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The higher education sector is vitally important to the UK economy, society, and individuals. This report investigates the economic contribution universities make to the UK economy annually by generating GDP, jobs and taxes. It then focuses on how universities also have a longer-term impact on the UK, as they boost the productivity of the economy by building individual knowledge through the education they provide and by enhancing the wider pool of human knowledge through academic exploration and research.

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This book explores the contested area of graduate employability and employment which is paid so much attention by both researchers and policy-makers. This is driven largely by concerns over the wider economic impact and value of graduates as increasing numbers complete their studies in higher education. At a time when graduates are seen as key to economic success, the critical question remains as to how their employability plays out in a changing labour market. This collection brings together essays from 17 authors, which include innovative approaches and research to present an extensive survey of the field. It provides insight on what is a complex and often elusive social and economic problem, ranging from how graduate employability is constructed as an economic and policy agenda to explorations of how graduates manage the transition from higher education to paid employment and finally to suggest future directions for curricula, policy and research. The differing approaches taken by the authors span a wide range of differing contexts, structural changes, psycho-social dynamics and other personal factors and in so doing help provide new insights to better understanding the variety and complexity of issues related to graduate employability.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website.

The contents are as follows: Introduction: graduate employability in context: charting a complex, contested and multi-faceted policy and research field / Michael Tomlinson (pages 1-40); Graduate employability: a critical oversight / Andrew Rothwell and Frances Rothwell (pages 41-63); Employability, employment and the establishment of higher education graduates in the labour market / Staffan Nilsson (pages 65-85); Critical perspectives on graduate employability / Ciaran Burke, Tracy Scurry, John Blenkinsopp, and Katy Graley (pages 87-107); Developing a more coherent and robust basis for employability research: a critical realist perspective / Paul Cashian (pages 109-128); Boundaryless and protean career orientation: a multitude of pathways to graduate employability / William Donald, Yehuda Baruch, and Melanie Ashleigh (pages 129-150); Employability and depth psychology / Phil McCash (pages 151-170); Graduate's learning across educational and professional settings: outlining an approach / Mariana Gaio Alves (pages 171-193); International students' employability: what can we learn from it? / Zhen Li (pages 195-211); Cultivating the art of judgement in students / Geoffrey Hinchliffe and Helen Walkington (pages 213-235); Who is to be positioned as employable?: adult graduates' educational and working life pathways / Paivi Siivonen (pages 237-254); Graduate employability as social suitability: professional competence from a practice theory perspective / Ola Lindberg and Oscar Rantatalo (pages 255-272); Encouraging students to develop their employability: 'locally rational', but morally questionable? / Paul Greenbank (pages 273-293); Graduates' psycho-social career preoccupations and employability capacities in the work context / Melinde Coetzee (pages 295-315); Developing graduate employability: the CareerEDGE model and the importance of emotional intelligence / Lorraine Dacre Pool (pages 317-338); The university and the knowledge network: a new educational model for twenty-first century learning and employability / Ruth Bridgstock (pages 339-358); Graduate employability: future directions and debate / Leonard Holmes (pages 359-369).

Individual chapters are indexed from TD/TNC 144.243 to TD/TNC TD/TNC 144.250. Show less

This study provides a basis for deepening understandings of approaches which offer effective and enhanced learning experiences for predominantly East Asian international students following provision alongside local students in UK general further education colleges. A mixed methods approach employed a largely quantitative questionnaire to access the views of 25 international students, 22 of whom were Chinese nationals, and to identify four participants (two Chinese, one Japanese and one Maldivian) for subsequent semi-structured interviews. This fieldwork was supported by the collection of college achievement data for the international students and for the local students who had studied directly alongside them.

The outcomes indicate that the international students achieved at least as well as the local students in relation to academic outcomes, and that they valued teachers who allowed their cultural experiences to directly contribute to classroom learning. The study also highlights the importance of inter-cultural activities. More prosaically, the outcomes also suggest that important concerns for these international students were that they should receive clarity in answers to their questions as part of the processes of learning, as well as the resolution of ostensibly more peripheral issues such as the quality and type of food available in the college catering outlets.

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Growth in Chinese student flows to the major English-language study destinations - the US, UK, Canada and Australia - has slowed considerably since 2016. A number of factors are contributing to that declining trend, including the emergence of less expensive study destinations in Asia and Europe that offer what is perceived as better value and a seemingly more welcoming environment. In this report, Chinese student mobility to the four major host destination markets is examined, along with the push-and-pull factors that are currently influencing student flows. The increasingly weighty role geopolitical issues play in international higher education is also noted. The challenges that education institutions are currently navigating apply not only to recruiting students from China, but from many countries across the globe.

Key findings: (1) Chinese students continue to pursue study in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, but growth is slowing significantly; (2) The US and UK continue to rely heavily on China as a source country for international students; (3) Canada and Australia are diversifying their international student populations so as to be less reliant on China as a source country; (4) Total enrollments of Chinese students across nearly every level of study in the US dropped in 2018-19, with the biggest decline in language studies; (5) UK student visa issuances to Chinese nationals are up 21 per cent, year-on-year, while issuances to the rest of the world have increased eight per cent; (6) After surging 38 per cent through the first half of 2018, the number of new study permits for Chinese nationals to Canada was flat through August 2019; (7) Demand for Canadian education from the rest of the world remains strong, with issuance of new study permits growing nearly 15 per cent in the last year; and (8) New Chinese student enrollments in Australia were down four per cent in the last year, while new enrollments from the rest of the world are up nearly seven per cent.

