23.09.07
The UK?s market share of international students dropped five percentage points between 1998 and 2004
According to a recent report by HEPI into the financial costs and benefits of international students, the UK’s proportion of the burgeoning market in international students dropped from 16% to 11%.
And, while the UK remains second internationally to the US, HEPI believes the price of UK courses is ‘set at a level that may deter large numbers of students form attending.’
Reasons for the decrease
‘The reasons for the drop in market share are undoubtedly complex,’ says Bahram Bekhradnia, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, ‘and in the absence of any market research they have to be based on speculation.
‘Cost almost certainly is a reason. We know that the international student market is price sensitive, as was demonstrated by the huge increase in demand from students from the new EU states when their fees reduced from the international student rate to the home and EU rate.
'And we know that we are much more expensive than some of the new players in the international student game, such as Singapore. France and Germany charge nothing, and Australia is a much cheaper place to live. But if it was only or mainly the cost of UK fees, that would not explain why the USA has lost a similar level of market share.
‘The fact is that it is all becoming more complex, and there are many new players on the scene taking market share from the established players. France and Germany have introduced explicit and aggressive policies to recruit international students. The market is growing rapidly, and the good news is we have managed to hold on to our numbers, and increase them, despite falling market share.’
Poor value for money
HEPI sites its own research into student satisfaction that showed that 30 percent of international students thought that the value for money of UK courses was poor or very poor.
Pleading for a government subsidy of non-EU students to bring down prices, the report concludes that:
‘as other countries begin to use English as the language of instruction, and, as the effects of the Bologna Agreement begin to take hold, eroding some of our competitive advantage; as other countries start to market themselves more aggressively; and as better information becomes available that enables students to compare the value they receive for their money, then it is quite possible that UK universities will begin to struggle to maintain numbers while charging the sorts of prices that are charged at present.’