Universities need to compete in global market

Regardless of domestic policy, universities need to be able to compete within a global market for higher education, one expert has claimed.

Andy Westwood, chief executive of GuildHE, said it should not simply be assumed that the number of overseas students attending UK universities would increase.
He added that competition from all over the world meant that this ambition was an "increasingly tough" proposition and would take time, effort and resources to achieve.

"Maintaining the UK's reputation and market share will ultimately depend on the quality of our higher education and its longer-term value for money. We should take neither for granted," Mr Westwood pointed out.

According to Ucas figures, 2010 saw a record number of university applications - 697,351. But, while 57,491 more people applied last year, only an additional 5,475 individuals were accepted. Elsewhere, a report last December from the University and College Union estimated English universities would have to charge up to nearly £7,000 a year to make up for the income lost to public spending cuts.

Mike Boxall, PA’s education expert says: “Andy Westwood is right to warn universities that they should not assume that past growth in international student recruitment will continue in future. While transnational higher education remains a global growth industry, it is becoming much more competitive as new players and study options enter the game - not least from the huge investments in higher education (HE) capacity being made in the countries from which most international recruits have hitherto come (particularly China, India and Malaysia) - and the customers are becoming much more demanding and discriminating.

The benefits of studying overseas, in the UK or elsewhere, are not automatically self-evident, especially at the premium prices many universities have become used to charging. Just like their UK counterparts, students from China, India and elsewhere (and their parents) will weigh up the prospective returns from their investment in higher education, and direct their custom where the perceived benefits are greatest.
 
This should be a healthy wake-up call for UK universities, if they listen and respond to the market messages. In particular, the historical emphasis on international recruitment as a source of premium fees and off-quota numbers, and hence as a cross-subsidy for core teaching and research will not be tenable in the new world of market-led HE.

On the other hand, balanced and well-integrated engagement with the needs and expectations of students and employers across the world offers real growth opportunities for UK universities, which will distinguish and enhance the whole HE proposition, as much within the UK as internationally.”

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