things we learned at East Asia Education Week
- Intermobility is on the rise in East Asia…
For a few years now, stakeholders from the UK have noted a marked drop in enrolments from East Asia – particularly China, for a long time highest sending country to the UK.
Stuart Easter, director of student recruitment and international at Edinburgh Napier University and BUILA vice-chair confirmed to The PIE News that for many British institutions, numbers from China are “flat or falling”. While he said Chinese enrolments were seeing “relative stability” in the top-ranked UK universities, he highlighted that “competition is wild” – particularly from other East Asian countries. “You’re absolutely getting into that question of what am I getting for my money,” he said.
Susan Fang, co-founder and owner at OxBridge Holdings, agreed that East Asian destinations offer relative value for money. Chinese students are opting for East Asia because it’s “close to home” as well as touting lower living costs, she told The PIE. But studying in the region also allows students to build up a network nearer to their home country, she suggested – which often proves useful after graduation. - … but that doesn’t mean the UK is missing out
Easter noted that particularly high-ranked institutions in the UK are still attracting talent from China. “There’s variation between different types of universities and you can see some big winners still,” he said.
Meanwhile, the rise of transnational education (TNE) means that students from East Asian countries outside China are increasingly seeking a UK education, even if it is being delivered elsewhere. “You’ve got the offerings in Malaysia, in particular, that are really attractive,” he said.
TNE was a major focus of the conference, with the British Council’s Indonesia country lead Summer Xia and Indonesian deputy education minister Stella Christie both hinting at the government’s appetite for partnerships with UK institutions. - Don’t expect TNE to be a cash cow
While Western institutions are increasingly eyeing TNE opportunities in East Asia – with the UK government’s new international education strategy prioritising enrolling students overseas in countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam – experts are warning that opening international branch campuses will not keep universities out of the red. UK international education champion Sir Steve Smith told The PIE that, despite a keen interest, British institutions wouldn’t be coming to set up in the region simply to make money.
“The thing about TNE, when you’re bringing in top universities, is they’re doing it because they want to be part of an international education world. They’re not doing it because they see it as a way of getting income that they can’t get back in the UK,” he said.
Mushtak Al-Atabi, provost and CEO of Heriot-Watt University, Malaysia, agreed that such partnerships were not the best way to boost income. “Some universities see TNE as a way for them to plug a gap in their accounts,” he said. “I think they should be very careful.”
He warned that there is nowhere in the world that British universities could set up an overseas branch campus and “just by virtue of them being great and UK-based there’ll be droves of people coming to join them”.
Instead, there must be mutual benefits to such partnerships, he said. The Malaysian higher education landscape is “highly innovative, highly mature but also highly competitive” so universities wanting to set up there must go with an openness to learn, Al-Atabi added. - Aligning regulations for TNE can be a challenge
Despite bilateral ambitions to set up more UK branch campuses across several countries in East Asia, Sir Steve indicated that the reality of making those partnerships a reality can be more challenging. “Around the world the number one challenge is regulation,” he told The PIE. “It sounds rather unexciting but an enormous amount of my time in the countries I work in has been trying to get regulatory alignments [between countries]”.
He explained that in order for TNE partnerships to work, UK qualifications have to be recognised in the host country, which involves aligning standards in a way that recognises both systems. “It’s a lot of negotiation with the governments around the world,” he said.
Ultimately, said Sir Steve, TNE endeavours should not be about Western institutions imposing their systems abroad. Rather, he suggested, they should be treated as mutual partnerships and a way to build educational capacity at a good price point. - England’s upcoming fee levy leaves room for conversations
With a levy on international students fees set to be brought in for institutions in England in 2027, it’s looking likely that many will decide to up tuition fees as a way to recoup costs. Naturally, there are fears that inflated fees could turn international students away, with some estimates suggesting that England’s universities could lose over 77,000 international students over five years.
Fang suggested that affected universities are proactive in their messaging and “package it so that you’re offering something different” – such as more contact hours – rather than simply pointing the finger at the policy itself. There are still very affluent families in the East Asian region who could afford increased UK fees, she pointed out, “but they don’t want to be taken for a ride”.
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