Implementing effective International Education Strategy: Drawing lessons from global best practices

The Scottish government's comprehensive International Education Strategy is designed to attract more international students and staff and promote its universities and colleges globally. The strategy seeks to diversify Scotland’s international student population and maximize their contribution to the region. With this being such a common aim for many national bodies in Higher Education, what lessons can Scotland, and other nations with similar ambitions, take from nations that have already embarked on similar international strategies? 

Estonia: A text-book approach to internationalisation 

Our work with national bodies, agencies, and networks of universities around the world, means there are several examples to draw upon, but one of the much-lauded examples has to be Estonia.  

"The Strategy for the Internationalisation of Estonian Higher Education over the Years 2006-2015 has been considered by experts consulted informally for this report as “a classroom example of how things should be done and was indeed very effective”. (World Bank Group) 

Early on in their internationalisation strategy, Estonia decided to engage with the International Student Barometer (ISB), the global student satisfaction survey, in order to understand how Estonia and its universities were performing against other destinations around the world. They needed to see the satisfaction rates of their students compared to students globally so they could better understand and utilise their strengths, and directly tackle any perceived areas of weakness. 

Highlighting these areas meant that Study in Estonia and Estonian universities could see how they could start to improve student satisfaction levels across the board, as well as impacting students’ propensity to recommend Estonia as a study destination. This became fundamental to their strategy to be more competitive on the international Higher Education stage.  

Unsurprisingly, understanding which are the most important channels in students’ decision-making process was a key outcome of their ISB participation. Estonia’s most recent ISB report revealed that for 95% of students that go to Estonia, the main reason is future career impact. It also highlighted how Estonia outperformed all other countries when it came to the host country’s governmental service impacting students’ choice of institution. 16% of students cited the Study in Estonia service as influential in their decision, compared to a global benchmark of 5%, and the next highest performing country scoring 12%. Understanding how initiatives delivered by the national agency impact students’ decision-making and perceptions, is critical to ensuring effective and targeted investment, at national and institutional level. 

Estonia compared their results against European and global benchmarks, as standard ISB practice, but also had a keen interest in their main regional competitors such as Finland, Sweden, Germany and other Baltic countries. And that interest goes both ways. So, when the National Agency of their European neighbour, Latvia, heard about Estonia’s positive experience with the ISB, they also decided to participate. This came as no surprise at all to Eero Loonurm (Head of International Higher Education Marketing at the Estonian Education and Youth Authority (the national body for internationalisation in Estonia) 

“For every university and every country, there is something to analyse and improve. For every stakeholder – from the Minister of Education, to Department Heads of Internationalisation or Student Support or Finance, to academic staff – there is so much rich data and useful material to work with.” 

Germany: Informing the global positioning of the national study experience  

In Germany, international student market research is commissioned by GATE-Germany, a consortium for international higher education marketing of German universities, which is part of the marketing department of the German Academic Exchange Service (the DAAD). GATE-Germany utilises various sources of data, including student surveys, to inform its marketing strategies. The national agency has been running the ISB since 2009.  

GATE Germany’s Dr Calagan, in charge of studies and publications on international higher education marketing and responsible for the supervision of the latest International Student Barometer (ISB) report within DAAD, explained what the report offers German universities:  

“At GATE-Germany, we provide evidence-based marketing expertise to German universities. We offer a worldwide network and a broad portfolio of marketing instruments to enable German universities to position themselves internationally.  As an international benchmark study, the ISB offers the DAAD and the German universities the possibility to compare their own status quo with a European and global comparison. The ISB benchmarks can be tracked over a long period of time. Findings from the ISB offer universities new food for thought, in order to match the international students with the appropriate host universities and thus ensure their academic success. The results of the study enable German universities to adapt their marketing measures to the current needs of international students.” 