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The coronavirus, or [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19, has radically transformed sectors across the globe, and higher education is no exception. From closing campuses to investing in online learning and supporting isolating students and staff, universities have quickly responded and adapted to this new normal. Looking towards the next academic year, many institutions are concerned about their international student recruitment in this restricted global climate. To address this uncertainty, QS established an ongoing survey of prospective international students to understand their response to the global health emergency and how it's impacted their decision making. In this white paper, we reveal exclusive QS survey findings that detail the priorities and concerns of prospective international students from China, India, the European Union, and North America.

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In the first collaboration of its kind between the Department of Trade and Economic Development (DTED), the University of South Australia (UniSA) and South Australian (SA) employers, two cohorts of international students and more than 20 employers have been involved in a multifaceted project which aims to close the gap between overseas engineering graduates and the SA workforce. The project has three key elements: student skill development through a series of workshops; provision of work integrated learning opportunities with local employers; and employer education about the ways in which international graduates can contribute to the workplace and to the SA labour market. The intended outcomes of the project include increased collaboration between UniSA, potential employers, industry bodies and other stakeholders in facilitating the transition of international students into the local labour market; a transferable Employability Program Plan (EPP) for use in other institutions and/or discipline areas as required and, in the longer term, an increase in the number of workers available in SA to fill positions related to skill shortages in engineering. Show less

This chapter sets out the context of publicly funded further education (FE) colleges in England, outlining the position and development of these complex institutions within the broader educational structure. This is followed by discussion of some tensions and contradictions which arise from government policies partially driven by anxieties derived from debates surrounding levels of immigration together with recognition of the imperatives and opportunities arising from globalization. The benefits of the internationalization of education have been expounded whilst simultaneously enforcing visa regulations which impede the efforts of colleges to make inroads in the international student market. In particular, disparities between the treatment of the further and higher education [HE] sectors are highlighted. The paper also provides an account of practices which have emerged in a single FE college in England over a decade of working with international students following an access to HE course. The chapter indicates some of the many benefits which have been brought to FE by international students as well as the ways in which a college has developed its practices in response to their needs.

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The retention of international students in their province of study is increasingly being regarded as a potential source of skilled labour by regions seeking labour force growth. This article examines the retention of international students who completed their studies between 2010 and 2016 in their province of study after graduation. Overall, less than half of all international students remained in their province of study in the year after graduation (compared with 8 in 10 domestic students). Many of them may have left Canada. This rate decreased to 36 per cent five years after graduation for international students, compared with about 75 per cent for domestic students. Retention rates of international students one year after graduation varied considerably by province of study and were highest in Alberta and lowest in the Atlantic provinces. By level of study, 40 per cent of international graduates with a bachelor's degree and 36 per cent of those with a doctoral degree stayed in their province of study in the year after graduation, whereas this rate was much higher, at 58 per cent, for those graduating with a college diploma. Among the 58 per cent of international students who filed a tax return in Canada after graduation (i.e., evidence of having stayed), approximately 8 in 10 remained in their province of study one year after graduation; this rate fell to about 7 in 10 five years after graduation.

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The study aims to provide an overview of immigration policies implemented in Ireland regarding nationals from outside the European Economic Area (non-EEA) arriving in Ireland for education purposes. The perspective of the study will remain on migration behaviour rather than on wider aspects of education, with a particular focus on the balance between actively attracting international students into the [European Union] EU for the purposes of study and preventing the misuse of international student routes to migration. It is envisaged that this national study will be of interest to policy makers, [nongovernment organisations] NGOs and researchers working in the field of migration in Ireland.

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This research used administrative data and qualitative interviews to fill gaps in information about the costs of Foundation Year (FY) study. The specific aims of this study are to answer the following questions: (1) Whether the cost of FY study differs from the cost of a first year of an undergraduate degree; what are the differences, and what drives them? (2) How and why the cost of FY study varies by subject-group; and (3) How and why the cost of FY study differs between Higher Education providers (HEPs) in England.

Key findings include: (1) Most commonly, HEPs offer FYs to support their widening participation strategy, although total enrolment numbers on FY programmes tend to be driven by student demand rather than by a need to meet HEPs' targets; (2) Some HEPs utilise FYs as a guarantee of student numbers and financial sustainability particularly on courses where undergraduate numbers are low, or enrolment figures fluctuate from one year to the next; (3) FY students can broadly be categorised into three distinct groups: 18-year-olds not meeting course entry requirements (which makes up the predominant learner group for FY enrolment); mature students, who may have had limited or no prior qualifications; and international students enrolling on HEPs' distinct international foundation year programmes; (4) HEPs reported Biological, Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Engineering and Technology; and Medicine Dentistry and Health as the three most expensive general subject areas in which to run FY programmes; (5) FY costs were highest among high tariff HEPs and lowest among low tariff HEPs; (6) The drivers of FY costs are consistent across the HEPs participating in this research and are closely associated with the level of specialist equipment and facilities required to deliver teaching. Any FY subject requiring studios, lab equipment and physical infrastructure are among the most expensive to run; (7) Most HEPs noted that class size had a direct impact on the cost of programme delivery - the larger the class, the less expensive it is to run per head because of economies of scale. Similarly, subjects with a lower staff to student ratio are most cost effective to run; and (8) FY provision is regarded by HEPs as invaluable. Without it, many students from underrepresented backgrounds, as well as those with the potential to succeed in HE but had underperformed in school, would not be able to access higher education.

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