tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/enrolment-trends-20186/articlesEnrolment trends – The Conversation2019-11-21T18:57:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1251812019-11-21T18:57:13Z2019-11-21T18:57:13ZDon’t despair if your teen wants to major in history instead of science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302950/original/file-20191121-524-faaqy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C27%2C1995%2C1293&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Historians' work looks like meaningful disagreements around how to grapple with an ambiguous, complicated past. Here, 'Pi' sculpture by Evan Grant Penny, Wellington St., Toronto.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Brendan Lynch/Flickr)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It might be your worst nightmare. Your child, sitting at the kitchen table, slides you a brochure from the local university.</p>
<p><em>“I’ve been thinking of majoring in history.”</em></p>
<p>Before you panic and begin calling the nearest computer science department, or worse, begin to crack those tired barista jokes, hear me out. This might just be the thing that your child, and our society, needs.</p>
<p>Choosing to become a history major is a future-friendly investment. A history degree teaches skills that are in short supply today: the ability to interpret context, and — crucially — where we’ve been, so as to better understand the world around us today and tomorrow.</p>
<p>We’ve never needed knowledge of history and the skills that come with the discipline more than we do now. Not only is it a good choice of a major for all the usual selfish reasons — <a href="https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=9463">you’ll likely get a good job, even if it takes a bit longer than the STEM disciplines, and more importantly you’ll probably be very happy with it</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302739/original/file-20191120-483-5tcsev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302739/original/file-20191120-483-5tcsev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302739/original/file-20191120-483-5tcsev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302739/original/file-20191120-483-5tcsev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302739/original/file-20191120-483-5tcsev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302739/original/file-20191120-483-5tcsev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302739/original/file-20191120-483-5tcsev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Your child majoring in history is a future-friendly investment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>But for our society more generally, we need a generation with deep capacities to acknowledge context and ambiguity. This idea of ambiguity not only pertains to interpreting the past based on a diverse body of incomplete sources, voices and outcomes, but also how our contemporary judgements of that record shape our choices today.</p>
<p>Our whole society hurts when students turn their back on history. A sense of history — where we have come from, the shared anchors of democratic society, the why and how of our current moment in time — is critical. </p>
<h2>Not enough historians</h2>
<p><em>“Won’t you be lonely as a history major?”</em></p>
<p>When you’re visiting a campus library, take a look: you’ll see a lot of students reading their engineering notes, maybe some doing computer science exercises, even some English literature or political science essays being written. What you won’t see is many students flipping through their history books. </p>
<p>That’s because there aren’t all that many history majors left in many North American universities: <a href="https://oipa.info.yorku.ca/data-hub/quick-facts/quick-facts-undergraduate-headcount/">York University has gone from 1,217 majors in 2011-12 to 527 seven years later</a>; at the University of Waterloo, where I teach, we’ve gone from 227 to 89. </p>
<p>This is part of the broader <a href="https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/april-2013/data-show-a-decline-in-history-majors">decline in history majors</a> which has seen enrolments <a href="https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/may-2016/the-decline-in-history-majors">essentially</a> <a href="https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/february-2018/enrollment-declines-continue-aha-survey-again-shows-fewer-undergraduates-in-history-courses">crash</a>.</p>
<p>Why? On the face of it, it’s surprising that students who play <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/how-popular-is-assassins-creed-the-series-has-sold-over-140-million-copies/"><em>Assassin’s Creed</em></a>, listen to <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/g25807523/best-history-podcasts/">historical podcasts</a> and watch historically themed television have turned their backs on the history major. </p>
<p>There are three reasons. First, education and law have seen tightening labour markets and <a href="https://www.ouac.on.ca/statistics/olsas-application-statistics/">falling</a> <a href="https://www.ouac.on.ca/statistics/archive/">applications</a>. Traditionally history was seen as a good preparation for being a teacher or a lawyer. Second, there’s the overall “crisis of the humanities,” <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/in-my-opinion/much-emphasis-stem-fields-universities/">where STEM is seen as leaving liberal arts behind within universities more generally</a>.</p>
<p>But also, historians (and their university departments) simply haven’t made the case for why history matters. </p>
<p>We stress critical thinking and writing — which, sure, a history degree does get — but often fail to get to the heart of why a history degree just might be the best training for the 21st century.</p>
<h2>Macdonald analysis</h2>
<p><em>“History? Is that so you can learn how to write?”</em></p>
<p>You can certainly learn how to write in history. But you can do that in any other arts discipline, and they’ll also teach you similar critical thinking skills. </p>
<p>Historians can put these skills to work to understand our world today. Take John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister. The question for historians is not simply how he should be judged and commemorated today, but also how he should be understood within the context of his time. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302728/original/file-20191120-467-1isy0ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302728/original/file-20191120-467-1isy0ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302728/original/file-20191120-467-1isy0ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302728/original/file-20191120-467-1isy0ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302728/original/file-20191120-467-1isy0ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302728/original/file-20191120-467-1isy0ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302728/original/file-20191120-467-1isy0ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Audience members listen at a 2014 conference by Queen’s University and the Sir John A. Macdonald Bicentennial Commission, Sir John A. Macdonald: Then and Now.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Queen's University, Flickr)</span></span>
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<p>In the 1990s, historians such as Timothy A. Stanley debated Macdonald’s legacy, pointing out the <a href="https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/view/4598">inherent racism</a> of the 1885 Chinese Immigration Act; others such as Jack Granatstein lamented that students were likely to learn more about Louis Riel than Macdonald himself, despite, in Granatstein’s view, the latter’s accomplishments being “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780002008952/who-killed-canadian-history-revised-edition/">more important and much longer lasting</a>.”</p>
<p>But those in wider society began to truly grapple with Macdonald’s legacy only in the last five or so years. </p>
<h2>Forced reconsideration</h2>
<p>The 2014 publication of James Daschuk’s <a href="https://uofrpress.ca/Books/C/Clearing-the-Plains2"><em>Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Indigenous Life</em></a>, convincingly argued that Macdonald used a deliberate policy of starvation to help “clear the plains” of Indigenous people. </p>
