tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/student-mobility-10618/articlesStudent mobility – The Conversation2018-02-22T08:12:32Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/922062018-02-22T08:12:32Z2018-02-22T08:12:32ZBrexit: German universities among those poised to benefit if researchers and funding shift<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207309/original/file-20180221-132680-1dx523a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C39%2C1968%2C1244&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Humboldt University in Berlin. German universities may emerge as 'winners' from Brexit. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/telemax/7190236226/sizes/l">Tilemahos Efthimiadis</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK is currently <a href="https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/uk-research-and-european-union/role-of-EU-in-funding-UK-research/how-much-funding-does-uk-get-in-comparison-with-other-countries/">the second-largest recipient</a> of competitive research funding from the EU: <a href="https://institutions.ukcisa.org.uk/info-for-universities-colleges--schools/policy-research--statistics/research--statistics/international-students-in-uk-he/#International-students-in-UK-HE-by-domicile,-level-and-mode,%3Cbr%3E-European-Union-(EU)-(excluding-UK)-and-non-EU,-2015-16">6% of students</a> and <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/analysis/staff/national/">17% of staff</a> in UK universities are from other EU countries. Nearly half of academic papers produced by the UK are written in collaboration with at least one international partner – and among the top 20 countries UK academics cooperate the most with, <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2017/international-collaboration-uk-post-exit.pdf">13 are in the EU</a>. </p>
<p>While collaboration is important, countries also compete with each other for funding and students. Our <a href="http://www.researchcghe.org/publications/higher-education-and-brexit-current-european-perspectives/">new research</a> has found that academics and institutions across Europe, and particularly in Germany, could make significant gains as Brexit shakes up the European higher education landscape. </p>
<p>In a pilot project involving ten research teams across Europe, my colleagues and I interviewed academic staff, university leaders and officials in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and the UK. We wanted to find out what they thought the impact of Brexit would be on their own higher education systems – and what strategies were emerging to respond to various Brexit scenarios.</p>
<p>For those countries where higher education institutions offered tuition in English, such as Ireland, Denmark or the Netherlands, the departure of the UK from the EU may provide an opportunity to increase student numbers from both within and outside the EU.</p>
<p>In most countries, interviewees hoped that the share of EU funding going to the UK would be redistributed after Brexit in a way that advantages them. Some said Brexit provided an opportunity to recruit high-profile academics currently based in the UK and were relatively candid about their hopes to “poach” UK-based academics. </p>
<p>In particular, Germany – already the main recipient of EU research funding, and the most frequently chosen partner in large research bids – emerges as a significant potential “winner” from Brexit. Academics at universities in both northern and eastern Europe were planning to reinforce their existing partnerships with German institutions ahead of Brexit. Plans were also made to reinforce non-EU collaborations.</p>
<p>Despite their smaller populations, Scandinavian countries are also well placed in the competition for funding, students and influence at EU level. However, countries in central, eastern and southern Europe such as Poland, Portugal and Hungary did not see themselves as strong players or influencers. The people our colleagues interviewed in these countries felt that their countries were unlikely to benefit from Brexit as much as the bigger players such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain.</p>
<p>In spite of these hopes and emerging strategies, the potential departure of the UK was largely perceived as a net loss for research and education across Europe, and the people we interviewed were keen to express their solidarity to their UK colleagues.</p>
<h2>Impact on British universities</h2>
<p>The research we did in the UK revealed very varied perspectives on the future. Some interviewees were optimistic that the UK would have no difficulty in maintaining existing partnerships or attracting new collaborations due to its status after Brexit. But others were extremely anxious that jobs, departments and institutions would disappear. Anxiety was particularly noticeable in the humanities. </p>
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<p>Early career researchers felt particularly vulnerable as their employment largely depends on the availability of research grants. The prospect of a hard Brexit complicated their perceptions of their future in the UK and in the higher education sector in particular. But this climate of fear did not only affect researchers based in the UK – the fear of a net loss of early career positions across the EU as a result of Brexit was also echoed by early career researchers interviewed elsewhere.</p>
<p>Interviewees across the countries we studied expressed a willingness to
continue collaborating with UK partners but were also concerned about the excessive administrative burdens that such cooperation would entail. Due to the continued uncertainty about the future position of the UK, participants were reluctant to involve British partners in future bids for EU research funding.</p>
<h2>European research under threat</h2>
