\n<\/p>\n
The era of the \u201cbig four\u201d international education destinations has passed, with at least a dozen rival nations jostling for primacy.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Smith, Shanghai-based trade commissioner with Austrade, said Chinese students heading overseas before the coronavirus pandemic mainly chose from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia or Canada. That has changed since COVID. \u201cThe agents talk about the \u2018big 14,\u2019\u201d Smith told the Australian International Education Conference. \u201cIt puts us in a lot more of a competitive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said affordability issues are driving Chinese students to look at alternative destinations, as a global cost-of-living crisis coincided with a domestic economic slump. Options closer to home also offered linguistic familiarity, geographical proximity and\u2014arguably\u2014better employment and internship opportunities.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong had become a \u201cmassive new market\u201d for mainland Chinese students, particularly after the territory allowed universities to increase the nonlocal share of subsidized enrollments to 50\u00a0percent. Government investment in higher education has been paying off in rankings success. \u201cYou can really count Hong Kong as a new key competitor for Australia,\u201d Smith told the conference.<\/p>\n
Others included Ireland, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. Ireland in particular has done \u201ca good job at destination marketing in China.\u201d France and Germany were considered safe and welcoming with good employment opportunities and low tuition fees.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s no longer just teach and they will come,\u201d Smith told Australian educators. \u201cWe have to defend and grow our position through marketing, promotion and showcasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alternative destinations now collectively attract more prospective Chinese students than any of the big four members, according to the latest survey by IDP Education, with France under consideration by 30\u00a0percent and Germany by 19\u00a0percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe competition really is hotting up,\u201d said Melissa Banks, senior partner with the consultancy The Lygon Group. She said the large Southeast Asian nations of Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam were not only \u201csetting themselves up\u201d to host transnational education partnerships, such as foreign branch campuses, \u201cbut they are also attracting students in their own right.\u201d<\/p>\n
France aims to enroll 500,000 international students by 2027 as part of its Bienvenue en France strategy. India reportedly has a goal of enrolling 500,000 foreign students by 2047, while Japan wants to host 400,000 by 2033.<\/p>\n
South Korea\u2019s target of 300,000 international students by 2027 has reportedly been reached two years ahead of schedule. Turkey wants 500,000 by 2028. Kazakhstan\u2019s target of 100,000 foreign students by 2028 has reportedly been increased by 50\u00a0percent. Other countries reportedly setting international enrollment targets include Azerbaijan, Finland, Iran and Taiwan. <\/p>\n
Jon Chew, chief insights officer at Navitas, said expressions like the \u201cbig four\u201d belonged to the \u201cmarket era,\u201d when \u201cwinning\u201d meant volume and growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo we have the composition, the distribution, the integrity and the quality that we want? If we do, maybe it doesn\u2019t matter that we\u2019re losing market share. It is going to be competitive, but I think it\u2019s a very different outlook that we\u2019re going into.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian Hill, Australia\u2019s assistant minister for international education, said geopolitics and demographic change have fueled a shift toward \u201ca more multipolar sector.\u201d This is a welcome development, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis sector\u00a0\u2026 allows young people at formative stages of their life to get to know other societies and get to know each other. I think it\u2019s a very good thing that that occurs in a blended way across as much of the world as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larissa Bezo, CEO of the Canadian Bureau for International Education, said the tally of \u201ctop receiving countries\u201d numbered somewhere between 15\u00a0and 20. \u201cWe\u2019ve moved well beyond the big four,\u201d she told the conference. \u201cI\u00a0see that as a positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bezo highlighted the opportunities for \u201ctraditional receiving markets\u201d like Canada to \u201cwork together\u201d with emerging destinations. Canadian institutions, burned by Ottawa\u2019s international student caps, are \u201cvery much leaning into partnerships and\u00a0\u2026 new modes of transnational education.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same applies Down Under, according to Phil Honeywood, CEO of the International Education Association of Australia. \u201cThere\u2019s already such strong partnerships offshore in Dubai, in Malaysia and so on. There\u2019s an opportunity to really be part of that new study hub progression, rather than be competing with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fanta Aw, CEO of the Washington, D.C.\u2013based NAFSA: Association of International Educators, said many of the competing institutions in the Middle East and Asia had been established by locals educated in American colleges. \u201cThese are graduates of U.S. institutions \u2026 going back and creating capacity at home. That\u2019s part of what education is supposed to be about. I think this is healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The era of the \u201cbig four\u201d international education destinations has passed, with at least a dozen rival nations jostling for primacy. Stephanie Smith, Shanghai-based trade commissioner with Austrade, said Chinese students heading overseas before the coronavirus pandemic mainly chose from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia or Canada. That has changed since COVID. \u201cThe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[1285,4963,531],"class_list":{"0":"post-30270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-big","9":"tag-dominating","10":"tag-international"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}