<p>This book, along with the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s <a href="http://www.trc.ca/about-us/trc-findings.html">final report</a>, forced a reconsideration of how historians and society should teach or commemorate Macdonald today. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302029/original/file-20191116-66979-1j5odh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302029/original/file-20191116-66979-1j5odh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302029/original/file-20191116-66979-1j5odh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302029/original/file-20191116-66979-1j5odh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302029/original/file-20191116-66979-1j5odh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302029/original/file-20191116-66979-1j5odh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302029/original/file-20191116-66979-1j5odh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The pub formerly known as Sir John’s Public House in Kingston, Ont., located at the site of John A. Macdonald’s former law office, has changed its name to simply ‘Public House.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>In some cases, municipal governments have removed statues <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/john-a-macdonald-statue-victoria-city-hall-lisa-helps-1.4782065">(as in Victoria)</a>, or fostered ongoing conversations with Indigenous communities (as in <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-in-kingston-an-agonizing-question-what-to-do-about-sir-john-a/">Kingston</a>, Ont.). </p>
<p><a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/thebigdebate/2018/08/21/should-statues-of-sir-john-a-macdonald-be-removed-yes.html">Historians</a> <a href="https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/renaming-monuments-is-closer-look-at-history-443377973.html">and their arguments</a> have been at the heart of these <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/john-a-macdonald-statue-regina-vandalism-1.4795082">debates over Macdonald’s legacy</a>.</p>
<p>In historians’ professional <a href="https://www.tvo.org/video/tear-down-this-name">disagreements</a> we can see the <a href="http://christophermoorehistory.blogspot.com/2019/06/john-macdonald-and-reconciliation.html">importance of history at work</a>: it looks like meaningful disagreements around how to grapple with an ambiguous, complicated past. </p>
<h2>Debate that stripped name</h2>
<p>In 2018 there was a debate within the Canadian Historical Association that resulted in stripping Macdonald’s name from its long-standing best scholarly book award.</p>
<p>On the one hand, some historians saw the honour bestowed on Macdonald’s legacy by naming the highest prize as inappropriate <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/a-key-player-in-indigenous-cultural-genocide-historians-erase-sir-john-a-macdonalds-name-from-book-prize">given Macdonald’s record; others, highlighting Macdonald’s nation-building role, opted to vote in favour of keeping the prize name as it was</a>. </p>
<p>Same historical record, different judgements. The ultimate vote was to — correctly, in my view — strip the name from the prize.</p>
<p>The weighing of historical context and grappling with ambiguity, on display during the Macdonald debate but even more so everyday within classrooms across the country, lie at the heart of what makes history as a discipline special. </p>
<h2>Change the world through history</h2>
<p><em>“I’m still not convinced. Why does what happened in the past matter for today?”</em></p>
<p>Historians don’t study history so they can know the future. Yet knowing where our society has been — and how to grapple with ambiguity and context — means that a historian is well equipped to interpret the world around us and where it might be going.</p>
<p>Put down the science brochures. If your high schooler really wants to be a history major, don’t panic. Smile, knowing that they’re taking the first step to a deeper understanding of the world around them.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125181/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Milligan receives funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, the United States Institute of Museum and Library Services, Compute Canada, and the University of Waterloo.</span></em></p>Put down the science brochures. If your high schooler really wants to be a history major, smile, knowing that they’re taking the first step to a deeper understanding of the world around them.Ian Milligan, Associate Professor of History, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1120602019-02-23T00:47:45Z2019-02-23T00:47:45ZEconomics needs to get real if we want more young Australians to study it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260068/original/file-20190221-148523-ljife0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If we want economics to appeal to young Australians, it needs to move away from theory and towards tackling some of the trickiest issues faced by the next generation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to studying economics, Australian high school students are voting with their feet. According to data gathered by the Reserve Bank of Australia, year 12 enrolments in economics courses have <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-13/rba-concerned-about-a-drop-in-economics-students/9865726">plunged 70% nationwide</a> over the last 25 years. Enrolments are so low, many schools are abandoning the subject altogether.</p>
<p>And it’s not just that there are fewer students taking economics. Those that do sign up seem rather … well … alike. There are now about <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2017/sp-so-2017-07-29.html">twice as many boys than girls</a> taking economics (compared to a 50-50 ratio in 1992). And most of those boys now come <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2017/sp-so-2017-07-29.html">from higher-income families</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/women-are-dropping-out-of-economics-so-men-are-running-our-economy-74698">Women are dropping out of economics, so men are running our economy</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2018/sp-so-2018-05-26.html">Economics enrolments</a> at universities haven’t done much better. The number of university students choosing economics has stagnated for a quarter-century, even as student numbers surged. They’re shunning economics in favour of other subjects: whether that’s popular science, technology, engineering and maths, and business programs or socially relevant disciplines such as political-economy and environmental studies.</p>
<p>If we really want more young Australians to study economics (and not just boys from high-income families), the profession needs to reinvent itself - and become a lot more relevant to the big issues young people care about.</p>
<h2>The problem with faith in the free market</h2>
<p>The Reserve Bank (RBA) <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/education/focus-on-economics-rba-tells-schools/news-story/556d100126d3e226738e6cbdf2cda7b4">worries</a> about students’ lack of interest in economics, and has started a mini-campaign to encourage more young Australians to heed the call of supply and demand. The RBA is lobbying state governments to <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/submissions/education/submission-to-nsw-curriculum-review-november-2018/#fn*">update their economics curricula</a>, and it <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2017/sp-so-2017-07-29.html">sends ambassadors out to classrooms</a> to advocate for economics – emphasising, among other points, that economics graduates earn relatively high salaries.</p>
<p>We share the RBA’s concern about the terrible lack of diversity in economics (it’s one of the most male-dominated professions, <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2017/sp-so-2017-07-29.html">even worse than STEM courses</a>). But the RBA’s campaign inadvertently symbolises what’s wrong with the whole profession: emphasising high salaries in an attempt to reverse falling enrolments only confirms that economics is still infatuated with markets and incentives. This misses the whole point about the most urgent and interesting problems in the world today.</p>
<p>There is no question today’s students are a passionate, socially aware generation. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/australian-attitudes-to-nature/9801778">They rightly worry</a> about the world they’re poised to inherit: scarred by climate change, inequality, angry populism, and possibly worse. Not to mention many of those students may never hold a <a href="https://www.futurework.org.au/the_dimensions_of_insecure_work">normal permanent job</a> (relegated instead to a never-ending series of “gigs”), and most can’t imagine being able to buy a house.</p>