<p>Concerns for the quality and reputation of European research were also widespread. The UK has played a significant role in enhancing European research – whcih has brought benefits to all members. The UK is an important partner for research teams across Europe – several key <a href="https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/uk-research-and-european-union/role-of-EU-in-funding-UK-research/how-does-eu-fund-research-facilities-major-equipment/">pan-European research facilities </a> such as the <a href="http://www.hiper-laser.org/">High Power Laser Energy Research Facility</a> or the <a href="http://www.europeansocialsurvey.org/">European Social Survey</a> are based in the UK, and it is a popular destination for students and staff from many EU countries. The UK is also perceived as a “portal” to the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/index_en.htm">European Research Area</a> for non-EU students and researchers. </p>
<p>There was a fear that Brexit, together with other euroscepticism across the EU, gave a negative image of Europe and posed a threat to the European project at large. In particular in countries such as Denmark and the Netherlands where anti-EU movements had gained some ground, interviewees wondered whether a “good deal” for the UK would be beneficial. Or whether it would actually encourage other countries to leave, with the risk of dismantling the EU. </p>
<p>Brexit is likely to affect all universities across the EU in some way. In some countries, it’s felt that smaller institutions and specific disciplines such as modern languages are likely to suffer more than others. </p>
<p>A number of participants across the countries we studied were eager to continue collaborating with their UK-based colleagues, no matter the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. As one German interviewee said: “If politicians decide to limit internationalisation in academia, academics resist and do the opposite”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92206/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aline Courtois is a research associate at the ESRC-HEFCE Centre for Global Higher Education at UCL Institute of Education. The UK research was funded by the Institute of Education. The European partners conducted their case studies on a self-funded basis. </span></em></p>New cross-European study shows how Brexit will affect higher education beyond the UK.Aline Courtois, Research Associate, UCL Institute of Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/396762015-05-14T05:07:29Z2015-05-14T05:07:29ZFive ways universities have already changed in the 21st century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81379/original/image-20150512-22571-uwzkm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lots has changed, but not this. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Students graduating by michaeljung/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Global higher education underwent a period of remarkable change in the first 15 years of the 21st century. Five key trends affecting universities around the world illustrate how, despite increased access to information, our understanding of higher education remains limited. </p>
<p><strong>1. More people are going to university</strong></p>
<p>Since 2000, participation in higher education has increased significantly. UNESCO figures for enrolment in tertiary education show that globally, <a href="http://data.uis.unesco.org/index.aspx">participation rose</a> from 19% in 2000 to 32% in 2012. While the proportions enrolled vary between countries and regions, the increases are pretty much universal. For example, tertiary enrolment in Sub-Saharan Africa has doubled from 4% to 8% over this period.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81375/original/image-20150512-22563-lwb4ej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81375/original/image-20150512-22563-lwb4ej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81375/original/image-20150512-22563-lwb4ej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81375/original/image-20150512-22563-lwb4ej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81375/original/image-20150512-22563-lwb4ej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81375/original/image-20150512-22563-lwb4ej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81375/original/image-20150512-22563-lwb4ej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81375/original/image-20150512-22563-lwb4ej.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The percentage of those who left secondary five years ago who go on to tertiary education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the increases in participation have been seen everywhere, there have been differences between countries in terms of who is going to university. The <a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/eag.htm">OECD Education at a Glance 2014</a> provides figures for the relative likelihood of participation in higher education for those whose parents engaged in tertiary education and those whose parents did not.</p>
<p>In Italy and Poland you are 9.5 times more likely to attend tertiary education if your parents did, whereas in South Korea and Finland, the proportion is a little over one. The UK and US have among the highest ratios: young people with parents who attended tertiary education are over six times more likely to enrol. These figures show large differences in how equal the expansion of higher education has been across the world and do not appear to relate to differences in tuition fees. </p>
<p>Beyond easy generalisations about the ways in which social hierarchies operate in different national cultures, we are not much closer to understanding the origins of this disturbing variation. </p>
<p><strong>2. People are travelling further afield</strong></p>
