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International student numbers will fall unless UK loosens visa restrictions

Stricter visa rules in Australia and the US caused significant drops in international
intakes. Both countries have since relaxed these rules. It's time for the UK to follow suit,
says Simon Read

Today the British Council publishes the findings of a study that ought to raise the
spirits of university and college international officers and senior managers across the
country.

Analysis of economic, demographic, and educational trends in more than 50

countries suggests that UK higher education stands to reap the rewards of a coming
"decade of opportunity" in global markets.

But a report on the research, due to be published next month, will temper this
encouraging message with an important caveat.

While the UK can expect to increase its intake of international students by more than
any other country outside of Australia, this potential may well not be realised if the
government sticks to its policy of putting obstacles in the way of prospective overseas
students with tougher visa regulations.

Until recently concern over the impact of visa changes on international recruitment
has been treated like the elephant in the room by the British Council. But last month, it
called for a review of the changes as it published a report on how stricter visa rules in
Australia and the United States have brought significant drops in international student
intakes. Both countries have since relaxed these rules.

The study published today forecasts that, now unheeded by misguided visa barriers,
Australia will lead the way on growth in international student recruitment during the
coming 10 years, taking in more than 50,000 more overseas students in this period. With
around 30,000 new intakes, the UK will be marginally ahead of the US and Canada – but it
could well fall behind unless we follow Australia and the US and loosen visa restrictions.

Some may say that there is no need to worry. The latest UCAS figures indicate that
the UK continues to attract growing numbers of international students, despite all the bad
publicity over visas. However, the changes do not actually come into force until April, so
the true impact has yet to be felt.

The British Council analysis suggests that much of the potential international growth
for the UK will come from India, which is forecast to become the fastest growing source of
international students by 2020. But this is a market highly sensitive to visa changes, and a
country whose media is quick to pick up on stories about them. Another earlier British
Council report suggested that a growing number of Indian students are opting to study in
the US, and this is echoed by the current study.

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Some argue that UK universities should focus more on looking after home students
as higher tuition fees kick in from September. The fact is, however, that income from
international students is effectively subsidising courses and facilities for those from the
UK. If this income drops, will home fee levels have to rise to compensate?

In economically challenging times, there is also no getting away from the fact that
education is currently the fifth largest service export sector for the UK economy. This is a
vital market not just for universities and colleges, but also for many specialist service
providers like my own organisation that are supporting institutions in their efforts to meet
the needs of international students.

We must remember too that international students are worth much more than the
fees they pay. Their presence helps create an internationalised environment and context
for learning and research – something highly valued by employers looking for globally
aware graduates to fill posts in companies trading internationally. When they graduate
themselves, many return home to move into influential positions in government,
education, business and industry – and if we treat them well they will be inclined towards
collaborating or trading with our country in future years.

Of course university and college managers are completely aware of this, and to some
extent so are ministers. But as the British Council plays host to over a thousand
international higher education leaders at its Going Global conference today, it is a message
worth repeating and one that needs to be heard and acted upon by the bureaucrats
guarding our borders.

If the UK can learn the lessons of some of its greatest international competitors, our
higher education sector will be much better placed to seize the opportunities of the coming
decade.

Simon Read is managing director of Uni-Pay, an international payment and

collection service for overseas student fees, that works with university and English
language schools.

Encyclopedia Britannica halts print publication after 244 years

The paper edition of the encyclopedia ends its centuries-long run, but is it a
victim or beneficiary of the digital age?

Its legacy winds back through centuries and across continents, past the birth of
America to the waning days of the Enlightenment. It is a record of humanity's
achievements in war and peace, art and science, exploration and discovery. It has been
taken to represent the sum of all human knowledge.

And now it's going out of print.

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The Encyclopedia Britannica has announced that after 244 years, dozens of editions
and more than 7m sets sold, no new editions will be put to paper. The 32 volumes of the
2010 installment, it turns out, were the last. Future editions will live exclusively online.

For some readers the news will provoke malaise at the wayward course of this
misguided age. Others will wonder, in the era of Wikipedia, what took the dinosaur so
long to die. Neither view quite captures the company or the crossroads.

Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc, suggested that the

encyclopedia was already something of a relic within the company itself, which has long
since moved its main business away from its trademark publication and into online
educational tools.

"The company has changed from a reference provider to an instructional solutions

provider," Cauz said. He projects that only 15% of the company's revenue this year will
come from its namesake publication, mostly through subscriptions and app purchases.
"The vast majority" of the remaining 85% of revenue is expected to come from educational
products and services, said Cauz, who declined to provide dollar amounts but said the
company was profitable.

Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc, is owned by the Swiss banking magnate Jacqui Safra.
The company's websites, which include Merriam-Webster dictionaries, attracted more
than 450 million users over the course of 2011, according to internal numbers.

If the company's move over the last decade into the education market is an
impressive example of corporate versatility, the competitive difficulties the encyclopedia
faces are easy to grasp.

Wikipedia English has 3.9m articles. The comprehensive Britannica has about
120,000. Wikipedia is free. The DVD Britannica, which includes two dictionaries and a
thesaurus, costs $30 on Amazon. Individuals will also be able to sign up for an annual $70
subscription (universities will be charged about $1 per student).

Cauz said the product was worth the price.

"We may not be as big as Wikipedia. but we have a scholarly voice, an editorial
process, and fact-based, well-written articles," Cauz said. "All of these things we believe
are very, very important, and provide an alternative that we want to offer to as many
people as possible. We believe that there are 1.2 to 1.5bn inquiries for which we have the
best answer."

Asked whether the decision to end the publication's monumental run had not
caused a backlash inside the company, Cauz said the opposite was true.

"The transition has not been that difficult," he said. "Everyone understands we
needed to change. As opposed to newspapers, we felt the impact of digital many years ago
– we had a lot of time for reflection. Everyone is very invigorated.

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"We are the only company that I know of, so far, that made the transition from
traditional media to the digital sphere, and managed to be profitable and to grow."

But what of the kids who will no longer grow up in the beneficent shadow of the
physical volumes, or be guided in their learning by happy chance, as when they go
looking for "kookaburra" and accidentally encounter "komodo dragon" on an adjacent
page?

"I understand that for some the end of the Britannica print set may be perceived as
an unwelcome goodbye to a dear, reliable and trustworthy friend that brought them the
joy of discovery in the quest for knowledge," Cauz wrote in a company announcement.
The product will improve, however, when it finally leaves the space constraints and black-
and-white finality of print behind, he said.

"Today our digital database is much larger than what we can fit in the print set. And
it is up to date because we can revise it within minutes anytime we need to, and we do it
many times each day."