<p>Given these critical challenges, we can’t blame today’s students for rushing into other disciplines – anything, it seems, but economics. After all, the social and environmental problems they confront are precisely the outcome of the <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/2016/retrieve.php?pdfid=405">ideological, market-worshipping canon still taught</a> in most economics textbooks.</p>
<p>Markets are efficient. Supply equals demand. Private competition is best. Workers are paid according to their productivity.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-governments-have-widened-the-gap-between-generations-in-home-ownership-82579">How governments have widened the gap between generations in home ownership</a>
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<p>Young people who want to improve the world quickly reject these tenets of economic theory. We, Jim and Richard, think students actually accomplish more to fix the actual economy by studying environmental studies, gender studies or social work, rather than immersing themselves in the theoretical games of free-market economics.</p>
<p>The RBA itself shares the blame for this state of affairs. Its narrow approach to economic policy is largely focused on suppressing inflation and letting markets take care of everything else. </p>
<p>For example, the RBA still claims Australia is almost at full employment. But they define that as <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2017/jun/pdf/bu-0617-2-estimating-the-nairu-and-the-unemployment-gap.pdf">5% unemployment</a>, according to the <a href="https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/128239/fmsno00.pdf">discredited theory</a> of “non-accelerating inflation unemployment”. This neglects its responsibility, explicitly enshrined in the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2015C00201">Reserve Bank Act</a> to create more jobs as its top priority. </p>
<p>It’s a great intellectual irony that neoliberal economics, based on the theory that the market always knows best, is being abandoned by its own “market” (namely, prospective students). They are rejecting its idealised vision of supply and demand in favour of any number of more relevant, interesting disciplines: from business and marketing, to international relations or public health. </p>
<p>And the response of the discipline’s true believers is that its customers (the students) are somehow uninformed and don’t know what’s best for them.</p>
<h2>Economics needs context</h2>
<p>We both studied economics for many years, we love our profession, and we fervently hope more critical-thinking, passionate young people will take up this discipline – mostly to help us save the economy (and the planet) from conventional economics. But for economics to play a more helpful, critical role, it must thoroughly reinvent itself – and fast. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/home-ownership-falling-debts-rising-its-looking-grim-for-the-under-40s-81619">Home ownership falling, debts rising – it's looking grim for the under 40s</a>
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<p>It must abandon its ideological and self-serving faith in the efficacy of private markets. It must embrace the social, historical, and environmental context of work, production, and distribution. And it must commit to truly building a better world, rather than justifying the status quo. </p>
<p>Apologising for inequality, selfishness, and pollution rather than confronting them has been the way of free-market economics since its invention. Most young people, understandably, yearn for something else. Let’s give it to them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jim Stanford is Economist and Director of the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, and is a member of the Australian Services Union.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Denniss 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>For economics to play a more helpful, critical role, it must abandon blind faith in the free market and embrace the social, historical, and environmental context in which economics actually happens.Jim Stanford, Economist and Director, Centre for Future Work, Australia Institute; Honorary Professor of Political Economy, University of SydneyRichard Denniss, Adjunct Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/863942017-11-02T19:04:07Z2017-11-02T19:04:07ZWe need to make sure the international student boom is sustainable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191969/original/file-20171026-28041-1lhl9rc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">International students brought an estimated A$28bn to our economy in 2016-17.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the first seven months of this year, a staggering <a href="https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/International-Student-Data/PublishingImages/IST_2017/2017Graph_Table1.png">685,000 international students</a> came to Australia to study. About half headed to university to study for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, most often following on from an intensive English-language course. That’s 82,000 more students than the same time last year – a 15% increase. In stock market parlance, that’s a bull market.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/">Australian Bureau of Statistics</a> (ABS) <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/0/A5FB33BD2E3CC68FCA257496001547A1?Opendocument">recently calculated</a> the economic impact of this influx of students was <a href="http://www.afr.com/leadership/education-exports-are-worth-28-billion-a-year-nearly-20pc-more-than-we-thought-20171005-gyvc8v">A$28bn in 2016-17</a>. This was a A$4.4bn boost on its earlier estimation, thanks to a change in methodology that included interviews with departing students in airport lounges which better captured their spending patterns and visits from family and friends. </p>
<h2>Enrolments are concentrated in big cities</h2>
<p>Australia should be justifiably proud of the fact it is <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/the_shape_of_things_to_come_-_higher_education_global_trends_and_emerging_opportunities_to_2020.pdf">the third largest destination</a> for international students after the US and Britain. It has by far the largest proportion of overseas students enrolled in its universities – nearly 20%. That’s an average of one in five enrolments. </p>
<p>However, enrolment patterns are not evenly spread. While it’s boom time for the small numbers of public universities and private colleges able to capitalise on the incoming tide of newly middle-class students from China and India, others struggle to keep their heads above water.</p>
<p>Federal government <a href="https://internationaleducation.gov.au/research/Research-Snapshots/Documents/International%20Students%20in%20Australian%20Uni_2015.pdf">data</a> neatly paints the picture: in 2015, the Ballarat-based Federation University had the highest proportion of international student enrolments, sitting at 42.5%. However, almost all of them study in high-rise glass campuses in the Melbourne CBD. There were another six universities with international enrolments exceeding 25%. All were in inner city Melbourne and Sydney. Only 10% of inbound students go to regional areas, while Sydney and Melbourne between them attract 65% of all international students. </p>
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<p>Earlier this year, the <a href="https://www.committeeforperth.com.au/">Committee for Perth </a> published a <a href="https://www.committeeforperth.com.au/assets/documents/Bigger-and-Better-Beyond-the-Boom-Introduction.pdf">report</a> bemoaning the fact that Western Australia was failing to capitalise on the boom, and had even witnessed a decline in enrolments over the past 15 years. To compound matters, half of all WA’s international students were enrolled in offshore campuses, particularly those in Malaysia, Dubai and Singapore run by Curtin University.</p>
<p>But why? Surely WA has time zone, cost and lifestyle advantages compared to other states. Reasons for a lack of interest in studying in WA are unclear. Chinese students are particularly disinterested in Perth and surrounds. They may make up one third of all the students heading into Australia for study purposes, but the Chinese account for a relatively low 13.8% of WA’s international student cohort. </p>