<p>While the figures on the proportion of tertiary students enrolled show clear increases, they are slightly misleading because they divide the total number of students by the total number of school-leavers in a country. This means that the proportions can be over or underestimated by the inclusion of international students (both incoming and outgoing) and the proportion of mature students. For example, <a href="http://www.iie.org/%7E/media/Files/Services/ProjectAtlas/Website%202014/Project-Atlas-Trends-and-Global-Data-2014.ashx?la=en">the US and Western Europe</a> are net importers of students, while Sub-Saharan Africa and south and west Asia are net exporters. </p>
<p>According to the OECD, the number of students studying abroad <a href="http://www.iie.org/%7E/media/Files/Services/ProjectAtlas/Website%202014/Project-Atlas-Trends-and-Global-Data-2014.ashx?la=en">more than doubled</a> from 2.1m in 2000 to 4.5m in 2012. While most of the host nations for these international students have remained the same over this period, the one exception is China. It did not figure as a host nation in 2000, yet by 2012, 8% of international students studied there, putting it third behind the US and UK.</p>
<p>The relative impact of these students is different depending on the size of the higher education system in question. In the US, over 800,000 international students make up only 4% of their student population, while the UK has <a href="http://www.iie.org/%7E/media/Files/Services/ProjectAtlas/Website%202014/Project-Atlas-Trends-and-Global-Data-2014.ashx?la=en">around half the number</a> of international students but they make up 20% of the student population. </p>
<p>In the UK, this has led to stories <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2594935/There-Chinese-students-postgraduate-courses-English-universities-British-students.html">about international students dominating particular courses</a>, but we are still in the process of understanding the impact of differing proportions of international students on teaching and learning cultures in universities.</p>
<p><strong>3. The rise of the student experience</strong></p>
<p>As the number and mobility of students have increased, so has the range of experiences that students are offered: from the limited and passive experience of a poorly-designed <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/mooc-students-passive-study-suggests/2012939.article">Massive Open Online Course</a> (MOOC) to students engaging as partners in <a href="https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher-education">the design</a> of their curricula and teaching and learning experiences. </p>
<p>This focus on students’ experience has been an important corrective to traditional teacher-focused approaches to teaching in higher education. However, the danger is that highlighting the “student experience” has obscured the essential role that students’ engagement with knowledge plays in the transformative potential of higher education. It is <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-race-to-turn-higher-education-into-a-market-were-ignoring-lessons-from-history-35792">knowledge</a> that changes students’ understanding of themselves and the world. </p>
<p><strong>4. Quality of teaching under scrutiny</strong></p>
<p>As the focus on student experience has increased, so has the intensity of scrutiny on the quality of teaching. In Europe, this has been partly informed by <a href="http://www.ehea.info/">the Bologna process</a>, designed to harmonise higher education systems across Europe. Positions in national and international higher education league tables have become a dominant way of representing this quality. Their attraction is understandable: they travel across a number of contexts and audiences, have resonance for prospective students and their families, employers, policy makers, academics and universities, and international bodies. </p>
<p>However, their shortcomings are <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-world-university-rankings-actually-mean-32355">equally obvious</a>: they tend to involve unrelated and incomparable measures that are brought together into a single score by algorithms and weightings that lack any statistical credibility. Crucially, the stability at the top of the league tables reinforces privilege: higher status institutions <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-is-oxford-biased-against-state-students-18979">tend to take</a> in a greater proportion of privileged students. </p>
<p>League tables strongly and wrongly suggest that students who have been to these institutions have received a higher quality education. But this distorts our understanding of teaching, making it about history and prestige rather than about the ways in which students are given access to powerful knowledge.</p>
<p><strong>5. The impact agenda</strong></p>
<p>Since the turn of the millennium, there has been an increasing expectation for research to bring a benefit to the society that funds it. This is now a standard element of research funding in the European Union and South Africa. </p>
<p>While it is very reasonable to expect research to lead to wider social benefits, the particular approach that has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-impact-of-impact-on-the-ref-35636">taken to measure this impact</a> has been distorting. The focus on how individual projects impact on societies shows a basic misunderstanding of the way in which research has an impact.</p>
<p>Individual research projects contribute to collective bodies of knowledge in a discipline or professional field. It is these bodies of knowledge that lead to impact, not individual studies. Despite this, we now have myriad <a href="http://impact.ref.ac.uk/CaseStudies/">impact case studies</a> purporting to show the changes single studies have wrought, giving us much more information about impact but potentially obscuring our understanding of the relations between knowledge and society. </p>
<h2>A mixed blessing</h2>