Taking one specific example from their participation, from 2016 to 2018, GATE-Germany noticed a decrease in the likelihood to recommend Germany as a study destination, as well as lower student satisfaction in the global comparison. Analysis of the ISB findings indicated this was largely down to two main factors - lower satisfaction around the arrival phase, and lower satisfaction around employability measures. One of the other main conclusions from the survey was that Germany offers a high-quality degree at a relatively low cost. Such findings are important when developing strategy at the national and institution level, and GATE-Germany’s 2022-23 survey results show the distance travelled for these aspects of the student experience, and the effectiveness of Germany’s initiatives with their universities. 

For example, compared to the previous ISB report of 2018, German institutions scored 4% higher in overall satisfaction with the arrival experience. Achieving an overall satisfaction rate of 87%, they now rank equally with the European ISB benchmark. 

The 2022-23 report also indicates that the affordability of accommodation and the low cost of living, combined with the relatively high level of expertise of lecturers, results in a higher Net Promoter Score of 13 than the Global ISB benchmark of 11, putting German Higher Education in a strong starting position for the internationalisation process. 

Finland: Tackling the areas that matter the most. 

The Finnish Universities 2023 Spring Forum brought together participating universities to discuss the national picture and their ISB results, with a particular focus on integration, employability, and reasons to leave. These areas are critical to students’ success and their ability to contribute to the economy, but also represented areas identified by the ISB as in need of improvement as they lagged behind global benchmarks. Discussion has therefore turned to integrating employability skills into curricula, creating social opportunities, and making clear links to the world of work, in order to bring about further improvements. Drawing upon the ISB’s analysis of derived importance – how much importance students assign to aspects of the student experience – gives universities the context behind their results. 

Conversely, participating universities like Tampere University, University of Oulu, and Aalto University, are able to see how they out-perform European and global benchmarks in all areas of international students feeling welcome and all areas of inclusivity. 

Having this understanding of strengths and weaknesses enables Finnish universities to appropriately direct resources and initiatives to improve their standing on the global higher education landscape. Toni Kaila, Specialist for International Affairs at Aalto University, explains the importance of isolating that international student voice. 

“We've consistently seen across our student services that international students experience university differently – they have different issues and place a different emphasis on different aspects of the university experience, so it’s very important to tease that information out, to hear their voice separately. You don’t get that from many other surveys; the ISB is the exception.” 

New Zealand: Creating the conditions for success for diverse student populations 

Since 2007, all of New Zealand’s universities have participated in the ISB, benefitting from longitudinal data analysis that enables them to see how their growing and diverse student populations are performing over time. 

New Zealand stands out particularly in the area of providing a suitable student experience for more diverse student populations. Its strategy focuses on fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for students from all backgrounds. This includes offering assistance with language barriers, providing cultural sensitivity training for staff, and implementing policies that promote diversity and inclusion.  

This is illustrated in their ISB results, in particular their students’ satisfaction with making local friends with 77% of international students at New Zealand universities satisfied or very satisfied with making friends from New Zealand, 5% above the global score. In addition, 95% of international students at New Zealand universities are satisfied with feeling safe and secure on campus; 94% feel there is a friendly attitude towards international students at their institution; 91% feel there is a friendly attitude towards international students at the city/location where their institution is based (91%); and 90% feel welcome as an international student in New Zealand. These figures also represents a positive result for New Zealand for the theme of ‘international students are welcome and safe’, an aspect of Goal 1 of the country’s International Education Strategy. 

Like most participants, universities use the ISB results for making changes to enhance the experience of their international students, optimising resource allocation, informing recruitment and retention strategies, and setting/monitoring key performance indicators. National results have also been used by government departments to inform relevant strategies and policies. 

For any university or national agency, it is important to understand not just the overall picture, but also the detail of the student experience for different nationalities. Knowing how the country’s Higher Education system is performing for students from each of its target nations is the first step to creating an experience that will turn current students into future brand ambassadors, the strongest word-of-mouth referrers universities can recruit. 

By truly understanding the international student experience, countries like Scotland can position themselves as a leading destination for international students, shaping policies and initiatives that are responsive to the needs of international students, and ultimately impacting how international students contribute to the development of the region.