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<h2>Concentration has real impacts on infrastructure and housing</h2>
<p>One concern is that the concentration of international students in inner city Sydney and Melbourne is clogging infrastructure, adding to house and rental prices and causing ghettoisation in some residential areas.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, regional universities keen to get their slice of the action have started establishing high-rise glass tower campuses in the inner cities adding to rising pressures.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://propertyupdate.com.au/where-do-australian-citizens-live-and-where-do-non-citizens-live/">report</a> from property analytics company <a href="https://www.corelogic.com.au/">CoreLogic</a> found that 65% of Melbourne CBD residents were not Australian citizens. In Sydney’s Haymarket the percentage was 54%, while in Clayton and Carlton in Melbourne the figure hovered around the 50% mark. A total of 17 other suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne, along with a smattering in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra postcodes, all had transient populations in which non-Australians, namely international students, comprised over 35% of the residents.</p>
<p>The question is why. Accommodation in our inner cities is exceptionally expensive even by world standards, giving unscrupulous landlords license to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-20/homestay-students-live-in-poor-conditions-to-boost-hosts-budget/7346178">exploit</a> the <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-units-crowding-tenants-crammed-into-small-spaces-creating-fire-hazard/news-story/c9f4642c49adb485592b3a58ab9a3a4d">unaware</a>.</p>
<p>A 2016 University of Technology Sydney <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/Research%2Binto%2Bthe%2BWellbeing%2Bof%2BInternational%2BStudents%2Bin%2Bthe%2BCity%2Bof%2BSydney_Final_27%2BJuly%2B2016.pdf">report</a> for the City of Sydney agreed. It also pointed to expensive public transport, the fact jobs are hard to come by (and international students are <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Stud/More/Work-conditions-for-Student-visa-holders">limited to 20 hours a week</a>) and cultural naivety, which leaves many vulnerable to exploitation. There is little, if any, integration with locals. The report cites alcohol abuse, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/high-stakes-for-gambling-students-20131107-2x5cl.html">gambling</a>, sexual and mental health issues, which often go unreported, as barriers for well-being.</p>
<p>On the upside, our inner cities are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-07/india-no-longer-fears-students-at-risk-of-racial-attacks/8424124">regarded as safe</a>, despite <a href="http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/special/001/caisa.pdf">spates of attacks</a> on international students, such as those <a href="http://books.publishing.monash.edu/apps/bookworm/view/A+Home+Away+from+Home%3F+International+Students+in+Australian+and+South+African+Higher+Education/175/OEBPS/c06.htm">in Melbourne in 2008-09</a> and again in <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/punjabi/en/article/2016/06/14/indian-international-student-attacked-melbourne">2016</a>.</p>
<p>The challenge now is to ensure the boom in student numbers isn’t undermined by bad experiences and lack of capacity. Marketing and messaging is important for attracting international students to Australia, but we need to encourage them to look beyond the two main cities. The glamour of tourism tends to catch politicians’ attention, but international education is largely left to fend for itself, despite the economic flow on impacts. What is needed is a real, coordinated, practical, focused and strategic oversight of this enormously important sector to ensure its reputation and financial health into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Hare works for KPMG.</span></em></p>Australia is currently experiencing one of the largest booms in international student enrolments, which needs to be sustainable if we’re going to continue to benefit economically.Julie Hare, Honorary Senior Fellow, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/535682016-02-01T04:32:02Z2016-02-01T04:32:02ZThe untold story of how Africa’s flagship universities have advanced<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108973/original/image-20160122-425-bor0bc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Africa's flagship universities have a great deal to offer as the continent continues to grow and develop.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Africa has <a href="http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.TER.ENRR">the lowest</a> university enrolment rates in the world. In the past two decades, though, virtually all the continent’s higher education systems have recorded <a href="http://www.codesria.org/IMG/pdf/0-jhea_vol_11_1_2_13_prelim.pdf?3971/82897c51401c0cca7a99942e57038f540cfb632d">massive growth</a>. </p>
<p>The spike in enrolments started in the late 1990s. It was driven partly by the liberalisation of the global economy. People also started becoming more aware of the <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=nUZ0SLG1hc0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">critical role</a> that higher education plays in development. Other contributing factors included institutional and national policies, improved access and funding. There were also international imperatives like favourable global higher education policies.</p>
<p>The continent’s higher education system is only superficially covered in the popular media. Much of what has been written about Africa’s universities – and particularly its flagship institutions – focuses only on their shortcomings and the challenges they face. </p>
<p>I have spent the past two years working with a team of researchers to <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10734-015-9939-x">collect data</a> with a view to analysing higher education institutions in Africa. We used 11 leading universities as case studies and focused particularly on their contributions.</p>
<p>The study analysed and documented the institutions’ contributions in teaching, learning, graduates and research productivity. It revealed that flagship universities have made huge contributions to capacity building and skills development in the decades following Africa’s independence. This remains true right up to the present. </p>
<p>The findings suggest that they have plenty more to offer. This includes millions of graduates who will make a contribution to the continent’s future growth and development.</p>
<h2>What makes a flagship university</h2>
<p>Africa’s flagship universities are those which were established in the lead up to and just after independence during the 1960s. Their age, size and reputation mean they’re considered their respective countries’ leading institutions.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282434513_African_flagship_universities_their_neglected_contributions">research</a> – which we expect to publish in a book with the working title of Flagship Universities in Africa: Role, impact and trajectory – found that these universities still play a critical role in national capacity-building and innovation efforts today.</p>
<p>Given their age, capacity and reputation, flagship universities also tend to be the most <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150226104329253">internationalised and advanced</a> when it comes to institutional co-operation. This is important in a higher education sector that’s continuously globalising. Their reputation extends to the calibre of their alumni, among whom are Nobel laureates, heads of state, ministers, acclaimed authors, judges, economists and actors. </p>
<p>The flagship universities in this study are in Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.</p>
<h2>Tracking a growth pattern</h2>
<p>I identified four patterns of growth by studying these universities’ available enrolment data from 2000 to 2015. These are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>exponential expansion;</p></li>
<li><p>major expansion;</p></li>
<li><p>sizeable expansion; and</p></li>
<li><p>stabilisation.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The universities of Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Ghana and Nairobi recorded three-to-four-fold growth in 15 years. This can be considered exponential expansion. The universities of Cheikh Anta Diop, Mauritius and Zambia saw major expansion of two or more-fold growth.</p>
