The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

Category: Internationalization

The Outlook for International Students

Everyone is wondering: what’s going to happen to enrolments in the fall?  Particularly, international enrolments?  It’s a big question because for the last decade pretty much 100% of all the increase in institutional income has come from fee income, much of it from international students.  Take that income away, and we’re talking about major cuts: in Australia, which is only slightly more international fee-dependent than Canada, the hit to the sector this term is estimated at over $5 billion.  Some

Read More »
May 20, 2020 2 Comments

Coronavirus (18…or so) – Positioned to Pivot

So, last week I suggested that the Fall term was likely both to start and finish online because of practical difficulties in pivoting halfway though in most institutions.  There are many reasons for this, but the main one is that most pivot scenarios assume that students who will start off learning at home are able to drop everything and find local accommodations with very short notice, and not all students are in a position to do that.  This would leave institutions either

Read More »
April 21, 2020 No Comments

Coronavirus (11) – The International Student Imperative

Whatever the manifold benefits of a more internationalized student body, at many institutions in Canada, one reigns supreme: money.   It’s a problem everywhere in Canada, but in Ontario, British Columbia and Cape Breton in particular, international student fees make up huge portions of the institutional operating budget: rarely lower than 20% of income and in some cases reaching over 50%.  Partly through government neglect and partly through institutional avarice, institutions became hooked on international student money. And then came a crisis

Read More »
April 6, 2020 2 Comments

Coronavirus

Good morning and welcome back.  I thought I would start the week off with a really cheery topic, like a global pandemic and how it will affect higher education. There are lots of ways to talk about the effects of coronavirus on higher education, but broadly, they come down to two different strategies to contain the spread of the virus: travel restrictions and social distancing.  Obviously, the most important travel bans concern full self-imposed quarantine zones in places like Hubei province

Read More »
March 9, 2020 2 Comments

Silliness About Asian Higher Education

For the last decade or so, “the rise of Asia” has been a common refrain.  It alludes to the region’s economic rise (which is undeniable) but then goes on to equate the region’s higher education offerings with this economic rise, usually in a way that poses a threat to “western” higher education.  The most recent example came in this week’s edition of University World News and an op-ed entitled Will the 2020s See Asia Pull Ahead in Higher Education? As these

Read More »
January 21, 2020 3 Comments

One Thought to Start Your Day

One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

Subscribe

Search Posts

Search Publications

Social Media

Linkedin Youtube Spotify

Recent Posts

More thoughts on...