1. Attitudes and Policy Towards International Students: Competing Rationales Chris Bolsmann & Henry Miller Sociology

2. Definitions: UK: English, Scots, Welsh, Northern Irish EU: extended to 25 countries International students (overseas) vs European Union (EU) NorwegiansSwedes

3. Rationales: Republic of Letters-Science ‘Academic Internationalism’ Aid-development ‘Colonial/Post-colonial’ Economic-fees, revenue-universities Contribution to research National competitive economy ‘Economic Competition’

4. Total international student numbers in English speaking countries (000s) (British Council, 2004: 29) 1997200020022003 USA45861.1%51560.4%58358.4%586 UK19826.7%21925.7%23523.6%273 Australia496.6%708.2%979.7%115 Canada324.3%414.9%696.9%N/A New Zealand60.8%7 151.5%N/A Total743852999

5. Academic Internationalism: International status, academic community and diversification ‘part of this university’s history…a long tradition of recruiting international students…a core value, we see ourselves as part of an international community…that they produce a significant income stream is true, but is not the main driver. The academic rationale is being part of an international community involving transfer of knowledge and debate that takes place across many countries’

6. ‘to make an international university’ ‘education ghettos’ ‘key reason is part of our strategic plan to be a leading world university and a leading research led university and by the very nature of that we have to be international, to attract the best staff and students’

7. Diversity ‘key reason is part of our strategic plan to be a leading world university and a leading research lead university and by the very nature of that [we] have to be international.’ gave their students ‘a global perspective to prepare them as global citizens’. ‘international in their focus, in their culture and prepared for the workplace.’

8. ‘they bring with them different experiences and perspectives and really enrich seminar discussions and research.’ ‘ambition [is] to become a world class university and in order to do that and break out from being a good UK university, to becoming an internationally acclaimed university, then you have to have international students and to be known overseas.’ ‘reputation and recognition for international students in the market place’ allows the university ‘the luxury of charging more’ and ‘if you have got the reputation or the perceived reputation you can charge and pull those people in.’

9. ‘education is not just a national phenomena, it is international, it crosses all borders…you have to take on learning experiences from other cultures and how other ideas are formulated…it is about enriching the academic experience.’ ‘our office has always tried to ensure diversity on the campus and we have always been very careful to try and ensure that the university as a whole is not dominated by a particular national group and that you have got a good cross spread of students.’

10. ‘we also didn’t want to be a university full of Chinese students…they are not going to want to be in a class full of Chinese students…they want to come to Britain to have an international education and as an institution that is our duty to try and ensure that they get an international exposure’ ‘if they wanted to be taught in a Chinese group they may as well have stayed in China’

11. Colonial: Development, education and training ‘as the security situation improves, there will be Iraqi students coming here’ Africa-audit programmes-World Bank

12. Global economic competition: Fees and national and university economies Fees contributing to total income: LSE 33.5%, SOAS 31.9% 7 Luton 17.7% Role of strategic alliances

13. ‘if you talk to people in the finance department they see it as the bottom line…income is a huge factor…if universities did not charge would we encourage international students to the same extent? I suspect as a university we would not put it so high on the agenda’

14. ‘you cannot put all your eggs in one basket, the bubble could burst and that would be your income stream gone…we have started to pull away from China in the sense that we don’t divert all of our resources into it’ ‘this is one situation we are worried about the number of Chinese students, but we are happy to take the cash…there is a tension between financial imperatives and educational benefits’

15. ‘it was certainly decided…that the university should focus recruitment efforts on international postgraduate taught programmes on the grounds that there is a market there and something where you can experiment relatively easily because they are one year programmes…you can turn on the tap and turn off the tap very easily on one year programmes’

16. Problems Competition: in and outside the UK Visas Currency fluctuation Pressure on Faculties/Schools/Departments?

17. Conclusions Different perspectives National-Education System Universities-Variety University Management/School, Faculty, Department Market Discourse/Global Competition Commodification

18. Why do you think international students are recruited? Does the present any problems in principle and in practice for you? Have you experienced any problems in delivering the subject/s to international students? What do you think are the motivations of the students you teach in studying in the UK? Do you have different experiences from other universities?