<p>The greater amount of information we have about higher education around the world is a mixed blessing. The measurement and monitoring processes that generate and communicate this information – such as university league tables – <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-do-world-university-rankings-actually-mean-32355">distort</a> what is considered valuable about higher education. </p>
<p>The danger is that the individual, durable and stable elements of higher education that can be easily measured are given a greater value than those that are collective, complex, changing and country-specific. In the face of this, we need to reassert a focus on the communal creation and sharing of knowledge that global universities contribute to the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39676/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Ashwin has received funding from the UK Economic and Social Research Council, the UK Higher Education Academy, the Higher Education Funding Council England, the Scottish Funding Council, and the European Union. He is a member of the Governing Council of the Society for Research into Higher Education.</span></em></p>As more people around the world head to university, the quality of teaching and research is coming under tighter scrutiny.Paul Ashwin, Professor of Higher Education, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/272512014-06-04T14:22:34Z2014-06-04T14:22:34ZTo write English like a professor, don’t rely on Google translate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49890/original/qgtrcmx9-1401443680.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You haven't used 'stakeholder' enough. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-157531832/stock-photo-mature-male-professor-explaining-test-to-student-in-classroom.html?src=r7uP_KZR3DDo4DdLXN7CHA-1-14">Professor and student via Tyler Olson/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thankfully, nobody speaks academic English as a first language. The English of the university is a very particular form that has specific features and conventions. Sometimes, this is just referred to as “academic style”. </p>
<p>It used to be a matter of instinct – what felt right. But now a <a href="http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cral/researchgroups/clw/index.aspx">large amount of research</a> is using a “big data” approach to analyse millions of words of academic writing. This has resulted in projects such as the <a href="http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/">Academic Word List</a>, the 570 most commonly used words in academic text across disciplines, (excluding the 2,000 most common words in English). </p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2012.11.002">Other research</a> has looked at what words and phrases are often used to thread the various parts of a structure together. These are known as “lexical bundles”, and reflect the view that a language doesn’t have a separate grammar and vocabulary – rather the two are combined into a “lexico-grammar”.</p>
<p>Every university which teaches in English will have an English language teaching department to support students whose first language is not English. These departments vary in size and prominence, but what they all share is that they purport to teach “English for academic purposes”. </p>
<h2>What’s acceptable?</h2>
<p>There is a tension within the field about what type of English should be acceptable. It is recognised that English is no longer solely the language of the British, North Americans and Australasians. English is spoken as a first or second language in countries such as Kenya and Malaysia, and is being learnt as a lingua franca by <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-taught-in-english-are-reshaping-the-global-classroom-25944">vast numbers of people across the world</a>, from Argentina to China. </p>
<p>This has led to a re-conceptualisation of English as a language without a centre, and with a much greater flexibility in terms of grammatical accuracy than a single standard. This makes enormous sense when a Pole is talking to a Vietnamese person in a social setting: the niceties of grammar do not matter, the message does. </p>
<p>However, academic writing is generally done under high-stakes conditions, on which students’ degree are judged. This leads to a tension between encouraging students to write with clarity, with accuracy or with fluency. </p>
<p>If we tell our students “the message, not the grammar, matters” and the person marking their dissertations insists that the correct form is “the data suggest” not “the data suggests”, we are doing them a disservice. </p>
<p>This idea of a grammatical normality becomes even more complex when we bring in students who are using English as a second language, but often in highly localised forms. </p>
<p>For example, a Malaysian student whose English is perfectly functional, but includes very few auxiliary verbs such as “does” and “am”, may come to a course on English for academic purposes, to be told that the form of English he speaks, and has spoken since childhood is “wrong”. </p>
<p>Some see this as the equivalent of an American studying in Britain being told she must stop using words such as “candy” and “mailman” – surely an intolerable intrusion into her linguistic identity. Or, should we teach students that they must, at least in the academic context, speak and write within the grammatical norms of the UK? This seems like an unacceptably colonial attitude.</p>
<p>The solution most practitioners and writers come up with is to allow the students the choice. To do this, they need to allow them to see and analyse the norms of academic writing. By doing this, the control of what is acceptable moves from the teacher to the students, allowing them a much larger amount of autonomy in their writing. </p>
<p>This also encourages students to think of themselves as member of the academic community, with their own academic self, and academic voice. This is reflected in the shift in title from “teacher” or “tutor” to “language adviser”, seen in many English for academic purposes departments.</p>
