Global Education: Divining world trends

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Tags: summer-2012

It is estimated that by 2025, the number of students enrolled in higher education globally will double to nearly 300 million, and eight million of those students will travel to other countries to study.

Globalisation has existed in many forms for many years; you only need to think of the interlinking trade routes of the ancient Silk Road or the early world marketeering of the East India Company.

However, with the emergence of on-demand travel, telecommunications and the Internet in the latter half of the 20th century, old borders are being crossed and new alliances forged with greater speed and resourcefulness than at any other time in world history.

So how does higher education fit within this global acceleration?

Throughout history and across cultures, students, scholars and philosophers have travelled great distances to seek aspirational schools of thought and seats of learning, and the development of universities and scholarship have been undeniably affected by educational trends and migrations.

For example, in what is widely accepted as the first European University, Bologna University (est. 1088) was regarded as the principal centre for the study of law, drawing students from as far afield as France, England and Germany – quite an international catchment for the time.

Now in the ruthlessly efficient 21st century, we are no strangers to the concept of broad internationalised education, and with global knowledge-seeking becoming increasingly accessible and therefore common, it is now considered an integral part of the modern higher education landscape.

It was recently estimated that by 2025, the number of students enrolled in higher education globally will double to nearly 300 million, and eight million of those students will travel to other countries to study – nearly triple the number of students enrolled outside of their home countries today.1

“Educational mobility reflects globalisation and the interconnectedness of all of our systems. Just as global travel, communication and economic systems link, so too are higher education systems connecting. It’s also driven by insufficient capacity in some very large systems,” Dr Anna Ciccarelli, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) said.

“For example, Japan has an ageing population, so, in years to come, it will probably have more seats at universities than it will have young people to sit in them. But in China and India and other young or developing countries where they’re wanting to educate their population, they don’t have enough seats, they don’t have enough universities, they don’t have enough lecturers, so students who can’t get a seat in the national system will often leave the country and look for a seat in another system,” Dr Ciccarelli said.

In Australia, the most recent Composition of Trade Report showed international education contributed $15.1 billion in export income to the Australian economy in 2011, making it the nation’s fourth most profitable export industry behind iron ore, coal and gold.

Despite these achievements, education is not immune to global financial trends, and even though this appears to be high- performing export, it too experienced a drop of 12.8 percent ($2.2 billion) in 2011, with a high Australian dollar and aggressive competition from other countries making it more difficult for Australia to compete internationally.

“In certain areas of education, enrolment numbers have still been relatively consistent regardless of the global financial situation, and I think in a way education can be counter-cyclical, in that people will seek to get a competitive edge through education in a reduced employment market, but, of course, the higher dollar exchange rate has an effect in the short term,” Dr Ciccarelli said.

With the growth of digital commercial and social communication networks, geographic location or origin is becoming less important and less of a decision-driver in hiring practises, with people more attuned to the idea of global citizenship and the opportunities increased global networking offers.

Universities have played both a call and response role to this global trend, with broadening international student enrolment programs, strengthened research partnerships, and institutional collaborations rapidly evolving to create opportunities and service increased demand.

“Companies are expecting graduates to have international experience and graduates are increasingly expecting universities to help them achieve this. This comes to the core of what globalisation is. It is both cause and effect; as higher education responds to these global forces, it amplifies them. It’s a response and yet it feeds in and generates more globalisation effects, more connectivity,” Dr Ciccarelli said.

The result of this is the development of a global talent pool and a broadening of how businesses and universities search for emerging talent.

Perhaps due to its relative geographic isolation, recognition of the value of this global knowledge economy is already well established in the Australian business ethos.

Tim Wilson, alumnus and Managing Director of Brisbane-based Blue Sky Private Equity (part of ASX-listed Blue Sky Alternative Investments Limited), says in his experience, education is an entry into international experience.

“Everyone in the Private Equity team at Blue Sky has had international experience, either through education or employment or both, so absolutely, it’s important to an employer. I think it would be pretty hard for someone from Brisbane to muscle his or her way into a top- tier job in London, for example, unless they had an international education,” Mr Wilson said.

“As an employer, you often think about the skills a person who would be a fit for your business would need, and one of the things that would be at the top of the list would be some kind of international experience.

“Australia talks about the brain drain of our best and brightest moving overseas, but the benefit to Australia is that the reverse is also true in that there’ll be a lot of people who’ll have the adventure of working or studying overseas and then come back, and bring the education and experience back to their hometown,” Mr Wilson said.

“It’s not about brain drain; its about brain circulation,” Dr Ciccarelli said. “Australia needs to develop not only in receiving students and researchers from other nations, but in encouraging its own people to seek out that international experience, and that’s increasingly on the national education agenda.    “Australia’s a middle-power and we have a role to play in the world and a contribution to make.  By broadening how we educate our people, we make sure we’re fit for purpose with the world, that we’re not isolationist, that we’re not parochial.

“The more we support Australian students and researchers in having that transformative experience, the stronger Australia’s influence in the world becomes, which is very positive for bilateral relationships, multilateral relationships, foreign policy and trade agreements,” she said.

Globalisation touches most aspects of life and deeply affects the way individuals, businesses and governments make decisions and behave. Universities too will only expand their potential by widening their offerings and harnessing globalisation as a positive force.

As universities around the world send their programs, students and research to the global market, new collaborative, educational, commercial and philanthropic possibilities will emerge, and these possibilities will continue to enable globalisation.

Therefore, universities must be prepared to quickly respond to changing markets and shifting demands and to adapt and compete without sacrificing the rigour and independence of academic programming and long-term strategic goals.

This, perhaps, is the great challenge of modern global education.

To find out more about UQinternational programs and activities, go to www.uq.edu.au/international

1    Higher Education Consultant Bob Goddard in ‘Making a Difference: Australian international education’, edited by Dorothy Davis and Bruce Mackintosh, UNSW Press
2    Composition of Trade Report 2011, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

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