<p>Makerere University and the University of Botswana displayed sizeable expansion of more than 50%. The universities of Ibadan in Nigeria and Cairo in Egypt, meanwhile, showed signs of stabilisation with fluctuating growth in both the positive and negative territories.</p>
<h2>Why tracking a growth pattern is difficult</h2>
<p>There are several factors that make it difficult to categorise growth and to develop a watertight pattern. For instance, some constituent members of flagship universities have broken up into independent, fully fledged new institutions. This is a common phenomenon in Africa.</p>
<p>University mergers are the flip-side of this trend. The University of Rwanda, which was not part of the study, is one flagship that has brought several institutions together under one roof.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/counties/Moi-University-Closure-Students-Clashes/-/1107872/2789524/-/13hb5vm/-/index.html">Student</a> and <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/university-workers-disrupt-registration-1.1970123">labour</a> strikes, which are fairly common at African universities, are also a problem. Any disruptions to the academic year make it difficult to accurately document enrolment trends or other variables. </p>
<p>The way that enrolment is counted compounds the challenge. African universities’ data collection tends to be poorly developed and managed, even in this electronic age. Data must be cobbled together from different sources based on varied assumptions. This has obvious implications for tracking a growth pattern.</p>
<p>Despite these stumbling blocks, it was possible to identify some remarkable milestones.</p>
<h2>Graduates: the good news</h2>
<p>The numbers extrapolated from this study show that flagship universities have contributed hugely to the training and development of skilled graduates since their inception.</p>
<p>Several universities in the study, among them Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Ghana and Nairobi, have recorded an estimated 100,000 graduates each since they opened. These figures are actually rather conservative given the problems outlined above. In some cases, such as at Makerere, only figures for the last 12 years are available.</p>
<p>Cairo University alone has registered more than 500,000 graduates in just the last 20 years. If you remove it from consideration, ten flagship universities in sub-Saharan Africa are responsible for producing just less than one million graduates since they were opened.</p>
<p>On the basis of raw data from the study, it is projected that the total number of graduates from universities in sub-Saharan Africa that may be designated as flagship now stands between 2.5 and three million.</p>
<h2>Flagships must be nurtured</h2>
<p>Africa’s higher education sector is expanding rapidly. New public and private institutions crop up all the time and are flourishing.</p>
<p>Even amid these changes, flagship universities remain their countries’ academic flag bearers. They are critical institutions. They must be strategically positioned to build national capacity and to advance African universities’ global competitiveness.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is based on one which <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160115172324411">originally appeared</a> on University World News.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study has been partly supported by DAAD. Other possible funders are being solicited. </span></em></p>When talking about the role that higher education can play in developing Africa, it’s important not to forget the continuing and crucial role of the continent’s flagship universities.Damtew Teferra, Professor of Higher Education, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/485292015-12-30T06:01:38Z2015-12-30T06:01:38ZMany East African kids attend school – but not enough are actually learning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106617/original/image-20151218-27890-bttlqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The majority of children in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are attending school – but the evidence suggests they're not all learning.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Much has been written about the failings of primary education systems in East Africa. Teachers are often <a href="http://www.sdindicators.org/">lambasted</a> for being absent from school, for being poorly motivated, and even for lacking basic knowledge about the subjects they teach. It’s not all bad: genuine successes have been registered in improving <a href="http://www.unicef.org/esaro/5481_education_gender.html">enrolment rates</a>. But this does not appear to be enough. Even when they attend school, children <a href="http://www.uwezo.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2013-Annual-Report-Final-Web-version.pdf">don’t seem</a> to learn very much. </p>
<p>Faced with these challenges, national governments and foreign aid donors regularly call for deep reforms to schooling systems to improve the quality of learning. For instance, the UK’s Department of International Development recently allocated £21 million on <a href="http://www.riseprogramme.org/">research</a> to “build an understanding of education systems and how they can be transformed to accelerate learning”.</p>
<p>But are these concerns supported by the facts?</p>
<h2>Delving into the data</h2>
<p>On the face of it, the answer is “yes”. An initiative called <a href="http://www.uwezo.net/">Uwezo</a> is trying to improve literacy and numeracy rates among children aged six to 16 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Data collected by Uwezo since 2009 in these countries shows a somewhat depressing combination of high rates of enrolment, but low rates of learning. </p>
<p>These tendencies are illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The first figure reflects the share of children aged 9-11 in each of the three countries who report that they are attending school. We can see that in all three cases, more than 90% of children are enrolled. This is a vast improvement. Kenya, for instance, almost <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002193/219351e.pdf">halved</a> the number of children out of school between 1999 and 2010. </p>
<p><strong>Figure 1: Enrolment rates, by country</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106614/original/image-20151218-27858-ktakip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106614/original/image-20151218-27858-ktakip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106614/original/image-20151218-27858-ktakip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106614/original/image-20151218-27858-ktakip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106614/original/image-20151218-27858-ktakip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106614/original/image-20151218-27858-ktakip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106614/original/image-20151218-27858-ktakip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106614/original/image-20151218-27858-ktakip.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Calculated from Uwezo survey rounds 2-5</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Figure 2 shows the share of children aged 9-11 able to both read simple words and discern which of two numbers is larger than another for numbers of up to two digits. These are skills that should be mastered in the first few years of school – preferably, in first grade. In all countries there is a learning gap. Large numbers of children are enrolled in schools, but very few of them have these basic skills. And these results are not accounted for by older children in first grade. Other measures of learning quality also point to significant concerns. For instance, less than half of all children aged 9-11 in the region are able to pass basic literacy and numeracy tests at the Standard 2 level.</p>
<p><strong>Figure 2: Basic literacy and numeracy skills, by country</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106613/original/image-20151218-27863-jn2wsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106613/original/image-20151218-27863-jn2wsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106613/original/image-20151218-27863-jn2wsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106613/original/image-20151218-27863-jn2wsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106613/original/image-20151218-27863-jn2wsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106613/original/image-20151218-27863-jn2wsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106613/original/image-20151218-27863-jn2wsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106613/original/image-20151218-27863-jn2wsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Calculated from Uwezo survey rounds 2-5</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Behind the average</h2>