<h2>The coming of Google translate</h2>
<p>Another issue facing the sector is the issue of free online automatic translations, such as Google translate. It could be argued that these could put the English for academic purposes departments out of business: why would a student go to the expense and effort of learning English when he or she can just translate in and out of his first language online? </p>
<p>But this argument relies on the assumption that academic English relies on a surface level of literacy, based purely on grammatical accuracy. What Google translate is unable to do is teach the deeper academic literacies needed by students for full engagement with the academic community. It is my prediction that machine translation will inevitably change the way students are taught English – but it will not replace it.</p>
<p>Alongside these debates, it’s important to remember that this type of English teaching is all about language being used to express complex ideas, and it is impossible to teach without a certain complexity and depth of content. It is also about aligning to the intellectual norms of academia, which generally involves a large amount of analysis and picking apart of concepts within a rigorous intellectual framework. </p>
<p>We show respect to the intellectuals by trying to deconstruct their work. However, many students will come to an English for academic writing course from a radically different intellectual background, one where school, or even university has been more focused on understanding and reworking the ideas of the established experts, and respecting their work by not trying to deconstruct it. </p>
<p>Therefore, the job of the English for academic purposes teacher gains an extra layer. They need to encourage a different type of thinking in the students, in order to enable them to take part in a different type of writing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27251/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Groves does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Thankfully, nobody speaks academic English as a first language. The English of the university is a very particular form that has specific features and conventions. Sometimes, this is just referred to as…Mike Groves, Head of the Centre for English Language Education, Malaysia Campus, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/265482014-05-29T13:58:19Z2014-05-29T13:58:19ZHalf of Chinese students at elite US colleges don’t want to return<p>Brain drain has been a continuing problem in many developing countries for several decades. China is no exception. According <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/02/internationaleducationnews.highereducation">to a report</a> by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, there were more than a million Chinese students studying abroad between 1978 and 2006 and 70% failed to return to China after graduation. </p>
<p>In an effort to lure top talent back to China, in recent years the Chinese government has been implementing various initiatives, such as the Thousand Talents Program for top scientists, to reward those who choose to return. Although these initiatives, along with the recent booming economy, have been able to attract more talent from overseas in the past decade, <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130524153852829">many of these Chinese are still not willing</a> to give up their job in developed countries to move back to China. </p>
<p>My <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/.U0_tcldp8yQ#.U4YEfCjb6xU">new research</a> has examined the return intentions of overseas mainland Chinese students, looking at the push and pull factors on their decisions to stay or go. </p>
<p>We surveyed and interviewed 90 students studying at three elite universities located on the East coast of the United States. The results confirm a long-held concern regarding the low rate of return of mainland Chinese students studying overseas. Less than half of all respondents said they were “likely” or “very likely” to return to China upon graduation. </p>
<p>Most said they would like to gain at least a few years of working experience in the US before considering returning to China. But this temporary stay often leads to a longer or even a permanent stay after these students obtain suitable jobs, start families, and enjoy their careers in the US. </p>
<p>Our findings also indicate that both academic and economic factors have a greater deterrent effect on their return intention than political and social cultural factors. These findings are consistent with <a href="http://levin.suny.edu/pdf/asian%20population%20studies-2008.pdf">other studies</a>.</p>
<h2>Guanxi and work environment</h2>
<p>One of the most common concerns shared by overseas Chinese scholars was that a “big gap exists in the academic environment [in China] as compared to that abroad”. It is clear that providing a rigorous academic and research environment is essential to attract top-notch talent back to China. A statement by one scholar perhaps best captured the essence of this sentiment: “The key to attracting outstanding overseas personnel to return to China lies not in providing generous remunerations but in creating a salutary academic environment.” </p>
<p>Another key concern identified by respondents that pushed them not to return home was the “<em>guanxi</em>-based” structure in the workplace in China. This means the success of one’s career depends more on social connections than on merit. </p>
<p>Many potential returnees were very concerned about the opaque regulation in China and a working environment that was mainly based on <em>guanxi</em>, rather than merit. To counter this fear, a concerted effort needs to be made to provide an environment that is conducive to innovation and professional development rather than politics. Establishing a transparent system of regulation and providing a sense of security and a fairer environment are of utmost importance to persuade high-calibre overseas Chinese to return home. </p>
