What future for program and institutional mobility?

Grant McBurnie, Australia

MOBILE PROGRAMS AND INSTITUTIONS IN

AN IDEAL WORLD (I) 1. Range of provision, providers and purposes

2. Good Quality (and a way of knowing)

3. Solid financial foundations

4. Well-governed and well-regulated

5. Teaching, research, community engagement

6. Part of mainstream international education

TYPES AND SCALE OF PROVISION

Program and Institution Mobility (PIM)• Distance/ODL• Partner-supported delivery• Branch CampusNo consolidated global data but …• More than 500,000 PIM students worldwide• In some places PIM accounts for 25% or more of

enrolments• OBHE lists 82 full branch campuses• Several countries declare intent to become regional

hubs, through PIM.

Foreign students enrolled in selected countries’ transnational degree programs, most recent year available

Exporting CountryOffshore Higher Education

StudentsYear

UK 220,000 2004

Australia 94,321 2006/08

Canada 36,000 1999

Note: The UK and Canadian figures are estimates based on surveys of most but not all providers, Australian data includes students enrolled in universities and public vocational education and training institutions

Sources: (British Council 2004, OECD 2004, IDP Education Australia 2007, National Centre for Vocational Education Research 2008)

Singapore Higher Education Students by Type of Provider, 2005

Students Percentage

Transnational (foreign) programs 80,200 36

Polytechnics 56,048 25

Local universities (NUS, NTU, SIM) 41,628 18

Private institutions’ programs 26,500 12

Institute of Technical Education 19,207 9

National Institute of Education 2,282 1

Total 225,865 100

Sources: (Lee 2005: 15, MoE 2006: Table 15)

Transnational enrolments in Australian universities

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

2,96

1,97

2,97

1,98

2,98

1,99

2,99

1,00

2,00

1,01

2,01

1,02

2,02

1,03

2,03

1,04

2,04

1,05

2,05

1,06

2,06

1,07

2,07

1,08

Semester, Year

Eq

uiv

ale

nt

Fu

ll-T

ime S

tud

en

ts

Source: IDP Education Australia (2008)

POTENTIAL BENEFITSSending

• Income

• Prestige

• Additional employment

• Additional academic opportunities (curriculum, research, mobility)

• Attract students to home base

Receiving

• Absorb unmet demand & expand choices

• Reduce student outflow & money outflow

• Lowers cost of education for government (user pays)

• Additional employment opportunities

• Partnering opportunities for local private providers

• Part of larger services cluster

• Prestigious foreign providers attract international students

POTENTIAL DANGERSSending

• Financial loss

• Risk: legal, sovereign, physical

• Regulatory burden

• Damage to reputation

• Problems with partners

• Undermine domestic mission

Receiving

• Reduce government control of system

• Undermine capacity of public system (poach teachers etc)

• Burden of carrying out regulation

• Exacerbate social inequality (user must be able to pay)

• Cultural imperialism

• Academic de-skilling (pre-packaged curriculum, no research)

• Bad quality education

QUALITY sometimes versus QUANTITY

Four Phase Trajectory of PIM development

1. Rapid growth in outbound student mobility• Demand outpaces supply: growth in number of students studying abroad.

2. Capacity Building and Import-Replacement Strategies• Importing government encourages PIM to help meet demand and reduce student

outflow. Relatively light-touch regulation.

3. Enrichment• Domestic supply grows; governments squeeze out low-end PIM providers; quality

foreign providers enhance choice for students. Regulation more stringent.

4. Growing Education Exports• Domestic capacity and quality is sufficiently established; governments are able to

encourage the export of education; prestigious PIM providers are encouraged, as a drawcard for attracting foreign students. Heavy regulation.

FOUR SCENARIOS for the future

A. The world becomes more foreign• Continued rapid expansion; patterns of delivery pioneered in South East Asia are

rolled out across the globe; new exporters emerge from many countries.

B. As the world churns• Growth slows; domestic supply expands in traditional importer countries; exporters

seek opportunities in other countries that still have high demand.

C. Campus clusters• Development of clusters of branch campuses of prestigious universities, located in

cities that act as regional hubs for international business services, education and research

D. Shrinkage in the cold• PIM declines due to backlash; governments raise QA requirements and demand

greater financial commitment; well-publicised failures; students regard PIM as low status; exporting institutions focus on other activities.

MOBILE PROGRAMS AND INSTITUTIONS IN AN

IDEAL WORLD (II) 1. Range of provision, providers and purposes

• Consortia – based on: language; ethnicity/diaspora; professional specialisation; religious faith; international and regional organisations – offer a variety of programs. Aid, trade, for-profit, not-for-profit and hybrid.

2. Good Quality (and a way of knowing)

• Quality principles implemented; findings publicised; possible ‘consumer guides’ addressing PIM; PIM rated according to international criteria?

3. Solid financial foundations

• Multiple funding sources (university, government, business, philanthropy, professional bodies etc); insurance schemes to protect students; wind-out conditions

MOBILE PROGRAMS AND INSTITUTIONS IN AN

IDEAL WORLD (II) 4. Well-governed and well-regulated

• National policy on importing PIM; national policy on exporting PIM (rationales; effect on domestic public; QA); institutional policy on exporting PIM (rationales; effects on core mission of university; lines of responsibility)

5. Teaching, research, community engagement

• Governments encourage PIM providers to engage in local research and community engagement as well as teaching; this is considered to contribute to quality and status

6. Part of mainstream international education

• IGOs ask governments to gather information to be collated and analysed by UNESCO, OECD, regional organisations etc.

Thank You