<p>Aggregate evidence of this kind appears to substantiate both the shift of focus to learning, as well as the need for significant, large-scale reforms. Learning quality does need to be improved across the board. But jumping from these big facts to policy recommendations is never simple. Moreover, a focus on averages can be very misleading. The distribution of outcomes must be examined. </p>
<p>Indeed, an immediate issue jumps out from Figure 2: there is a large difference in average results between the three countries. Although the Uwezo tests are not perfectly comparable, the evidence is strong that children in Uganda generally perform less well than children from Kenya. </p>
<p>Even more importantly, there are pockets of both success and failure within each country. School systems are not homogeneous things. The challenges facing government schools in the remote arid regions of Northern Kenya are materially different to those facing schools in the upmarket Westlands suburb of Nairobi. In fact, the gap in learning outcomes between the best and worst districts in each country is enormous. This is illustrated in Figure 3, again using the same metric of very basic literacy and numeracy skills.</p>
<p><strong>Figure 3: Basic literacy and numeracy skills, by best and worst district in each country</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106612/original/image-20151218-27894-prn236.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106612/original/image-20151218-27894-prn236.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106612/original/image-20151218-27894-prn236.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106612/original/image-20151218-27894-prn236.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106612/original/image-20151218-27894-prn236.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106612/original/image-20151218-27894-prn236.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106612/original/image-20151218-27894-prn236.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106612/original/image-20151218-27894-prn236.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Calculated from Uwezo survey rounds 2-5</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An alternative agenda</h2>
<p>A closer look at the data reveals that differences in learning outcomes between regions within each country are huge. Some children are doing well, but many are being left behind. And when we reflect on the distribution of learning outcomes, it is not evident that system-wide reforms should be the priority. More effort is required to resolve failing schools and even failing regions. This means learning about what is working, not just moaning about low national averages. A greater focus on the most disadvantaged also might be the right thing to do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48529/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Jones 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>More and more children are attending primary school in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. But there are worryingly large gaps in their learning.Sam Jones, Associate Professor in development economics, University of CopenhagenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/502112015-12-11T04:07:31Z2015-12-11T04:07:31ZWhy Cuba is an education success story and what it can teach Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101819/original/image-20151113-10417-vp0e9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Education is free in Cuba, and is one of the island nation's top priorities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Desmond Boylan/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Cuba takes education very seriously. It became a top priority after Fidel Castro became prime minister in 1959 and this helped the country shake its mantle as the <a href="http://www.afrocubaweb.com/pedroperezsarduy/afroc-anth.htm">most unequal</a> of the Hispanic Caribbean territories during both the colonial and post colonial early 20th century periods. </p>
<p>The foundations of Castro’s new social – and socialist – order were premised on the common understanding that only good-quality, empowering education could conquer Cuba’s acute poverty, ignorance and underdevelopment.</p>
<p>Cuba invested heavily to make its education system world class. By the 1980s and 1990s, the country’s educational disbursements as a ratio of gross domestic product were among the <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website00238I/WEB/PDF/CUBA.PDF">highest in the world</a>. </p>
<p>Cuba has much to teach Africa about prioritising and reforming education. Its approach <a href="http://uctscholar.uct.ac.za/PDF/161937_Kronenberg_C.pdf">to education</a> has made a unique contribution to social change. There are <a href="https://www.cput.ac.za/newsroom/news/article/2390/leading-researcher-explores-cuban-education-system">valuable lessons</a> here for the continent and, as more than a decade of my research has shown, particularly for South Africa.</p>
<p>There are three major methods through which Cuba revolutionised teaching and learning after Castro’s socialist government came to government.</p>
<h2>1. Literacy</h2>
<p>The first was its celebrated 1961 <a href="http://www.maestrathefilm.org/activos/educators/Supko.pdf">Literacy Campaign</a>, which marked in concrete terms the importance of education for an embattled society in transition. In the space of barely one year, one million illiterate people were targeted by mobilising 250,000 literacy teachers and thousands of devoted school children.</p>
<p>By the end of 1961, 75% of those one million had achieved <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/pr/red/cuba/educational_policy_in_cuba.htm">rudimentary literacy</a>. There were extensive follow-ups concentrating also on adult education.</p>
<h2>2. Access for all</h2>
<p>While the literacy drive was underway, school enrolments grew rapidly – and <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website00238I/WEB/PDF/CUBA.PDF">more than doubled</a> a decade later. This was largely because education at all levels, including university and college, became free of charge. </p>
<p>The government launched programs for peasant girls, domestic workers, prostitutes and those who had dropped out before finishing school. These, along with the newly founded Organisation of Day Care Centres, sought to <a href="http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website00238I/WEB/PDF/CUBA.PDF">ensure</a> that education was <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/pr/red/cuba/educational_policy_in_cuba.htm">accessible to all</a>. The programmes also targeted those living in remote and isolated rural communities.</p>
<p>Cubans’ hard work has paid off. Since the <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/pr/red/cuba/educational_policy_in_cuba.htm">mid-1990s</a> net primary admission has been 99% for both girls and boys, compared to 87% in the Latin American region. At that time, 94% of Cuban primary students reached grade 5, contrasting steeply with 74% in the region. Gross secondary enrolments were 78% for boys and 82% for girls, compared to 47% and 51% in the region.</p>
<h2>3. Teachers matter</h2>
<p>Cuba knows the importance of good teachers. During <a href="http://www.cput.ac.za/blogs/bulletin/2015/08/19/novel-ideas-good-practices-and-success-stories/">extensive</a> fieldwork, I discovered that its teacher training institutions use wherever possible only the most-advanced, well-researched scientific teaching methods and strategies. Students generally are accepted as trainee teachers if they possess the virtues of intellect, good character, a proven commitment to social development and love for children.</p>
<p>At the turn of the millennium Cuba boasted the highest number of teachers per capita worldwide, <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/pr/red/cuba/educational_policy_in_cuba.htm">1:42</a>. At the 2015 <a href="http://www.pedagogiacuba.com/">International Pedagogia Conference</a> in Havana I was told by educational officials that the country’s student:teacher ratio as of 2015 is an astonishing 12:1. </p>
<h2>Education for social change</h2>