<p>But the most influential factor in a student’s decision to return was job opportunities in China. Recent <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951606000642">research</a> has indicated that students from emerging economies are more likely to return to their home country compared to students from developing economies. </p>
<p>The rapid economic development in China over the past two decades has provided tremendous job opportunities and professional advancement opportunities that attract more returnees. Since many of these returnees are armed with international experience and management skills, they are often able to find senior management positions when moving back to China. </p>
<p>However, we found a difference in return intention among different groups. Students majoring in business were more likely to return to China. These students believed there were more business and job opportunities in China than in the US. They also felt that their degree from an elite university and their overseas experience opened many doors back home. They are also highly sought by international corporations seeking to expand in China and Asia. </p>
<p>In contrast, those pursuing degrees in social sciences such as education or humanities, and physical sciences such as physics or biochemistry expressed less interest in returning home. For social science students, the low income in China was a big factor preventing them going back. While for physical science major students, it was inadequate research facilities, a <em>guanxi</em> based environment, and academic corruption.</p>
<h2>Education and pollution</h2>
<p>Our findings also highlight a key concern about the education of the children of returnees. Based on our survey and interview data, children’s education and their future are of paramount importance to married students, especially those who have children. </p>
<p>Some said one of the main reasons they preferred staying in the US was more for their children’s futures than for their own. One major challenges their children could face would be the adaptation to the Chinese education system. Many feared their children might have a hard time adapting to the highly competitive education system in China. </p>
<p>Some, of course, would opt for an international school. But the option of sending their children to an international school could be costly and not affordable for all returnees. In order for China to lure back these talents from overseas, providing either financial or academic support to their children is of critical importance. </p>
<p>Perhaps one of the most surprising findings from our study was that many participants placed an emphasis on the importance of the natural environment as a key factor affecting their return intention. Many participants expressed great concerns about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/shanghais-airpocalypse-can-china-fix-its-deadly-pollution-21275">environmental degradation</a> in recent decades, which leads to serious health concerns and poor quality of life in general. </p>
<p>The recent economic boom has led to widespread environmental degradation in China. Though some efforts have been underway to raise the environmental standards in recent years, much more is still needed to be done. It will be crucial to making China a desirable place for its best and brightest to return. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26548/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan C. K. Cheung does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Brain drain has been a continuing problem in many developing countries for several decades. China is no exception. According to a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, there were more than…Alan C. K. Cheung, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Administration and Policy, Chinese University of Hong KongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/267832014-05-22T12:57:03Z2014-05-22T12:57:03ZUK students trailing EU peers on take up of Erasmus exchanges<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49136/original/6zfdyqc5-1400669025.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We're not planning to miss out.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/iscteiul/5407341560/sizes/l">ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/index_en.htm">Erasmus+</a> programme, which aims to boost the number of students and staff studying and working abroad across the European Union, started on January 1 2014. It will provide €14bn to 33 countries over the next seven years. </p>
<p>The money will be used to fund students and staff to undertake education and training opportunities overseas, with an estimated €940m set to go to the UK. </p>
<p>With almost 5m people across Europe expected to take part in Erasmus+ between 2014 and 2020 (double the number of those who currently participate in the programme) the move to the new programme presents a good opportunity to ask why Erasmus matters, and whether UK students advantage of it enough.</p>
