What Are the Main Factors to Influence Overseas Students to Choose Higher Education in the Uk?
To: Stephen Malone
From: Ceci Leung
Date: 08 February 2010
Subject: Research proposal
Proposed Research Topic: What are the main factors to influence overseas students to choose higher education in the UK?
Significance of the study
As the number of overseas student in the UK’s higher education sector has expended substantially during the last 15 years. The research intends to investigate factors determining overseas student’s decision to apply for a UK university. Understanding these demands and determinants will enable both university policymakers and government to evaluate the potential for expansion overseas market and associated cost implications, thus to improve performance of higher education institutions.
Literature review
The proportion of overseas students in the UK’s higher education sector is growing rapidly for the last 15 years in response to various policy changes. These have included the lower requirement of student visa application, introduction of student loans or scholarship specified design for overseas students. The higher education sector is playing an important role in the UK economy, overseas students (from outside of the EU) are an important contributor of the higher education sector. In the 2007/8 academic year there were approximately 218,000 overseas students, having an estimated direct monetary impact on the UK economy of £2.87 billion (all figures from Vickers and Bekhradnia (2008), see also Universities UK (2008)). This positive impact, comprising university fees and living expenditures, is in addition to the fact that many overseas graduates find employment in the UK after graduation, thus adding to the pool of highly skilled labour and providing benefits for the UK economy, see Robson et al. (1997). However, there is an immediate effect of reducing the number of overseas students choosing to study in the UK after the increase in tuition fees reflecting the full cost of provision is applied to overseas students (Woodhall
From: Ceci Leung
Date: 08 February 2010
Subject: Research proposal
Proposed Research Topic: What are the main factors to influence overseas students to choose higher education in the UK?
Significance of the study
As the number of overseas student in the UK’s higher education sector has expended substantially during the last 15 years. The research intends to investigate factors determining overseas student’s decision to apply for a UK university. Understanding these demands and determinants will enable both university policymakers and government to evaluate the potential for expansion overseas market and associated cost implications, thus to improve performance of higher education institutions.
Literature review
The proportion of overseas students in the UK’s higher education sector is growing rapidly for the last 15 years in response to various policy changes. These have included the lower requirement of student visa application, introduction of student loans or scholarship specified design for overseas students. The higher education sector is playing an important role in the UK economy, overseas students (from outside of the EU) are an important contributor of the higher education sector. In the 2007/8 academic year there were approximately 218,000 overseas students, having an estimated direct monetary impact on the UK economy of £2.87 billion (all figures from Vickers and Bekhradnia (2008), see also Universities UK (2008)). This positive impact, comprising university fees and living expenditures, is in addition to the fact that many overseas graduates find employment in the UK after graduation, thus adding to the pool of highly skilled labour and providing benefits for the UK economy, see Robson et al. (1997). However, there is an immediate effect of reducing the number of overseas students choosing to study in the UK after the increase in tuition fees reflecting the full cost of provision is applied to overseas students (Woodhall
Bibliography: • Alan Bryman and Emma Bell, (2007), Business Research Methods • J Dul, (2007), Case Study Methodology in Business Research • George A. Marcoulides, (1998), Modern Methods for Business • Nick Lee and Ian Lings, (2008), Doing Business Research : A Guide to Theory and Parctice