<p>Cuba’s methods are respected and applied way far beyond the island’s boundaries. By 2010 its literacy method had been adopted in 28 Latin American, Caribbean, <a href="http://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/nacionales/61297-over-one-million-angolans-learn-to-read-and-write-using-cuban-literacy-method">African</a>, European, and Oceanic countries. Its use had <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002341/234154e.pdf">qualified</a> millions of formerly unschooled people the world over to read and write. </p>
<p>From my discussions with Cuban education officials during research trips, it is obvious that the country wants struggling countries to learn from its experiences. They say it is deplorable that nearly <a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39485#.VmkffLiGSko">800 million people</a>, two-thirds of them women, are illiterate around the world. It is likewise unpardonable that nearly <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/sep/20/70m-get-no-education">70 million children</a> do not have access to basic schooling.</p>
<p>Ordinary Cubans and government officials alike argue that people’s minds must be highly developed for them to contribute to a world free of fear, ignorance and disease. Education, ultimately, empowers human beings to become seekers and guardians of progress and peace.</p>
<p>The Cuban government’s steadfast commitment to education is irrefutable. The island’s relatively modest economy makes its educational triumphs all the more astonishing. This sets the objective basis for more in-depth scrutiny of its methods, particularly by struggling nations. </p>
<p>After all, Cuba’s accomplishments are not a miracle or a coincidence. They are the outcome of years of devoted work, sacrifice and meeting crucial commitments on highly effective terms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clive Kronenberg works for The Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He has received institutional funding to conduct research, and hereby acknowledges CPUT's 2015 URF Award. </span></em></p>Cuba used three major methods to revolutionise its education system from the 1960s. The hard work has paid off and the system holds many lessons for other countries.Clive Kronenberg, PhD and Research Fellow, Cape Peninsula University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/467212015-10-14T08:52:05Z2015-10-14T08:52:05ZUS losing its dominance in global higher education market<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96518/original/image-20150928-30974-aieby3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Growing numbers of US students are going abroad to study.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishcouncilrus/15495347511/in/photolist-pBgGXZ-513MZ2-517YMy-517ZDE-517ZbY-513Mok-9SWo4d-9SWdYm-9SWpSy-9SWcyq-9STAvB-9SWmxb-9SWjL1-9STni8-9SWiaG-9SThQ4-9SWoYA-9STwTa-9SWbes-9STvKk-9STk4P-9STD1F-9SWdm3-9STurX-9STCpV-9STzrR-9SWcVY-9STwmB-9STBGx-9SWgHh-9STuec-9STqLn-9SWrgC-9STp2K-9SWaZQ-9STAXx-9STtA8-9SWrQj-9SWkpQ-9SWdao-9STqjH-9STkDx-9STru4-9STw4T-9STopt-9SWtgf-9SWffm-9SWf4E-9STn4K-9STx8F">British Council Russia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The Conversation’s international teams are collaborating on a series of articles about the Globalisation of Higher Education, examining how universities are changing in an increasingly globalised world. This is the third article in the series. Read more <a href="https://theconversation.com/search?q=globalisation+of+higher+education+series">here</a>.</em></p>
<p>Students have come back to college. But not all to the United States. </p>
<p>The idea that a student would study in another country is not a new concept. The media frequently <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/world/americas/helping-foreign-students-thrive-on-us-campuses.html?_r=0">reports</a> on the number of international students studying in the United States. And that is exactly how we tend to think about it – students from other countries coming to the United States. </p>
<p>Yet, a growing number of US students are now looking overseas for their college degree. Germany alone, with its essentially free higher education system, <a href="http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learning-curve/american-students-head-germany-free-college">is drawing</a> a fair number of prospective US college students. Some 4,660 US students were enrolled in German universities last year – a number that has increased by 20% in three years.</p>
<p>While the number of US students attending college in Germany remains very small relative to the some 21 million individuals pursuing a post-secondary education, it represents two important shifts in the international student market: a rapidly increasing global market for international students and a growing number of US students looking to earn degrees overseas.</p>
<p>As a researcher of international education, a key concern for me is understanding the ways in which the changing global economy is reshaping educational opportunities and potentially how the US dominance in the international education market is being threatened.</p>
<h2>US students studying abroad</h2>
<p>There is no central source that tracks the total number of US students enrolled in foreign institutions. </p>
<p>There is also no international repository of enrollment trends worldwide. In the US, the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/about/">federal government</a> tracks enrollments in domestic higher education institutions. In addition, the <a href="http://www.iie.org">Institute of International Education (IIE)‘s</a> annual Open Doors <a href="http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors">report</a> gathers data about American students at US colleges studying abroad for academic credit. </p>
<p>In fact, there were about 290,000 students studying abroad for academic credit, but not a full degree, in the 2012 academic year, more than double the number who studied abroad 15 years earlier. However, these numbers do not include students pursuing a full degree from an overseas institution, as they are not tracked by the US government.</p>
<p>But based on national data sets, IIE’s Project Atlas has put together a patchwork picture about students pursuing college degrees elsewhere. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96519/original/image-20150928-31012-1o3grer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96519/original/image-20150928-31012-1o3grer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96519/original/image-20150928-31012-1o3grer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96519/original/image-20150928-31012-1o3grer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96519/original/image-20150928-31012-1o3grer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96519/original/image-20150928-31012-1o3grer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96519/original/image-20150928-31012-1o3grer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The UK has been the leading destination for US students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shaneglobal/5191520225/in/photolist-8UKU6p-9NKn2C-7GX4d5-7GT9cR-7GX4z1-fhw9Z-BRvkd-9wYujT-bVQEjT-cdcWKs-bVQE54-bVQDvr-9EPEiy-6SJBQJ-MXR8r-cdcX7q-cdcTus-9QQHKa-t2Pknu-6VFiKP-bVQCNF-cdcVHf-bVQDLK-bVQBQg-cdcTjj-bVQCUD-9raNuK-7mKPba-cdcUgU-cdcVZ7-cdcUxE-cdcTPS-cdcU73-cdcWBb-bVQCCx-5dvDbX-9xZX36-amVf6u-p2sHXE-9xNdzU-bVQAQp-cdcU2G-bVQCJ2-4XvbV8-9JA49n-9JCSW1-9JCSaj-gbGy1Y-gbGxNy-gbGywN">Shane Global</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to a <a href="http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Project-Atlas">Project Atlas</a> <a href="http://www.iie.org/%7E/media/Files/Corporate/Publications/US-Students-in-Overseas-Degree-Programs.ashx?la=en">report</a> (the most recent aggregated data on this issue), there were more than 43,000 US students enrolled in degree programs in foreign countries in 2010 (this is in addition to the number of students studying abroad not for a degree). However, it should be noted that <a href="http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Project-Atlas">Project Atlas</a>, has data only from the IIE’s 13 partnering nations. So these data may actually undercount the number of students enrolled in such programs.</p>
<p>Even so, based on these data, we can confidently say that the United Kingdom was the leading destination for US students. Most US students (72%) in this data set head to anglophone countries. Master’s degree programs are the most popular option (followed by undergraduate programs and then doctoral).</p>