<p>Although the UK saw steady increases in the number of students who took part in the EU’s former Erasmus scheme, it is still behind key competitors. France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain all send out more students, and are closer to hitting the <a href="http://www.ehea.info/Uploads/%281%29/2012%20EHEA%20Mobility%20Strategy.pdf">European Higher Education Area’s target</a> of 20% student mobility by 2020.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49036/original/yqpt53v5-1400601541.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49036/original/yqpt53v5-1400601541.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49036/original/yqpt53v5-1400601541.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49036/original/yqpt53v5-1400601541.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49036/original/yqpt53v5-1400601541.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49036/original/yqpt53v5-1400601541.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49036/original/yqpt53v5-1400601541.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49036/original/yqpt53v5-1400601541.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Outgoing UK Erasmus Student Mobility 2007-2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK International Unit</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2011-2012, only 13,662 UK students participated in the Erasmus scheme in either study or work placements, compared to Spain with 39,545 students, Germany with 33,363 and France with 33,269. While the UK receives more than twice the number of students it sends abroad, France sends 4,305 more students (33,269) than it receives (28,964). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49034/original/rrcny9zz-1400601378.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49034/original/rrcny9zz-1400601378.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49034/original/rrcny9zz-1400601378.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49034/original/rrcny9zz-1400601378.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49034/original/rrcny9zz-1400601378.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49034/original/rrcny9zz-1400601378.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49034/original/rrcny9zz-1400601378.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49034/original/rrcny9zz-1400601378.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Erasmus student mobility in selected countries (2011/12)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Council</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Higher education institutions are increasingly highlighting the role of overseas experience in the acquisition of skills for life and work. Testimonials from students who have participated in Erasmus describe the experience as life changing, offering them the chance to experience new cultures, understand different ways of working and to grow in independence and confidence. </p>
<p>Students tell us that time spent proving yourself overseas is a key way in which to boost job prospects in a competitive market. Employers also value the ability Erasmus students have to work with people from other cultures in addition to their formal qualifications. </p>
<p>In recognition of this, a 2011 report by the Council for Industry and Higher Education’s (now National Centre for Universities and Business), <a href="http://www.agcas.org.uk/agcas_resources/401-Global-Graduates-into-Global-Leaders">Global Graduates into Global Leaders</a>, urged graduates seeking work to develop “global employability skills” to help them succeed in what is now an increasingly competitive international marketplace. </p>
<p>We know that employers – whether local, national or multinational – want graduates who can bring something “over and above” core graduate skills. We shouldn’t forget that student mobility can also influence more than careers – with the <a href="http://www.britishcouncil.org/erasmus-benefits.htm">British Council website claiming</a> that 1 in 10 students met their partners during an Erasmus exchange.</p>
<p>One of the best aspects of the previous Erasmus scheme – the monthly grant it provided to students to help fund the cost of living overseas – is set to continue. Additionally, Erasmus+, will give students a grant to study or work in a partner country which is not part of the Erasmus programme for the first time, as well as a Masters loan scheme to help fund students who want to take up post-graduate study overseas. </p>
<p>UK students will also benefit from a fee cap that will offer a reduction of up to 85% in their tuition fees. Although from the next academic year, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277479/bis-14-587-higher-education-student-support-and-european-university-institute-amendment-regulations-2013-equality-impact-assessment.pdf">universities can now charge up to 15%</a> of the full fee for the year abroad, many may still waive this fee at their discretion. </p>
<h2>New national strategy</h2>
<p>It’s not just employers who recognise the value of student mobility, the government does too. In 2012, minister of state for universities David Willetts asked the UK Higher Education International Unit to develop and implement a new strategy to promote outward mobility. It was <a href="http://www.international.ac.uk/media/1520768/uk-he-international-unit-uk-strategy-for-outward-mobility-version-1-0.pdf">published in December 2013</a>. </p>
<p>Anne Marie Graham, who leads the strategy at the International Unit said: “It will help universities raise awareness of the opportunities that are out there and provide evidence of the benefits of mobility to students, academics, parents and other influencers.”</p>
<p>A part of this awareness-raising is dispelling the notion that studying abroad is just for linguists. The Erasmus+ scheme is open to all students and a key priority is to promote mobility amongst groups which have been under represented, including health sciences and health care. </p>
<p>These policies and the new co-ordination effort between government, universities and students, means UK students could benefit much more from Erasmus+ than they have in the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26783/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andy Gibbs is a former UK Bologna Expert, employed by the British Council and part of the role was to promote mobility. He volunteers as co-chair of the Mobility Community of Practice which is run by the International Unit. </span></em></p>The Erasmus+ programme, which aims to boost the number of students and staff studying and working abroad across the European Union, started on January 1 2014. It will provide €14bn to 33 countries over…Andy Gibbs, Subject Group Leader, Centre of Wellbeing and Healthcare, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.