<p>Recent <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32821678?ocid=socialflow_twitter">reports</a>, such as those about Germany, suggest that the number of students pursuing a degree outside of their home country, including students moving outside of the US, is growing rapidly. But, in order to gather information about US citizens who pursue degrees elsewhere, that information must be gathered from those nations.</p>
<h2>Growing competition for international students</h2>
<p>The fact is that today, there is a large market for students in higher education.</p>
<p>In 2000, according to UNESCO’s <a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/eag.htm">Education at a Glance</a>, there were only 2.1 million students studying abroad in both short-term and full-degree programs. Today, there are roughly 4.5 million. </p>
<p>And, the competition for those students has become quite fierce. Today, <a href="https://www.nuffic.nl/en/library/international-student-recruitment.pdf">countries</a> like China, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, Argentina, Brazil and Chile, who once primarily sent students abroad, have enacted policies and strategies to actively recruit international students. </p>
<p>In fact, according to <a href="http://globalhighered.org/edhubs.php">our research</a>, places like Singapore, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates want to become regional educational hubs – serving students from their neighboring countries.</p>
<p>With this increase, the market for international students has also become quite volatile in the last decade. Many of the earlier entrants to this market are losing share.</p>
<p>For instance, even though the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/education/eag.htm">total number</a> of international students studying in the US continues to grow, the US market share has dropped from 23% in 2000 to 16% in 2012. Countries such as Germany, France, South Africa and Belgium have also lost about 5% market share collectively, with Germany and France having the largest remaining share of the group at about 6% each. </p>
<p>At the same time, places like China, Canada, the United Kingdom, Russia, Korea and New Zealand each picked up larger proportion of the market, with the United Kingdom and Russia both gaining two points of the market and the others a little less. In fact, at 13% of the market share and growing, the United Kingdom may be on track to overtake the US’ market lead. </p>
<h2>Opening up borders</h2>
<p>In such a market, some countries are taking advantage of their language of instruction which can offer a competitive advantage, while others are offering low-cost or even free tuition.</p>
<p>So, nations whose language of instruction is widely spoken elsewhere, such as English, French and Spanish, are becoming leading receivers of international students. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96524/original/image-20150928-30993-19z8m6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96524/original/image-20150928-30993-19z8m6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96524/original/image-20150928-30993-19z8m6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96524/original/image-20150928-30993-19z8m6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96524/original/image-20150928-30993-19z8m6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96524/original/image-20150928-30993-19z8m6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96524/original/image-20150928-30993-19z8m6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some countries are providing nearly free education for international students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wellingtoncollege/9126451198/in/photolist-eUtrYS-eUhySB-eUtRKQ-eUtREw-eUhyf2-eUtRvq-eUhfn6-eUh9zV-eUtBqN-eUhxVK-eUtQg3-eUtscj-eUttAY-eUhieX-eUtWEf-eUhj5H-eUhek4-eUtTYd-eUhvjP-eUtzQC-eUtyxm-eUtFn7-eUtE3y-eUhaH8-eUtuS1-eUhwZF-eUhyb4-eUtFzJ-eUtsEN-eUhjdM-eUtEPC-eUtzeG-eUtrUW-eUtFrA-eUtXaU-eUtPFA-eUtCKA-eUh9Re-eUh4GZ-eUhwmT-eUhA2P-eUh7Bz-eUtVeL-eUtQkW-eUhuVP-eUtWuw-eUh5ZD-eUtBmq-eUtEWW-eUhfrM">Wellington College</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some countries, such as Austria, France, Germany and Norway, are providing <a href="http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/studying-abroad/where-can-you-study-abroad-free">de facto free</a> education for all students, including those from foreign countries. </p>
<p>This low cost of education can help countries attract students already looking to go abroad as well as elicit attention from students looking for alternatives to the high costs of higher education in their own countries.</p>
<p>Countries are getting much savvier about their efforts to recruit foreign students – adopting more student-friendly immigration policies, offering financial incentives and even setting national strategic recruitment goals. </p>
<p>The German government, for instance, has a goal of attracting 350,000 international students by 2020. To do so, Germany is <a href="https://www.study-in.de/en/discover-germany/ten-reasons-for-germany_27121.php">actively recruiting</a> students and lowering barriers to entry. </p>
<p>Today, an increasing number of degree programs offered in Germany are in English and searchable through a <a href="https://www.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programs/en/">national database</a>. They have even amended their laws to make it easier for international students <a href="https://www.daad.de/deutschland/in-deutschland/arbeit/en/9148-earning-money/">to work</a> while going to school. The German academic exchange service, <a href="https://www.daad.de/en/">DAAD</a>, also provides <a href="https://www.daad.de/deutschland/stipendium/datenbank/en/21148-scholarship-database/?status=&origin=&subjectGrps=&daad=&q=&page=1&back=1">scholarships</a> to offset the cost of other academic and living expense.</p>
<h2>Competing for brain power</h2>
<p>Attracting international students, then, is not just about bringing in tuition dollars. Countries offering free or reduced tuition are often seeking to rebuild national workforce as their domestic population ages and younger talent pools shrink. </p>
<p>So, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden are now <a href="http://www.svr-migration.de/en/publications/train-and-retain/">developing study-to-work pathways</a> and “train and retain policies” to encourage international students to transition into the workplace. </p>
<p>Some of these efforts are paying off. Students are not only choosing to study abroad; many are also staying abroad after they graduate. </p>
<p>For example, a <a href="http://www.studentworldonline.com/article/half-of-germany-s-international-students-will-stay-after-graduation/203/">survey</a> of more than 11,000 international students in Germany found that three in 10 plan to stay in Germany permanently after their studies and four in 10 plan to stay for at least 10 years. </p>
<h2>A globally competitive market</h2>
<p>The increasing number of students pursuing their college years in a foreign country is symptomatic of two important trends. </p>
<p>First, it reflects a rapidly changing world economy, where it is not only the workforce opportunities that are global, but also the educational experiences that prepare students for those opportunities. </p>
<p>As a result, more and more students from both developed and developing countries are looking beyond their national borders for their collegiate experience. </p>
<p>Second, as economies become more knowledge-based, the competition for brains is heating up. </p>
<p>The US has long dominated this market. But as more nations have seen international students as part of their strategic interests, the US market has begun to shrink significantly. </p>
<p>Without a similar strategic national interest, will the US’ dominance fall all together?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Lane receives funding from the International Lawyers and Economists against Poverty (I-LEAP) to study the intersection of international education and international trade. He is also a senior fellow with the Rockefeller Institute of Government (State University of New York).</span></em></p>In recent years, a large market in higher education has emerged. From 2.1 million students studying abroad in 2001, the number has gone up to roughly 4.5 million. How is the US faring?Jason E. Lane, Associate Professor of Education Policy & Co-Director of the Cross-Border Education Research Team, University at Albany, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.